INTELLECT SHARPENERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19496, 27 November 1926, Page 5 (Supplement)

INTELLECT SHARPENERS.

BT T. L. BRITON.

Headers with a little ingenuity 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 the "nuts" may appear harder than others, it will be found that none will require a sledge hammer to crack them. Readers are requested not to send in their solutions unless specially a?ked for, but to keep them for comparison with these which will appear each Saturday following the publication of the problems. ANOTHER PARTNER, A firm of New Zoaiand cinematograph showmen, by name, Messrs. Corbin ar T d Wright, decided recently to take in Mr. Lindsay as a third partner. In the original firm it was not equal partnership, Mr. Corbin having one and a-half times as much capital invested as Mr. Wright. Tbo new partner was to pay £2500 to come in, the three men to be on equal terms of partnership. As tho invested capital of Messi-s. Corbin and Wright, individually, exceeded the amount decided upon for each of the three members of the new concern, viz., £2500, both the original partners were entitled to a return of their surplus capital—Howshould the money that was put in by Mr. Lindsay be allocated ? A LEGAL NUT. A law practitioner in Auckland, whoso name, by the way, is seldom seen in newspaper law reports, yet who has a very large chamber practice, is very keen on problems of all varieties—"brain-ciearere" he calls them—and is never happier than when confronted with a "nut" somewhat harder to crack than usual. He told ma of a will he had to draw up recently for a client on his death-bed. At this time the client's wife was about to present him with their first child. In the will he settled two-thirds of the whole estate on his son, if the new arrival should bo a boy, and one-third on his wife. But if the child should be a girl, then twothirds should go to the mother and onethird to the daughter. Two days after his death, twins were born, a boy and a girl. How did tho lawyer interpret the will and divide the estate equitably among tho three, in accordance with the intention and the spirit of the dead man's bequest? It may bo added that tho lawyer's interpretation was approved by the court. f STRANGE MARRIAGE CUSTOM. In some countries a dead man may be married provided tho woman had boon affianced to him for not less than 12 months, and that the ceremony is performed within 48 hours after (\eath. No doubt one feels somewhat shocked to know this, yet, hero in New Zealand, , although we do not marry dead men, it is possible-Mind it has happened—that a man can marry his widow's sister. I confess it puzzled me at first, but having discovered that it is not only possible, but perfectly legal, both civilly and ecclesiastically, I decided to submit the question, as well worth pondering over, to the many readers of this column. The | explanation will appear next Saturday. ' SIMPLE MENTAL PROBLEM. An apparent anomaly in mathematics, which .has, no doubt, occurred to roost people, is that aw? positive quantities may be multiplied by one another and give a product less in quantity than either of those multiplied. For example, one-half multiplied by one-half'is one-quarter. A friend of mine, who, by the way, is very interested in this column, thinks that''an easy way opt of the apparent anomaly is to regard the word "multiply" as a misnomer when applied to fractions. And for the present it may be left at that. But the question I set out to write is a very simple one in mental arithmetic, and solvers are required to abstain from using pen, pencil or paper when solving it. It is the simplest of problems, yet let us see how many will bo tripped up by it. I bought a box of bon-bons for 7s 6d. Tfc'e box, being an artistic one, cost 3s more than tho sweets. How much, were the bon-bons? A CURIOUS QUESTION. As an ''lntellect Sharpener," to be effective, dce3, not require to be based on mathematics only, but may be of unlimited variety, here is a little problem for the reader to think over. On the face of it, the question is unmat'hematical, yet the solution of it is exact, and not a fake, absurd as it may seem: Take seven-tenths from five so that four will remain. The surplus three-tenths must be got rid of in some way or other, but it jj only seven-tenths that are to bo taken from five. LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS. The Hire of $ Motor-car. The correct fare for the gentleman to pay was 15s only and not as suggested by many of my friends. Although he travelled half of tho full distance for which the proprietor charged £3, it must not be overlooked that the gentleman shared the car with me for half the total mileage and, therefore, should pay only one-half of the half cost. I am not telling secrets when mentioning tha.t the gentleman himself calculated that his share would be 30s and offered to pay that sum. A Paradox. The five men were musicians, and played tan all-night dance for which they were, course, paid. In the Chemist's Disp«M«S. The contents of the eucalyptus extract; bottle, after the jo/., of the water and eucalvptus mixture had been poored m was in the proportion of 16 of extract to 1 of water, exactly the same proportion reversed, as in the bottle of water after £ oz. ci pore eucalyptus extract had been poured into it. The Labourers' Holiday. Jim must have spent 20s 3d, which ! would be 4 S 6d more than the average of the whole party of seven men, wmch was |lss 9d. ' A Weighing Complication, The bank manager's nine weighing operations were as follows:—(1) With tho soz. and Boz. weights in different trays ho weighed 4oz. (2) With the 4on 'of gold he weighed another 4oz. (5) And : another 4oz. (4) And another Aoz., .ths remainder of the gold being 402 also. (6* (1), (6), (9). Then with ih* lots he'weighed in turn 2ot. parcels oa J the two sides of the scales. : - !