Puzzle 1
Three teachers were discussing how long they had each been teaching.
Alex and Billie had been teaching for a combined total of 36 years.
Charlie and Billie had been teaching for a combined total of 22 years.
Charlie and Alex had been teaching for a combined total of 28 years.
How long had each been teaching?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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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.
Puzzle 2
I am compiling the new BrainBashers world almanac, and it now contains lots more pages.
I know that it takes 333 digits to print the page numbers in sequence.
How many numbered pages does the book have?
How many times does the number 3 appear?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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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.
Puzzle 3
What number is …
… three-quarters of eight-ninths of one-half of 2001?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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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.
Puzzle 4
How many squares, of any size, do not contain a rook?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How many 2 x 2 squares are there?
Answer
There are 128 squares without a rook.
Reasoning
There are 62 squares of size 1 x 1.
There are 41 squares of size 2 x 2.
There are 18 squares of size 3 x 3.
There are 6 squares of size 4 x 4.
There is 1 square of size 5 x 5.
Giving a total of 62 + 41 + 18 + 6 + 1 = 128 squares.
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