DAY 435

A LENGTHY QUIZ
Credit: GAMES Magazine
May, 1985
Doug Putnam

Put these units of measurement in order from shortest to longest.

1. Inch
2. Mile
3. Centimeter
4. Fathom
5. Rod
6. Nautical mile
7. Furlong
8. Millimeter
9. League
10. Hand

Answers:

Millimeter (4/100 inch)
Centimeter (37/100 inch)
Inch
Hand (4 inches)
Fathom ( 6 feet)
Rod (16 1/2 feet)
Furlong ( 660 feet)
Mile (5,280 feet)
Nautical mile (6,076 feet)
League (3 miles)

DAY 434

PUZZLES FROM THE POLE VAULT
From a Polish puzzle magazine called Sam na Sam
Published in GAMES Magazine
August, 1986

When Adam reached the finish line of a 50-kilometer race, Eve was two kilometers behind him. The next day they decided to race again. To even up the contest, this time Adam started two kilometers behind Eve, while Eve began at the starting line as usual. Assuming they cycled at the same speeds as the day before, which cyclist won the second day's race - or was it a tie?

Answer:

Adam won again. Since Adam can cycle 50 kilometers in the time Eve can cycle 48, the two will be side by side 2 kilometers before the finish of their second race.  Since Adam is the faster cyclist, he will go on to win. 

His margin of victory, in case you're interested, will be
2 x (1 - 48/50) or .08 kilometers.

 

DAY 434

EASY AS A, B, C
Credit: GAMES Magazine
October, 1986
Virginia McCarthy

In these problems, each letter represents a digit from 1 to 9. Asterisks (*) stand for any digit. Can you crack the code?

  ABC        AA         CC
+ABC        BB        -BA
 * ***      +CC          * *
                  * *

Answer:

A = 5
B = 1
C = 3

DAY 433
Credit: GAMES Magazine
November, 1999
Terry Stickels

What is the missing number in the following series?

5/12   1/3   1/4   1/6   1/12   ?

Answer:

0.............If you convert each fraction to twelfths, you get 

5/12   4/12   3/12   2/12   1/12   0.

DAY 432

GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY
Credit: GAMES Magazine
May/June 1980

Using each of the ten digits once, can you find two five-digit numbers with the largest possible product?

HINT:
The intuitive answer 98,765
                               x 43,210 is not correct.

Answer:

Use two principles, namely, the largest digits go to the left; and, the product of two numbers will be maximized if their difference is as small as possible.

The solution is 96,420
                       x 87,531