A really simple question.

I resemble that remark! ANON :wink:

I do enough arguing over in the Religion and Politics threads. So for here...



....ten kids decide to steal some cookies. Some of the kids are 7th graders and some are 8th graders.

They steal a batch of 56 cookies.

When they divided them up, it was decided that each 7th grader would get 5 cookies and each 8th grader would get 6.

How many of the kids were 8th graders; how many 7th?

Cookies 2 (revenge of the crumbs).

May I say, with a degree of confidence I have not felt since the end of the civil war.
The answer to your devilish conundrum is, 7G=4 & 8G=6.
I sincerely hope that meets your expectations.

Try

Correct!

Mungo sent his answer to me by PM -- and he was correct also.

This is a really easy problem -- but I have a question. Did you two obtain the answer using algebra -- or did you simply reason it out as I did? (I can't use algebra!)

My reasoning was -- give all 10 kids 5 cookies. That means the 7th graders already got their full shares -- and the 8th graders each got 1 of the six left. Which of course, means 6 8th graders and 4 7th graders.


Here is a similar easy puzzle. The hard ones are coming.

One day, the kids came upon several batches of cookies. Some were oatmeal cookies-- and some were chocolate chip cookies.

The oatmeal cookies were on plates.

In all, there were 59 cookies -- with the oatmeal cookies, nine to a plate and the chocolate cookies 4 to a plate.

How many were oatmeal and how many chocolate?


BTW -- which is more: six dozen dozen, or a half dozen dozen?

Frank, are you sure, it was he? It sounds a bit PMT to me! :wink:


"This is a really easy problem -- but I have a question. Did you two obtain the answer using algebra -- or did you simply reason it out as I did? (I can't use algebra!)"

I only ever use mental arithmetic to work out the possible answer. In this case a combination of 5's and 6's had to equal 56, The only number that ended with a 6 was 36 so the other had to be 20. A simple case of 5 & 6 times table. Time taken 10sec.

Now, I know as a fact that, by this time Mungo had eaten half of his formula.

27 OM cookies / 32 CC cookies.

Quote, "BTW -- which is more: six dozen dozen, or a half dozen dozen?"

Just let me say six is more than a half, everything else being equal.

How did I work out the cookies? Six times ten is sixty. Minus the given fifty-six makes four. So four had five cookies. It was a lot quicker to do than it took to explain. Much the same as Frank's way but stood on its head. (Incidentally, Frank, you may not know it but you did use algebra. That is how algebra works)

Yup, I made it eight plates choc chip and three plates oatmeal.

Is six dozen dozen bigger than half a dozen dozen? Only if twelve times as large counts as bigger :-)

BTW I have been told that there are several good reasons for designing manhole covers to be round. Can you name three

Frank, I know you are short on time, so you can make it two. However if Craven drops by it has to be at least five. :wink:

Try

I know all three.

I'll PM you with the answer.


For the record, if you type in Why are manhole covers round? into a search engine -- you will be astounded at how many sites are devoted to this topic!

My guesses - there is no fun looking it up - would be:

Round covers are cheaper and easier to make. There is a minimum dimension (big enough for entry so that the hole can be accessed) and with a circle the minmum dimension is also the greatest dimension, requiring less materials and therefore less weight. 'Disc-shape- is the easiest shape to make accurately.

In handling, and under traffic, there are no corners to be broken off.

It is easier to make a seal on a circular object than on any other shape.

Round lids are easier to handle - they can be rolled into position and there is no preferred orientation. (Any old way around will do!) And - see above - the lack of corners makes damage less likely with less demands for careful handling. The weight is less. All of this makes the handling quicker and easier.

Circular is one of the few shapes that can not fall through the hole that they fit.

The 'socket' that the cover fits into is stronger if round. It forms a 'torsion ring' which has some of the same strengthening properties as an arch except that, unlike an arch, it goes all of the way around.

Six. Will that do for the time being?

Actually, to a veteran puzzler -- this puzzle is an old one -- and most puzzlers know it. No NEED to look it up. But it is interesting to note how many pages of material are on tap on puzzles of this sort.

Among the many jobs I've had in my day -- and there have been MANY -- is bartender.

A bartender has to know tons of these kinds of things or he is gonna be giving out lots of drinks free!

There you have it, Try. The reason we are outclassed. Why oh why did my career adviser let me down this way, allowing me to fritter away my youth on books and studies when I could have been getting an education that would be of some use.

I may sue!

Try

On the subject of split infinitives, the poet Dryden invented the rule of 'no splitting infinitives' for no better reason than snob value. (Not ending a sentence with a proposition dates from the same time, same source) He felt that it sounded more 'Latin-like' and he didn't want to sound 'German-like', totally disregarding that English is a Germanic language. Not a good enough reason to my mind.

So here is the puzzle. A lady's pearl necklace snapped. Everyone scrabbled around trying to find her pearls. MOST BUT NOT ALL OF THE PEARLS were found. Which of the following sentences unambiguously describes this outcome?
(I repeat, "Most but not all were found")

1)She completely failed to recover her pearls
2)She failed completely to recover her pearls.
3) She failed to completely recover her pearls
4) She failed to recover her pearls completely.


Note that in the interests of consistency you, and any other passing 'split infinitive' maven, are not allowed to choose answer 3) as it splits an infinitive

It that a "choose one and only one" kind of puzzle?

Surely, you do not mind if I call you surely. Surely. Without doubt. In fact, unquestionably, I can definitely, no indubitably, with confidence, indisputably and absolutely of course state that for sure, I am unsure.
However, I do like answer 3.

This reminds me of a Panda that eats shoots and leaves. Without a comma to calm him down is a real mean dude.

Try

You sound somewhat ambivalent. Or maybe you don't. I dunno. Now me, I am never ambivalent. Well I don't think so. Maybe I am a bit - from time to time maybe. I'm not sure, could be. On the other hand perhaps I am utterly bivalent, I can't quite decide.

Frank.

"Is it pick one and only one answer?"
Erm . . . well, I don't really know how to answer that.

Try

You sound somewhat ambivalent. Or maybe you don't. I dunno. Now me, I am never ambivalent. Well I don't think so. Maybe I am a bit - from time to time maybe. I'm not sure, could be. On the other hand perhaps I am utterly bivalent, I can't quite decide.

Frank.

"Is it pick one and only one answer?"
Erm . . . well, I don't really know how to answer that.

Good old Mungo, liked his reply so much he posted it twice!
Time you went to Austraila methinks. :wink:

Why Austraila? It was Canada last time.

So I don't know diddly about A2K and how it all works; is that reason to disparage my efforts (I believe that 'disparage' has some connection with 'remove the asparagus' but I am ambivalent about that)

I don't even know how to withdraw a post or to add one of those dinky pics under my name. It is all so tragic/pathetic, and dreadfully unfair on one as young and lovely as I, is it not?