"NUTS!"-

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 60, 8 September 1934, Page 27

"NUTS!"-

INTELLECT SHARPENERS All rights reserved.

(By C. J. Wherefore.)

Readers with'a little Inoenulty will find In this column an abundant store of entertainment and amusement, and the solving of the problems should provide excellent mental exhilaration. While some.of ma 'nuts" may appear harder that others. It will bo found that none will require a sledge-hammer to crack them. Address correspondence to P.O. Box 1177, Wellington.

DIGGING A DITCH. A fanner has pegged out a ditch to drain a swamp, and wishes to employ three men, A, B, and C, to dig it. As these men have work to do on their own sections, they can come for only a day or so at a time. On Monday all three men work all day. C works all day on Tuesday, but the others work only half of this day. The Tesult. however, is that half the . ditch is finished. On Wednesday' A and C work all day, and'B only half time, but now! three-quarters of the whole job is done. C finishes the job working alone all Thursday and Friday and half of Saturday. Can readers say which of. these is the quickest worker? ARMCHAIR PROBLEMS. Divide sixteen shillings among four boys, so that one shall have twice as much as another, one shall have three times as much as another, and'one four times as much as another. A man took the letters from his private box, and found that they belonged to himself, his wife, his son, and his daughter. Of these four persons no two received the same number of letters, no one received twice as much as another, and nobody's share was equal to the sum of two other shares. The 'parents received more letters than their children, and the men received actually twice as many as the women. How many letters were there for each of them? ' A small bookseller's shop was giving up business and was selling at a reduced price some novels which had been offered formerly at half a crown. Four friends went to the shop together and made purchases of these books, and no two of them bought the same number. The money paid by the one who bought the largest number was sixpence less than the total amount saved by all four of them being able to obtain

the books at the reduced price. At what price did they obtain these books! ANOTHER PROBLEM IN AGES. Dorothy and Ethel are two girls at the same school, and one of them is a year older than the;; other. Their mothers come to the school to see them, and one- of them has to travel a distance of, 46 miles more than the other. The Railway Department receives the sum of £1 15s in payment for the two tickets. Each lady notices that the sum of the shillings and pence she has paid is equal to twice the number of years in her daughter's age. The cost of the tickets.is,calculated, at the.rate of sixpence for the ticket, plus one penny per mile. Each lady hands to Hie booking clerk a pound note, and receives change in which threepenny pieces are used so as to make the number of pence as small as possible. Ethel's mother receives one more penny in her change than the other lady. I What are the ages of the two schoolgirls? AT A SAVINGS BANK. Mrs. N paid the sum of £l2 into the Post Office Savings Bank on the date of her last birthday. This was not.entirely for her own benefit, however, because she has two daughters for whom she is saving money. Her procedure is to deposit a certain number of shillings for every year of her-own age. For her elder daughter, who was born when she herself was only 22 years old, she makes a similar calculation, only the rate at which she makes it is one shilling per year less than that atwhich she determines the amount of her own deposit. For her younger daughter, who was born three years after the other girl, the rate per year is again one shilling less than that used for her sister. If Mrs. N follows the same procedure on her next birthday, how much larger will her 'deposit be than it was this year? AN EASTERN STORY. Be it known to you, O'King, there was once a great prince who Jay grievously sick, and he believed that his illness wfluld be cured'instantly, if he had but one dose of a medicine advertised in a magazine he had' been reading. This was entirely; contrary to the advice of his physicians, yet he ehoso to summon all the attendants in his sick-room, and bade'each, of-them to depart to the city as rapidly as, a swift camel could take him, to seek'-, and, obtain if possible a supply of the medi : cine he desired. For this : purpose he took all the money, he,had in English currency, which was very little, and divided it equally among, his : sengers. It was found-that'there Was, but one merchant, in'the/bazaar who had a supply of this medicine,, but the servants of the prince'acted independently of one another, ~ so-: that each of; them found this merchant's shop, and each man took the same'line .of action.

He bought one package, and paid for it, the price being the whole of the money; which had been given to him, and before leaving the shop, he counted how many packages there were left behind. Thus the first servant, on his return, told the prince that there were so many packages left, and he could buy them for so much money. Then the second man and each of the others told the same story, only man necessarily made the number one less than the previous speaker, and quoted a sum of money which was less than the former sum by the price of one package. Thereupon .the prince.. r.os&'-ifrom his couch-quite; Gured,' and much interested in the sums named by his servants!. In each case the numbers of shillings and pence added together made a total of 22. And this story really presents three problems, since all who hear it are invited to answer three questions. How many servants were sent to buy the medicine, what was the 1 price they paid for it, and how many packages had the merchant in his shop! ? SOLUTIONS. Anagram.—Garden, ranged, gander, danger. • New Version.—The numbers of pounds paid for the camels were the consecutive numbers from 10 to 26. The sons received £153, £lO2, £34, and the ' taxes were £l7. , Wireless Problem.—The ■ S Auckland man listens to AVellington, the Dunedin man to Auckland, the Christchureh man to Dunedin, and the Wellington man to Christchureh. The argument is not difficult, but is admittedly rather long. Algebra, in Kitchen.—Put Alb equals weight of sugary B. lb equals weight, of butter,' and G. equals "number of cups, of milk. ~A and.B-'are-readily eliminated,' leaving 3 C equals o.'.'Therefore no milk was .used, and;-the rest is easy. Half-pounds 1 of, sugar.'.and,.gutter, lib flour, 2 eggs, Jf" spoonful soda, one spoonful:cream of-'tartar.'''■/■'■'.--Speculation.—Ten: annual- payments of £5 are worth' £SB end of tenth .year, if earning 3£;-per cent, compound >interest.; If''thi's- ; be deducted from ;£2oJ),itjleaVes only £l4l 7s. But £IOO .depositedj.atv3f ; ,and allowed to accumulate :for -ten/yeats. is worth £l4l Is,' so ithat Mr. B's-profit is not such a windfall as ;hesupposes. ' (