Mathematical Puzzles 

Workings

Hint
It might be easier to work backwards.

Answer
£50.

Reasoning
Working backwards:

On Thursday, I had £12.50.

On Wednesday, I had £12.50 x (1 ÷ one half) = £25.

On Tuesday, I had £25 x (1 ÷ two thirds) = £37.50.

On Monday, I had £37.50 x (1 ÷ three quarters) = £50.

Workings

Hint
If we look at all of the clues, each person appears exactly twice.

Answer
Alex had been teaching for 21 years.
Billie had been teaching for 15 years.
Charlie had been teaching for 7 years.

Reasoning
If we look at all of the clues, each person appears exactly twice.

So the total of the three clues gives us two lots of Alex + Billie + Charlie = 36 + 22 + 28 = 86.

So, Alex + Billie + Charlie = 43 years.

In each clue we are given two of the people, so we can use this to find the missing person:

   Charlie and Billie had been teaching for a total of 22 years, which means that Alex must be: 43 − 22 = 21 years.

   Charlie and Alex had been teaching for a total of 28 years, which means that Billie must be: 43 − 28 = 15 years.

   Alex and Billie had been teaching for a total of 36 years, which means that Charlie must be: 43 − 36 = 7 years.

Reasoning With Algebra
Let Alex = A, Billie = B and Charlie = C, then:

[1]   A + B = 36
[2]   C + B = 22
[3]   C + A = 28

If we use [3] − [2] we have:

[4]   A − B = 6

If we use [1] + [4] we have:

   2A = 42
    A = 21

By [1] B = 15. By [3] C = 7.

Workings

Hint
Think of the pages from 1 to 9, and then 10 to 99.

Answers
There are 147 pages. The number 3 appears 35 times.
Answer #1
For pages 1 to 9, there are 9 pages, which is 9 digits.

For pages 10 to 99, there are 90 pages, which is 180 digits.

This is a total so far of 189, therefore we require another 333 − 189 = 144 digits, which is another 144 ÷ 3 = 48 pages.

Taking us to 9 + 90 + 48 = 147 pages in total.

Answer #2
From page 1 to 147 we have 15 pages that end in 3:

   3, 13, 23, …, 143

We also have the ten pages that start with 30:

   30, 31, 32, …, 39

Plus the ten pages that start with 130:

   130, 131, 132, …, 139

For a total of 15 + 10 + 10 = 35 number 3's.

Workings

Hint
Can the fractions be simplified?

Answer
667.

Reasoning
 3        8        1
———  of  ———  of  ———  of 2001
 4        9        2

which simplifies to:
24
——  of 2001
72

which simplifies to:
 1
———  of 2001
 3

Giving 667.