Wednesday, 28 April 2010

DAY 237

TWO CARS
Credit: Doug McKay in Parade Magazine--Ask Marilyn by Marilyn Vos Savant

Two cars depart from the same spot for the same destination. One travels at 60 miles per hour, and the other at 65 miles per hour. The faster car arrives at the destination one hour before the slower one. How far did they travel?

Answer:

780 miles.........The faster car gains five miles on the slower one each hour. Since the slower car is traveling at 60 mph, or one mile per minute, it takes the slower car five minutes to make up this distance. So the faster car gains five minutes on the slower car for every hour it travels. To gain an hour, it must travel 12 hours (60 = 5 X 12). 65 X 12 = 780.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

DAY 236
Two youngsters were running as hard as they could. They averaged 6 miles per hour, and then had to rest. On the way back, they averaged only 4 miles per hour for the same distance. Not counting resting time, what was their average speed?

Answer:

4.8 miles per hour.............The apparent answer of 5 miles per hour is wrong. The answer is obtained by dividing the distance covered by the time elapsed, and any distance will do. For example, to run 12 miles would take 2 hours out and 3 hours back. This means it would take them 5 hours to run 24 miles.
DAY 235

NO PENCIL--NO PAPER
Credit: Mike Androtti---Parade Magazine---Ask Marilyn by Marilyn Vos Savant

Solve this problem in your head. Two alien spaceships are traveling directly toward each other, one at 38,171 miles per hour, and the other at 21,829 miles per hour. They originated on planets 82,710,317 mile apart. How far apart will they be one minute before they collide?

HINT:
The distance between their home planets is irrelevant.

Answer:

1,000 miles...........The two spacecrat are approaching each other at a combined speed of 60,ooo mile per hour (38,171 + 21,829). This means the distance between them is closing at 1,000 miles per minute.

Monday, 26 April 2010

DAY 234
A street 30 yards long has a tree every 6 yards on both sides. How many trees are on the street?

Answer:

12.............There are 6 trees on each side. The first tree on each side is the "zero" tree.
DAY 233
A nickel is worth 5 cents. How much is 1/2 0f 1/2 of a nickel worth?

Answer:

1 1/4 cents or $.0125

Sunday, 25 April 2010

DAY 232

LEFTOVERS AGAIN?
Credit: GAMES Magazine
June, 1984
Michael W. Ecker

What is the smallest whole number that, when divided by 2 leaves a remainder of 1; when divided by 3, leaves a remainder of 2; and so on, and when divided by 10 leaves a remainder of 9?

Answer:

2,519...............Since the remainder is always 1 less than the divisor, it follows that the answer must be 1 less than a multiple of all the divisors 2 through 10. The smallest such number must be the Least Common Multiple of 2, 3, 4, ...........9, 10 minus 1. The LCM is 2,520, so the answer is 2, 519.

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

DAY 231
A professional boxing match has 12 three-minute rounds, with a one-minute break between each round. How long does it take to complete a match that goes all 12 rounds?

Answer:

47 minutes...........there is no break after the twelfth round