536 Puzzles and Curious Problems

(Elliott) #1
Answers 283

as there are ten of us and myself, sure I'll take eleven, and it's myself that I'll
begin the count at." Of course, the first count fell on himself. Eleven, starting
at No.1, is thus the smallest number to count out all the Britons. He was, in
fact, told to count twenty-nine and begin at No.9. This would have counted
out all the natives. These are the smallest numbers.


249. BLENDING THE TEAS

The grocer must mix 70 lb. of the 32¢ tea with 30 lb. of the 40¢ tea.

250. THE WEIGHT OF THE FISH

The fish must have weighed 72 oz. or 4~ lb. The tail weighed 9 oz., the
body 36 oz., and the head 27 oz.


  1. CATS AND MICE


I t is clear that 999,919 cannot be a prime number, and that if there is to be
only one answer it can have only two factors. As a matter of fact these are
991 and 1,009, both of which are primes, and as each cat killed more mice than
there were cats, the correct answer is clearly that 991 cats each killed 1,009
mice.


  1. THE EGG CABINET


Say the number of drawers is n. Then there will be 2n - 1 strips one way
and 2n - 3 strips the other, resulting in 4n^2 - 4n cells and 4n - 4 strips.
Thus, in the twelfth drawer we shall get 23 and 21 strips (44 together), and
528 cells. This applies to all drawers except the second, where we may have
any number of strips one way, and a single one the other. So I and 1 will
here serve (a single strip is not admissible, because "intersecting" was stipu-
lated). There are thus only 262 strips in all, and 2,284 cells (not 264 and 2,288).


  1. THE IRON CHAIN


The inner width of a link, multiplied by the number of links, and added to
twice the thickness of the iron, gives the exact length. Every link put on the
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