The Miller next took the company aside and showed them nine sacks of flour that were standing as depicted in the sketch.
"Now, hearken, all and some," said he, "while that I do set ye the riddle of the nine sacks of flour.
And mark ye, my lords, that there be single sacks on the outside, pairs next unto them, and three together in the middle thereof.
By Saint Benedict, it doth so happen that if we do but multiply the pair, 28, by the single one, 7, the answer is 196, which is of a truth the number shown by the sacks in the middle.
Yet it be not true that the other pair, 34, when so multiplied by its neighbour, 5, will also make 196.
Wherefore I do beg you, gentle sirs, so to place anew the nine sacks with as little trouble as possible that each pair when thus multiplied by its single neighbour shall make the number in the middle."
As the Miller has stipulated in effect that as few bags as possible shall be moved, there is only one answer to this puzzle, which everybody should be able to solve.
The Miller's Puzzle, The Canterbury Puzzles, Henry Ernest Dudeney.
Hint
The two left numbers multiplied, or the right two numbers, should create the central number.
Answer
The way to arrange the sacks of flour is as follows: 2, 78, 156, 39, 4. Here each pair when multiplied by its single neighbour makes the number in the middle, and only five of the sacks need to be moved.
There are just three other ways in which they might have been arranged (4, 39, 156, 78, 2; or 3, 58, 174, 29, 6; or 6, 29, 174, 58, 3), but they all require the moving of seven sacks.
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Puzzle 2
Can you create a sentence that contains the word 'and' five times in a row?
Hint
Start by imaging a sign saying 'BrainBashers Puzzles And Illusions'.
Answer
I commissioned an artist to paint a sign for BrainBashers that said 'BrainBashers Puzzles And Illusions', however, they made a terrible mistake.
The gaps between 'Puzzles' and 'And', and 'And' and 'Illusions' weren't the same, so the sign seemed oddly out of balance.
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Puzzle 3
A trout's tail weighs eight pounds.
Its head weighs as much as the tail and one-half of the body combined, and the body weighs as much as the head and tail combined.
1 mile = 1760 yards = 1760 x 3 feet = 1760 x 3 x 12 inches = 1760 x 3 x 12 x 25.4 millimetres = 1,609,344mm in 1 mile.
And:
2 kilometres = 2000 metres = 2000 x 100 centimetre = 2000 x 100 x 10 millimetres = 2000 x 100 x 10 ÷ 25.4 inches = 2000 x 100 x 10 ÷ 25.4 x 16 = sixteenths of an inch ≈ 1,259,843 sixteenths of an inch in 2 kilometres.
