You know, when I want to really get sneaky I can totally snuck. Like there I was thinking what problem to give when it suddenly struck me that why not borrow something from at least a hundred years ago? Cool right? So I got hold of this book called (sorry, not telling you because you’ll Google it) written by (nope, not opening my mouth for the same reason) where it’s problem number (deleted) and the answer’s on page (blank). What I can tell you is that it’s copyright 1882. So let’s see if a nineteenth century problem can be solved as easily by 21st century supersmarts like you.
While a log two feet in circumference and 10 feet long rolls two hundred feet down a mountainside, a lizard on top of the log goes from one end to the other, always remaining on top. How far does the lizard move?
THROUGHPUT
(The problem was: “If I were to tell you that I’d bet you a buck that if you gave me two bucks I’d give you three bucks in return, would it be a good bet for you to accept?”)
Yes , it would be a good bet to accept because we give away two bucks and get a buck and three bucks later on for giving two bucks. Hence there is a profit of two bucks. Therefore it is a profitable bet. -- Advaithram Ravichandran, advaithbarca@gmail.com
Here, you may choose to argue that you are returning 3 bucks and so you are winning the bet. Or in order to avoid such a situation you may not exercise this option at all. In the fourth case, you win the bet and so, I give you a buck. That leaves me with my two bucks. No loss no gain. Hence, it’s obvious that this bet is not good for me to accept because I have no chance of winning unless you decide to lose and 25% chance of losing and 50% chance of no gain no loss. -- Balagopalan Nair k, balagopalannair@gmail.com
(The second puzzle was: “What remainder do you get when you divide 100^100 by 11?”)
I rewrite 100^100 as (99 + 1)^100; ie, (9*11 + 1)^100. When we expand this series, all but one term will have the first component 9*11. The remainder of these terms, when divided by 11, equal 0. The last term is 1^100. If we find the remainder of 1^100 mod 11, that is equivalent to finding the remainder of 100^100 mod 11. So, the remainder is 1. -- Saishankar Swaminathan, saishankar482@gmail.com
Actually it’s an easy yet interesting one for anyone who has knowledge about divisibility tests. The answer is 1. As sum of digits at odd places (which is one 1 and all zeroes) minus the sum of all the digits at even places (which is zero as all digits at even places are 0) is 1. Thus the remainder we get when 100^100 is divided by 11 is 1. -- Aman Chandna, aman.chandna@niser.ac.in
(Among the first five who also got it correct are: Ganesh Ram Palanisamy, 1969ganram@gmail.com; Alan D’Souza, iamaland@gmail.co; Krishna D V, krishp84@gmail.com; Dr P Gnanaseharan, gnanam.chithrabanu@gmail.com; Vaishnavi Racherla, vaishnavi2000@gmail.com.)
(The third one was: “(a) Does a magnet weigh different due to the Earth’s magnetic field? and (b) Can one weigh a magnet on a iron plated kitchen scales?”)
I think the magnet’s apparent weight will change just marginally when weighed with the Earth’s magnetic field keeping in mind that like poles attract each other (as the Earth itself is a giant magnet). -- Sreeraj Renjith, sreerajrenjith02@gmail.com
As long as the magnet does not touch the plate, the only force it exerts is the magnetic force. Once the magnet sticks to the plate, an additional contact force appears between magnet and plate -- they push against each other. Under those conditions, the only net force on the plate is the weight of the magnet. Thus the kitchen scales then show the weight of the magnet correctly. -- Narayana Murty Karri, k_n_murty@yahoo.com
BUT GOOGLE THIS NOW
1. A PEAR, an APPLE, a LEMON and a BANANA all add up to an ORANGE. If each letter represents a number between 0 and 9 (both inclusive), solve the equation. (Submitted by Saifuddin S F Khomosi, saif_sfk@hotmail.com)
2. What’s the only vegetable or fruit that’s never sold frozen, canned, bottled, processed, smoked, sundried, salted, stuffed, pickled, cooked or in any other form but fresh? (And let’s not have stuff like goji berries, sea kelp, chia seeds or mangosteens. Like, keep it ordinary.)
— Sharma is a scriptwriter
and former editor of Science Today magazine.(mukul.mindsport@gmail.com)