30 Arithmetic & Algebraic Problems
- THE FALSE SCALES
A pudding, when put into one of
the pans of these scales, appeared to
weigh four ounces more than nine-
elevenths of its true weight, but when
put into the other pan it appeared to
weigh three pounds more than in the
first pan. What was its true weight?- WEIGHING THE GOODS
A tradesman whose morals had become corrupted during the war by
a course of profiteering went to the length of introducing a pair of false
scales. It will be seen from the illustration below that one arm is longer than the
other, though they are purposely so drawn as to give no clue to the answer.
As a consequence, it happened that in one of the cases exhibited eight of the
little packets (it does not matter what they contain) exactly balanced three of
the canisters, while in the other case one packet appeared to be of the same
weight as six canisters.
The true weight of one canister was known to be exactly one ounce. What
was the true weight of the eight packets?
1~
- WEIGHING THE BABY
"I saw a funny incident at the railway station last summer," said a friend.
"There was a little family group in front of the automatic weighing machine,
that registered up to 200 lb., and they were engaged in the apparently difficult