"NUTS!" ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1932, Page 15

"NUTS!"

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

I INTELLECT SHARPENERS! | All rights reserved. jj

| (By T. L. Briton.) | Jl •• ■ ■ • • ■ .......rfi

Readers with a little ingenuity will find in this colunm an abundant store of entertainment and amusement, and the solving of the problems should provide excellent mental exhilaration. While some of the "nuts" may appear harder than others, it will be found that none -will require a sledge-hammer . to crack them. 1 STEALING ECrGS. According to a news item, a poultry farmer recently suffered a loss of a considerable number of eggs that had been gathered for the market. He was not able to tell tho exact number lost, though he could definitely say that the quantity was between one hundred and fifty and two hundred dozens. It appeared that the thief or thieves made more than one visit to the shed during the nijht, as the door was found open at 11 p.m. and shut by an employee, but was again found Open in the early morning. By making one or more assumptions as to the manner that tho thieves worked, it will be possible with the scant information given by the farmer to ascertain the exact number of eggs stolen. Let it be supposed I that the thief made five different visits to the shed, and that on each occasion he stole one-fifth of the number 'there, and that every time he made the connt by dividing the quantity by five there was one egg over, which he also purloined on each occasion. The farmer, upon counting the number left, found that if the thief had made a sixth visit tho number then there would divide evenly by five, without remainder, and that what were left would make an even number of dozens. How many were stolon? REDUCING THE SPEED. A motorist travelling from "A" to "B" met with a slight mishap to tho engine, which occurred exactly two hours after leaving tlie former place. The accident was not of a serious nature, and did not compol the motorist to stop, though lie found it necessaryto reduce his rate of travelling by onequarter of tho mileage that he was "doing" prior to the mishap. The occurrence, however, made him late arriving at "B,' J the time being exactly one hour longer than it would havo been had the whole distance been travelled at the speed made prior to the accident. If this had occurred at a point twenty-four miles nearer to "B" than it did, and the same uniform speed made to that spot (the reduced speed mentioned being maintained from that point onwards), tho motorist would have been late arriving at "B" only forty minutes instead of the full hour mentioned. The reader will perhaps refrain from using pen or pencil in finding the actual distance from "A" to "B," for there is one length ■ to which the conditions apply, this being fixed by the introduction of the "24----mile" hypothesis. ECONOMICAL PACKING. Packers were engaged in making up boxes of school chalk, whi>n. the manager informed them that the very utmost must be made, of the space available for packing ■ the commodity. The boxes wero eight, inch-es in length, which allowed two lengths of the chalk to be packed end to end without any perceptible space left, and the pieces wero placed in level rows of twentyfive across, making fifty in each layer, with two in a length. The boxes wero just largo enough to permit the packing of ten layers placed one on top of tho other iv this manner, so that when completely packed as described each box contained, five hundred sticks of chalk, which for the purposes of this problem may be deemed to be cylindrical in shape, and the boxes rectangular. A gentleman with a mathematical bent, who had accompanied tho manager on his round of inspection, suggested to the latter that it was possible to place a larger number of these sticks of chalk in each of the boxes, which, it may be added, wero of uniform size, and after returning to the office demonstrated the method by which this was possible. Assuming, as was the case, that it was not possible to put any more chalk into the boxes when packed in the manner shown, can the reader say how by any other system more sticks could be placed in each box? AT A CRICKET MATCH. Notwithstanding that it was not a "test" match, there was an attendance of four thousand two hundred men; women, and children at a match in aid of "Tho Free Ambulance Fund," the gate receipts showing one hundred and seventeen pounds, after deducting 10 per cent, for unavoidable expenses. This attendance, however, does not represent the number who paid for admission, a considerable number, from hospitals and other similar places-being admitted without payment, the free list showing three-elevenths of the number who paid. Here is a simple little question that it is possible to answer without bothering with pen or pencil. If every three men of the 3300 people who paid for their tickets contributed as much as every four women, who in turn paid as much as every six children, how many of each class paid for admission to the ground, and what were the respective prices' of the tickets, the low tariff as well as the nobility of the cause accounting for such a large "gate"? THE ARABS' DATES. A correspondent, "Rex," has sent a problem of stone-age antiquity concerning the correct allocation of the reward to two Arabs who had supplied a- traveller in the desert with a meal of dates, and as it involves a point that generally raises a discusion as to how the reward should be divided, tho reader is given an opportunity of making a decision for himself. The only food that the Arabs had when the traveller arrived at their camp was iv tho form of eight pounds of dates, Abdul having five pounds and Zed throe pounds. The three sat down to the meal and shared the quantity mentioned equally. The traveller arose early next morning, and departed before the Bedouins were awake, leaving oh the mat eight shekels in return for tho hospitality, but when it came to sharing tho money in accordance with the quantity each had supplied towards the traveller's meal, the two Arabs could not agree. The matter was.in duo course refcrord to the Cadi, whoso decr.isiou was based on mathematics solely, and therefore was tho correct judgment. Can the reader ssiy what is the proper division under these conditions? LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS. Not a Cypher.—The text reads: — "Every international problem iv Europe since the Treaty of Versailles has been made incomparably more difficult by the absence of America from the League of Nations."

Curious Addition.—79 plus .5 1-3 equals 84 2-6, the even digits forming the correct answer to tho sum expressed by tho odd digits.

Unorthodox.—The same results are obtainable by taking out the "2" and tho "15" and repeating in their stead the "7" and the "10." As stated iv the problem, the cells may be occu-

pied by any numbers desired when arranging the new square. A Subtracting Magic Square.— 2 14 3 5 7 (5 9 S On the "Dole."—£3 is the weekly sum distributed, the first week having 15 persons, who each received 4s, whileill the following week 20 applicant? were given 3s each.

"Colenso."—lt can be demonstrated very simply by placing two books of similar size flat on the table with their backs parallel and an inch or so apart, and laying a sheet of paper over them. By blowing steadily through tho tube thus formed, the paper will be sucked in instead of being blown out. (2) Air pressure. "A.T.C."—Early in February. "Moutcre," C.J.N., "Axiom."— Thanks. Correspondence should be addressed care of P.O. Box 1023.