Each month, a new set of puzzles will be posted. Come back next month for the solutions and a new set of puzzles, or subscribe to have them sent directly to you.
Puzzle One
Four men are throwing darts at a garage door. Their first names are Andy, Brian, Carl and Danny, and their last names (not in the same order) are Anderson, Brown, Clinton, and Dickson. Their ages (not in the same order) are 31, 32, 33 and 34 and each man has one dart. The colours of the four darts (again not in the same order) are Blue, Red, Green, and White.
Danny’s dart sits a little to the right of the Red dart, 72 cm from Brown’s dart, and a little under Andy’s dart. Dickson’s dart sits a little right under the Red dart. Andy’s dart is 97 cm from Dickson’s dart.
Brian is the youngest and the one with the Red dart is older than Clinton, being 2 years younger than the White dart, who again is older than Carl.
For the four men, can you determine what their last names, ages and dart colours are? Also, the distance between the Green and Blue darts?
| First name | ||||
| Last name | ||||
| Age | ||||
| Dart colour |
Puzzle Two
If Alex ate 1/2 of the plate of cookies he found on the counter, then his sister Lucy ate 1/3 of what was left, and then Charley ate 1/2 of those that were left, when their Mum came home and found 2 cookies how many did kids eat?
Puzzle Three
The ration of two numbers is 7:10 and their difference is 105. What are the numbers?
Puzzle Four
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. They started at the same time, but Jack arrived at the top a half of an hour before Jill. On the way down, Jill calculated that if she had walked 50% faster and Jack had walked 50% slower, then they would have arrived at the top of the hill at the same time. How long did Jill take to walk up to the top of the hill?
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Last month's solutions
Puzzle One
A magic rectangular cloth always shrinks its length to 1/2 and width to 1/3 whenever its owner wishes something. After three such wishes, its surface is now 4cm2.
What was the original length if the original width was 9cm?
Solution:
Let x = original width
Starting with the length from the 3rd wish (1.50 cm) and doubling up to the original length where x = 12cm.
| Area | ||||
| Length (L) | Width (W) | L * W | L | |
| Initial | x | 9 | 12 | |
| 1st wish | 0.50 x | 6 | 6 | |
| 2nd wish | 0.25 x | 4 | 3 | |
| 3rd wisg | 0.125 x | 2.667 | 4 | 1.5 |
Puzzle Two
A bag containing coins of 1 dollar, 50 cents and 25 cents in the ratio 3 : 5 : 7. The total amount is $1,856.00. Find the number of coins for each denomination.
Solution:
Let x = total number of coins
Then, (3/15 * x * 1.00) + (5/15 * x * 0.50) + (7/15 * x * 0.25) = 1856.00
Multiplying both sides of equation by 15
3.00x + 2.50x + 1.75x = 1856 * 15
7.25x = 27840
x = 3840
Therefore,
3/15 * 3840 = 768 = number of dollars
5/15 * 3840 = 1280 = number of 50 cent coins
7/15 * 3840 = 1792 = number of 25 cent coins
To check: 768 * 1.00 = 768.00, 1280 * 0.50 = 640.00 and 1792 * 0.25 = 448.00
Therefore, $768 + $640 + $448 = $1,856.00
Puzzle Three
Below is an special safe’s keypad . To open, you must press the keys in the correct sequencer until the last key marked ‘OPEN’. The number on each key tells you how many keys that you must move and the letter tells you in which direction to move (U = up, D = down, L = left and R = right). Which key is the first key in the sequence that you must press to open the safe?
Solution:
The 1st key, to start the sequence to open the safe, is 1L (4th row, 2nd column).
This can be determined by working backward from the final/OPEN key in a reverse direction to the beginning or start/1st key. All keys should b used. Check your start/1st key to see if it starts the sequence to open the safe.
Yet another glorious month of maths puzzles. Bravo Gordon!
Interesting ones !
Just right! Thanks!