Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/616

 A Medley of Puzzles

��Bv Sam Lovd

��Off His Beat

"'IT THAT time of the morning is it?" VV asked the roundsman. It was then that Finnegan's mathematical bump stood him in good stead; for, being a few minutes late on his beat, he clouded the situa- tion with the fol- lowing truthful re- ply:

"Just add yi the time from mid- night until now to yi the time from now until midnight, and it will give you the correct time."

Can you figure out the exact time Finnegan made his speech?

At the Auto Races

AN interesting question arose the other day at the Auto Races when three of the speed experts started on a hundred-mile race. A member of the sporting fraternity offered the odds of 20 to I against anyone's guessing the complete result of the contest. While the odds appeared to be surprisingh' generous, an onlooker who prides himself on his aptness at figures claimed the book- maker would have the advantage of such a

����wager.

Remember that one, two or all three of the cars might fail to finish. Then again, that all three might cross the finish line together, or that two might finish in a dead heat, etc.

Can you figure out in just how many varied ways the race might have termi- nated?

��CASH PRIZES FOR PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

��Fifteen Dollars in prizes will be awarded for solutions of the puzzles appearing on these two pages. The first prize of Five Dollars will be paid to the reader who makes a perfect score. Ten prizes of One Dollar each will be awarded to the first ten who send in meritorious answers. Should there be more than one perfect set of answers, the first prize will be paid to the reader whose letter was mailed first: the postmark will guide us in determining the mailing date. Answers to the April puzzles will appear in the May number. Names of the winners of the prizes in the June number.

Send solutions to Sam Loyd, Care POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The solution of (he March Puzzles appear on (he opposite page. The names of (he win- ners of the March prizes will appear in May.

��Cheese and Crackers

CHEF LOUIS is showing the exact ratio in which cheese and crackers should be consumed. Says Louis:

"The balance board, which weighs ^2 as much as the cheese has 4/5 of its length on one side of the bal- ance point. Now what is the ratio between these quantities of cheese and crack- ers?"

This problem is literalK' a lesson in "balanced ra- tions," which you can easih" soK'e by a simple algebraic principle.

At the Stamp Window

UNCLE SAM'S postal clerks in an ordinary day's turn at the stamp window are confronted with all sorts of perplexing problems which they are ex- pected to solve off-hand without betray- ing the mental g^-mnastics required. One of these bright young men tells how the other day the cashier of a large mail-order house which buys in quanti- ty, tossed a banknote through his window and said :

"Give me some i- cent stamps; three- fourths as many 2's as I's, three-fourths as many 5's as 2's and five 8-cent stamps for the balance of the

��money.

Can you tell the denomination of the banknote?

The postal clerk did not even have to use a pencil and paper, though you may, if necessary.

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