Puzzle 1
Starting with any C, using the move of a chess knight, can you find the letters of Christmas in the correct order?
The moves of a knight are:
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
A knight moves in the shape of an L, two squares one way, one square the other.
Answer
Puzzle 2
If I buy a melon and a coconut, the cost will be £1.19.
If I buy a melon and a pineapple, the cost will be £1.45.
If I buy a coconut and a pineapple, the cost will be £1.40.
What are the individual prices?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
A little algebra might help.
Answer
Pineapple = 83p, coconut = 57p, melon = 62p.
Reasoning
If we assign the letters P, C and M to the fruits, and work in pence we have:
(1) M + C = 119
(2) M + P = 145
(3) C + P = 140
Using (2) − (1) we have:
(4) P − C = 26
And (3) + (4) gives:
2P = 166
P = 83
This can then be substituted back into (2) and (3).
Puzzle 3
What letter comes next in this sequence:
E · O · E · R · E · ?
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Hint
This is a very common sequence.
Answer
X.
The last letters of the words one, two, three, four, five, six .
Puzzle 4
At the equator the radius of the earth is 6,378 km, so its circumference is almost exactly 40,000 km.
Imagine we had a long rope which went around the equator, this would of course be 40,000 km long.
If we now placed 1 metre sticks vertically all the way around and lay the rope on top of these sticks (so the rope would be 1m higher all the way around) how much extra rope would we require?
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Hint
Circumference = 2 x Radius x π .
Answer
6.28 metres, a lot less than you might think!
If we call the radius of the Earth R, then the difference between the two circumferences is:
2 x π x (R + 1) − 2 x π x R
= 2 x π metres
= 6.28 metres.
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