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Mathematical Puzzles 



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Puzzle 1 



This puzzle is called 'Mamma's Age', and is taken from 'Amusements In Mathematics' by Henry Ernest Dudeney (1917).

Tommy: "How old are you, mamma?"

Mamma: "Let me think, Tommy. Well, our three ages add up to exactly seventy years."

Tommy: "That's a lot, isn't it? And how old are you, papa?"

Papa: "Just six times as old as you, my son."

Tommy: "Shall I ever be half as old as you, papa?"

Papa: "Yes, Tommy; and when that happens our three ages will add up to exactly twice as much as to-day."

Tommy: "And supposing I was born before you, papa; and supposing mamma had forgot all about it, and hadn't been at home when I came; and supposing--"

Mamma: "Supposing, Tommy, we talk about bed. Come along, darling. You'll have a headache."

Now, if Tommy had been some years older he might have calculated the exact ages of his parents from the information they had given him. Can you find out the exact age of mamma?

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Puzzle 2 



What number is...

...three-quarters of eight-ninths of one-half of 2001?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 3 



How many squares, of any size, can you find on this chessboard that do not contain a Rook?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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Puzzle 4 



I recently travelled from my home town to a distant music concert, on a pedal tricycle, of all things! My wonderful, three-wheeled tricycle.

I knew that the epic 2,345 mile trip would wreak havoc on the tyres, but luckily I took along 4 spares!

Instead of waiting for any single tyre to fail, I decided that I would rotate the tyres evenly, making sure that by the end of the trip, all seven tyres had travelled exactly the same distance.

What was the distance that each tyre travelled?

Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone

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