11.--THE CYCLISTS' FEAST.
'Twas last Bank Holiday, so I've been told,
Some cyclists rode abroad in glorious weather.
Resting at noon within a tavern old,
They all agreed to have a feast together.
"Put it all in one bill, mine host," they said,
"For every man an equal share will pay."
The bill was promptly on the table laid,
And four pounds was the reckoning that day.
But, sad to state, when they prepared to square,
'Twas found that two had sneaked outside and fled.
So, for two shillings more than his due share
Each honest man who had remained was bled.
They settled later with those rogues, no doubt.
How many were they when they first set out?
12.--A QUEER THING IN MONEY.
It will be found that £66, 6s. 6d. equals 15,918 pence. Now, the four
6's added together make 24, and the figures in 15,918 also add to 24. It
is a curious fact that there is only one other sum of money, in pounds,
shillings, and pence (all similarly repetitions of one figure), of whichthe digits shall add up the same as the digits of the amount in pence.
What is the other sum of money?
13.--A NEW MONEY PUZZLE.
The largest sum of money that can be written in pounds, shillings,
pence, and farthings, using each of the nine digits once and only once,
is £98,765, 4s. 3½d. Now, try to discover the smallest sum of money
that can be written down under precisely the same conditions. There must
be some value given for each denomination--pounds, shillings, pence,
and farthings--and the nought may not be used. It requires just a little
judgment and thought.
14.--SQUARE MONEY.
"This is queer," said McCrank to his friend. "Twopence added to twopence
is fourpence, and twopence multiplied by twopence is also fourpence." Of
course, he was wrong in thinking you can multiply money by money. The
multiplier must be regarded as an abstract number. It is true that two
feet multiplied by two feet will make four square feet. Similarly, two
pence multiplied by two pence will produce four square pence! And it
will perplex the reader to say what a "square penny" is. But we will
assume for the purposes of our puzzle that twopence multiplied by
twopence is fourpence. Now, what two amounts of money will produce the
next smallest possible result, the same in both cases, when added or
multiplied in this manner? The two amounts need not be alike, but they
must be those that can be paid in current coins of the realm.
15.--POCKET MONEY.
What is the largest sum of money--all in current silver coins and nofour-shilling piece--that I could have in my pocket without being able
to give change for a half-sovereign?
16.--THE MILLIONAIRE'S PERPLEXITY.
Mr. Morgan G. Bloomgarten, the millionaire, known in the States as the
Clam King, had, for his sins, more money than he knew what to do with.
It bored him. So he determined to persecute some of his poor but happy
friends with it. They had never done him any harm, but he resolved to
inoculate them with the "source of all evil." He therefore proposed to
distribute a million dollars among them and watch them go rapidly to the
bad. But he was a man of strange fancies and superstitions, and it was
an inviolable rule with him never to make a gift that was not either one
dollar or some power of seven--such as 7, 49, 343, 2,401, which numbers
of dollars are produced by simply multiplying sevens together. Another
rule of his was that he would never give more than six persons exactly
the same sum. Now, how was he to distribute the 1,000,000 dollars? You
may distribute the money among as many people as you like, under the
conditions given.
17.--THE PUZZLING MONEY-BOXES.
Four brothers--named John, William, Charles, and Thomas--had each a
money-box. The boxes were all given to them on the same day, and they at
once put what money they had into them; only, as the boxes were not very
large, they first changed the money into as few coins as possible. After
they had done this, they told one another how much money they had saved,
and it was found that if John had had 2s. more in his box than at
present, if William had had 2s. less, if Charles had had twice as much,
and if Thomas had had half as much, they would all have had exactly the
same amount.
Now, when I add that all four boxes together contained 45s., and that
there were only six coins in all in them, it becomes an entertainingpuzzle to discover just what coins were in each box.
18.--THE MARKET WOMEN.
A number of market women sold their various products at a certain price
per pound (different in every case), and each received the same
amount--2s. 2½d. What is the greatest number of women there could
have been? The price per pound in every case must be such as could be
paid in current money.
19.--THE NEW YEAR'S EVE SUPPERS.
The proprietor of a small London café has given me some interesting
figures. He says that the ladies who come alone to his place for
refreshment spend each on an average eighteenpence, that the
unaccompanied men spend half a crown each, and that when a gentleman
brings in a lady he spends half a guinea. On New Year's Eve he supplied
suppers to twenty-five persons, and took five pounds in all. Now,
assuming his averages to have held good in every case, how was his
company made up on that occasion? Of course, only single gentlemen,
single ladies, and pairs (a lady and gentleman) can be supposed to have
been present, as we are not considering larger parties.
20.--BEEF AND SAUSAGES.
"A neighbour of mine," said Aunt Jane, "bought a certain quantity of
beef at two shillings a pound, and the same quantity of sausages at
eighteenpence a pound. I pointed out to her that if she had divided the
same money equally between beef and sausages she would have gained two
pounds in the total weight. Can you tell me exactly how much she spent?"
"Of course, it is no business of mine," said Mrs. Sunniborne; "but a
lady who could pay such prices must be somewhat inexperienced in
domestic economy."
"I quite agree, my dear," Aunt Jane replied, "but you see that is not
the precise point under discussion, any more than the name and morals of
the tradesman."
