Movie Ticket Puzzle Solution

[This is a back-issue of one of this site’s newsletters]

It’s Monday Morning Math Time!

If you’re hungry, have a look at this yummy breakfast math video. You’ll see there’s more than one way to cut a bagel, and maybe learn a bit of topology too.

I promised to give you a solution to the movie ticket problem.
If you missed it, have a read here and see if you can solve it before you read on here!

Continue reading Movie Ticket Puzzle Solution

Coconuts and Diamonds

One of my favourite puzzles of all times is a bit tough for a typical lower-school kid. It goes like this :

Five men and a monkey are stranded on a desert island. They spend the day searching for food, and by evening, they have collected a big pile of coconuts. Too tired to do anything but sleep, they agree to share the coconuts out in the morning.

However, one of the men wakes up just before midnight. He doesn’t trust his companions, so he goes to the pile of coconuts to take his share. he divides the coconuts into five equal piles, with one left over. He takes his share and hides it, gives the spare coconut to the monkey, collects the rest back into a pile, and goes back to sleep. Continue reading Coconuts and Diamonds

Pumpkin Puzzle

A Young Pumpkin Plant
A Young Pumpkin Plant

We have some pumpkin plants growing in our yard. I counted them at one point, and there were 24 plants. This inspired a little puzzle –

If I have 24 pumpkin plants, and half of them grow a pumpkin, and half of those that grow a pumpkin grow another, and half of those that grow another grow yet another still – then how many pumpkins do I get in the end? Continue reading Pumpkin Puzzle