As I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
This is a very old puzzle, and appeared in a manuscript dated around 1730. It is thought to refer to a town in Cornwall, UK.
If we were to count everyone and everything, including all of the kits, cats, sacks and wives, we would have:
Me = 1
Man = 1
Wifes = 7
Sacks = 7 x 7 = 49
Cats = 7 x 7 x 7 = 343
Kits = 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 = 2401
Total = 1 + 1 + 7 + 49 + 343 + 2401 = 2,802.
??
Puzzle 6
At a recent school fayre, 500 people attended and £500 was raised. The prices were as follows:
Fathers £2.00
Mothers £3.00
Children £0.48
More mothers than fathers turned up. How many children were there?
The total distance was 180 miles, but as I still had 5 miles to go, the required answer is 175 miles.
Reasoning
Let's try working backwards.
Day 4: I travelled 3/4, which means that the other 1/4 was 5 miles, and 20 miles were left at the start of day four.
Day 3: I travelled 2/3, which means that the other 1/3 was 20 mile, and 60 miles were left at the start of day three.
Day 2: I travelled 1/2, which means that the other 1/2 was 60 miles, and 120 miles were left at the start of day two.
Day 1: I travelled 1/3, which means that the other 2/3 was 120 miles, and 180 miles were ahead at the start of day one.
The full distance was therefore 180 miles, but we were asked how many miles I had travelled so far, and as I still had 5 to go the answer is 175 miles.
Double-Checking
Start distance: 180 miles.
Day 1: I travelled 1/3 of the distance (60 miles), leaving 120 miles.
Day 2: I travelled 1/2 of the distance (60 miles), leaving 60 miles.
Day 3: I travelled 2/3 of the distance (40 miles), leaving 20 miles.
Day 4: I travelled 3/4 of the distance (15 miles), leaving 5 miles.
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Puzzle 8
Below are seven clues to seven words.
When arranged in the correct order, each word is an anagram of the previous word with a letter removed.
capital of Francesnakelong root vegetablesingle articletwisted anklecoarse fileequally
