Category Archives: brain puzzler

December 2017 Brain Puzzler Solution

Q: For the positive integers up to and including 2017, how many of those integers have at least one zero?

A:  There are $2017$ positive integers in total to consider.
No one digit numbers have a 0 (1-9).
Below is the list of the qualifying numbers:

There are 9 two digit numbers: 10,20, 30…90 9
There are the numbers 100 – 110 and 200-210 up to 900 – 910 99
Also 120 130 140…190 and then 220 230 etc 72
Then 1000-1099 100
Then same # of #s 1000 more than b 99
Then same # of #s 1000 more than c 72
2000-2017 18
 Total  469

Another solution is to exclude the numbers that do not have a zero and subtract from 2017:
9 one digit numbers
81 two digit numbers (9 x 9 : 9 choices for each digit 1-9)
729 three digit numbers (9 x 9 x 9: 9 choices for each digit 1-9)
For the numbers between 1000- 1999, there are the same amount as for the three digit numbers as they are the same numbers with a “1” in the thousands place value.
9 + 81 + 729 + 729 = 1548
2017 – 1548 = 469

 

 

November 2017 Brain Puzzler Solution

Q: I drive at an average speed of 30 miles per hour to the railroad station each morning and just catch my train. On a particular morning there was a lot of traffic and at the halfway point I found I had averaged only 15 miles per hour. How fast must I drive for the rest of the way to catch my train?

A: It’s impossible. 
Let’s say that you need to go 30 miles which would take an hour.
If you were at the halfway point, 15 miles, at 15 miles per hour, you have already been traveling for an hour  to go that 15 miles — and you are only halfway there!
Sorry…you will miss your train.

August 2017 Brain Teaser Solution

Q: With one straight cut a cake can be sliced into two pieces. A second cut that crosses the first one will make four pieces, and a third cut can produce as many as seven pieces. What is the largest number of pieces that you can get with six straight cuts?

A: 22
With 0 cuts, you get 1 big cake
With 1 cut, 2 pieces
With 2 cuts, 4 pieces
For the 3rd cut, if you cut cleverly you can get 7 pieces
click here for more info and nice graphics thanks to the Guardian
http://bit.ly/CuttingthePieGardner

 

 

 

July 2017 Brain Teaser Solution

Q: A trader had gold coins but did not tell anyone how many she had.  If the coins are divided into two different sized groups, then 32 times the difference between the two numbers is equal to the difference between the squares of the two numbers.  How many gold coins did she have?

A: The merchant has 32 gold coins.
It is easy to check this… Let’s divide the 32 coins into two unequal numbers, say, 27 and 5. Then, 32 (27 – 5) = (27 x 27) – (5 x 5).
We can also check this by dividing the 32 coins into 30 and 2.
Then, 32(30-2) = (30 x 30) – (2 x 2).

This will work for any two numbers that add to 32.  If we call the two numbers x and y:
32 (x – y) = x^2 – y^2
So x + y = 32 and therefore y = 32 – x
Then we can rewrite the above as:
32(x – (32 – x)) = x^2 – (32 – x)^2
32(x – 32 + x) = x^2 – (1024 – 64 x + x^2)
32(2x – 32) = x^2 – 1024 + 64x – x^2  (the x^2s cancel)
64x – 1024 = 64x – 1024  :)