51.  The Old ShipSome years back I was traveling by a cargo ship from New Zealand to Tahiti. I was curious to look around the ship one day and in the boiler room I asked a man how old the ship was. He smiled and replied in this way: ‘The ship is twice as old its boiler was when the ship was as old as the boiler is now. And the combined age of the ship and the boiler is thirty years.’Can you figure out what is the age of the ship and of the boiler?

 

52.   The Three Containers

We have three containers which hold 19, 13 and 7 ounces of liquid respectively. The 19 ounce container is empty but the 13 and 7 ounces containers are full.

How can we measure out 10 ounces by using only the three above mentioned containers?

 

53.    On the Way to Market

One morning I was on my way to the market and met a man who had 4 wives. Each of the wives had 4 bags, containing 4 dogs and each dog had 4 puppies.

Taking all things into consideration, how many were going to the market?

 

54.   A Matter of Denominator

A fraction has the denominator greater than its numerator by 6. But if you add 8 to the denominator, the value of the fraction would then become1/3.

Can you find this fraction?

 

55.  Right Foot Forward

A short man takes three steps to a tall man’s two steps. They both start out on the left foot. How many steps do they have to take before they are both stepping out on the right foot together?

 

56. A Problem of Socks

Mammu wears socks of two different colours    white and brown. She keeps them all in the same drawer in a state of complete disorder.

She has together 20 white socks and 20 brown socks in the drawer. Supposing she has to take out the socks in the dark, how many must she take out to be sure that she has a matching pair?

 

57.  A Fair Division

A rich farmer died leaving behind a hundred acres of his farm to be divided among his three daughter Rashmi, Mala and Rekha    in the proportion of one-third, one-fourth and one fifth, respectively. But Rekha died unexpectedly.

Now how should the executor divide the land between Rashmi and Mala in a fair manner?

 

58.  Mathematics and Literature

Recently a publishing company which specialises  in mathematical books, advertised the job opening of an assistant editor. The response was good. One hundred people applied for the position. The company, however, wanted to make their selection from the applicants who had some training in both mathematics and literature.

Out of one hundred applicants the company found that 10 of them had no training in mathematics and no training in literature, 70 of them had got mathematics and 82 had got training in literature

How many applicants had got training in both mathematics and literature.

 

59.   Heads I Win Tails I lose

During my last visit to Las Vegas in the U.S.A., I met a man who was an inveterate gambler. He took out a coin from his pocket and said to me, ‘Head I win, tails I lose. I’ll bet half the money in the pocket.’

He tossed the coins, lost and gave me half the money in his pocket. He repeated the bet again and again each time offering half the money in his pocket.

The game went on for quite some time. I can’t recollect exactly how long the game went on or how many times the coin was tossed, but I do remember that the number of times he lost exactly equal to the number or times he won.

What do think, did he, on the whole, gain or lose?

 

60. Problem from Lilavati

Here is an ancient problem from Bhaskaracharya’s Lilavati:

A beautiful maiden, with beaming eyes, asks  me which is the number that, multiplied by 3, then increased by three-fourth of the product, divided by 7, diminished by one-third of the quotient, multiplied by itself, diminished by 52, the square root found, addition of 8, division by 10 gives the number 2?

Well, it sounds complicated, doesn’t it? No, not if you know how to go about it.

 

To view answer Click Here and check answers respectively to question number.