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Mathematical Puzzles 


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Puzzle 137 


In Farmer Donald's hay loft there are a number of ants, mice and chickens.

There are ten times as many ants as there are mice, and there are four times as many mice as there are chickens.

Altogether there are 1,806 feet.

How many chickens are there?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 138 


At the annual BrainBashers puzzle discussion conference, 20 people attended.

At the start of the conference, each person shook hands with every other person, how many handshakes took place in total?

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Puzzle 139 


What comes next in this sequence:

31 · 41 · 51 · 61 · 71 · 81 · 92 · ?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 140 


The local CD shop operates an unusual discount policy. The discount on the next purchase is worked out on the current purchase in the following way: for every whole pound spent you get 0.5% discount on the next purchase. For example, if you purchased £8.99 on the first purchase, you would then get a 4% discount on the next purchase and so on. You can make as many purchases as necessary.

You need to buy 7 CDs, costing, £11.50, £12.00, £12.00, £12.50, £13.00, £13.00 and £14.50. What is the cheapest method of buying them?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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