INTELLECT SHARPENERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 21

INTELLECT SHARPENERS.

By T. L. Barrorr. SELLING A RADIO SET. A shopkeeper had a radio set in his window marked at a certain price for cash. A prospective purchaser short of ready money, whose credit was good, offered to take the instrument on a' 12 months’ bill, for £22 2s, this being, of course, a slight advance on the marked price. The shopkeeper would not do business on these terms, but offered to accept the gentleman a bill at six months for half t?in EUm ’ another bill for the balance at 1- months from the date of purchase, io this the purchaser agreed. Now, the question is. If the deal on the terms mentioned showed a financial advantage to the seller over the purchaser’s first am °unt did the seller gain by sliecting the sale in the manner stated, with money at 8 per cent, per annum? SHOWING DIFFERENT TIMES. A city business man residing in a nearby suburb invariably kept his home clock ahead of the exact time, whiclv hia own watch and office clock always showed. On a recent Saturday he left his office at noon (exact time), and, the day being cool, he decided to walk home, arriving there at exactly a-quarter to 1 by his house clock. Some little time afterwords he found it necessary to return to the city, and drove his car hack, taking a different route from the one he had wadked. the short “cut” he had then taken being only four-fifths of the distance travelled by the car. He always made a practice of driving at a moderately slow speed, and on this occasion it was twice as fast as the rate at which ■no had walked out. Now, on the assumption that exactly 25 minutes elapsed between the time of his arrival home, when he looked at the house clock, and the time that he left in the car on his return to his office, which he reached at halfpast 1 by his watch, showing the exact time, how far wrong was his home clock? TOM. DICK, AND HARRY. Tom and Dick were the gardener and his assistant respectively, and Harry was a precocious youngster who enjoyed spending his holidays with the men at their work. ■On one occasion he wished toknow how old they were, and Dick, being ready at figures," answered the boy in the following way. “Your own age added to the combined ages of Tom and M .e total exactly, 70 years. Tom,” he «aid is now six times as old as you are, but when you are exactly half Tom’s age, the combined ages of the three of us will be exactly twice what they are now.” ' Now, although Dick said little about his own age, there is sufficient information here for us to calculate how old he was at the time of the conversation. Can the reader -find Dick's age, then? It may give him some hard thinking for a few moments even with the aid of pencil and paper, LESS THAN FIFTY POUNDS. There is a sum of money less than fifty pounds in which pounds, shillings, and pence are represented, that has the following curious features: It consists of four , digits all of them different, and if multiplied by another digit the result will bo an amount which consists of the remaining five digits, the assumption for this purpose being that the cipher “0” w also s digit. Thus the 10 figures comprising the multiplicand, multiplier and product are 1. 2, 3. 4. 5,6, 7,8, 9. and 0, It is not necessary that the cipher should have a value, as for example “0 ” shillings will comply with the conditions equally as well as the “ 0 " in ten shillings, but of course nine pounds, shillings, or pence would not be written “09.” If by adopting these stipulations, all denominations in the product as well as original sum are represented. Can the reader discover this curious amount by methodical trials for there is no formula to guide him? BUTTER AND CHEESE. A storekeeper bought a large quantity of butter at a factory at £5 12s per hundredweight, and at the same time purchased a similar quantity of cheese at £4 4s per hundredweight. It was a cash transaction, and. upon looking through his accounts afterwards, he found that the combined weight of the two commodities was short of the total weight he had intended purchasing for the amount he had expended, viz., £ll7 12s, although correct weights had, been given as ordered. Now. here is a little question for the reader to think out. How much weight did he receive short of what he would have been given if, instead- of purchasing equal quantities, he had expended equal amounts in his two purchases, the full sum mentioned being spent?

LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS. A WHALE-CHASER’S MAST. The height of the vertical mast is 50 feet or 48 feet from the deck to the stayfixture. HIS WEEKLY WAGE. The man’s wage as fixed originally was 50s per week. A SNAIL’S CLIMB. As the snail travelled 5 feet vertically the wall was 0 feet 3 inches high, the mollusc reaching the 4-feet mark from the point of starting in 5 seconds, SEVEN AT DINNER. If Simpson’s wife were seated next but one to Gray on his left, and the latter’s wife next to the former lady but farther away from G. on both occasions, the arrangement would comply with the conditions. A SIMPLE ALLOCATION. The gentleman had 10s 6d in silver when starting out. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. T. G. T.—Yes, in any direction parallel . to the diameter, but not diagonally. I. f O. U.—Nuttall’s dictionary gives this as one word, meaning, of course, the original three jvords, “ I owe you,” and it is an excellent example of the “ evolution of languages.” C. H. Lawson.—Thanks for copy.