Puzzle 137
What number comes next in this sequence:
7 · 8 · 5 · 5 · 3 · 4 · 4 · ?
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Hint
The answer involves months of the year.
Answer
6.
The number of letters each month has, starting with January, therefore, August has 6 letters.
Puzzle 138
Yesterday I went for a short bicycle ride around the local lakes. As the weather was very hot, I rode in shorter stages than I'd normally ride.
In Stage One, I rode half of the overall distance.
Stage Two saw half of the remaining distance plus 35 metres covered.
Stage Three covered three-quarters of the remaining distance.
Stage Four completed half of the remaining distance, plus 75 metres.
Stage Five completed the journey with a final burst of 150 metres.
How far did I cycle in total?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Try working backwards.
Answer
7,340 metres.
Reasoning
Stage 5's clue tells us that 150m was left. So the distance left at the start of Stage 4 must have been:
Dist4 = Dist4 + 75 + 150
—————
2
Which simplifies to give Dist4 = 450m.
Stage 3's clue tells us that 450m was one quarter of the remaining distance, so Dist3 = 1,800m.
Stage 2's clue tells us that the distance at the start of Stage 2 was:
Dist2 = Dist2 + 35 + 1800
—————
2
Which simplifies to give Dist2 = 3,670m.
Stage 1's clue tells us that 3,670m was half the overall distance, which means the entire ride was 7,340m.
Double-Checking
Starting with 7,340m:
Stage 1: cycled 3,670m, leaving 3,670m
Stage 2: cycled 1,870m, leaving 1,800m
Stage 3: cycled 1,350m, leaving 450m
Stage 4: cycled 300m, leaving 150m
Stage 5: cycled 150m, leaving 0m
Puzzle 139
What comes next in this sequence:
boron · carbon · nitrogen · oxygen · ?
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Hint
The first in the list would be Hydrogen.
Answer
Fluorine.
These are the elements in atomic number order.
Puzzle 140
Starting in the bottom left corner and moving either up or right, adding up the numbers along the way, what is the largest sum that can be made?
| 2 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
| 2 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
| 6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
| 5 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
| 3 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
Note: this puzzle is not interactive, and the numbers cannot be clicked.
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
The answer is not 31.
Answer
The largest sum that can be made is 34.
