The farm of Elmer Mudd in Texas is a large one stocked with horses, longhorn cows, and chickens – all managed by some farm hands.
The number of horns, heads, wings and tails of the horses, cows, chickens and farm hands equals the number of legs.
If there are four farm hands, how many chickens, horses and cattle do they manage?
Manu, a king in a long-forgotten land called Lemuria, that flourished prior to recorded history, had a nubile daughter named Lailai he decided to marry off to someone brave and intelligent to ensure his lineage would continue with prosperity.
So he had a proclamation posted on all trees and buildings in the kingdom that whosoever could work out the magic number would marry Princess Lailai. Those who failed would have their head chopped off.
According to the court astrologer Bolbol, the magic number was the test that would endow the person who could work it out with the power of dominion of Lemuria. The number was the total area of the kingdom, expressed in mets, the area unit used in Lemuria. Three digits were missing in the number.
The future prince would have to work out what these three digits were to qualify for marrying Princess Lailai and inheriting the kingdom after King Manu decided to leave his body for other regions.
The threat of death deterred all but three applicants, the first two of which were rapidly despatched by Zok, the executioner. The last candidate was Manas, the son of a blacksmith of a small town in Lemuria.
He had always had a thing with numbers and would dream about them all day long – even while working in his father’s smithy. Manas would write down his discoveries in a notebook during his free time.
Manas saw the proclamation on a tree he often conversed with, and was his special friend. He remembered having seen Princess Lailai in a procession, when a glow suddenly appeared around her head.
Next day, Manas, with his notebook, presented himself as a candidate before King Manu in the presence of Princess Lailai, who looked at him with large eyes.
Manas was led to a room in a turret by Bolbol the court astrologer – accompanied by a leering Zok with his axe – given writing materials and told to submit the answer to Bolbol the next day after breakfast.
The magic number 8*45*64*9 was written on a board on the wall of the turret room. Bobol said it was divisible by 9 and 11, and was a square. Then he left, locking the door behind him.
Initially, Manas had some difficulty in working out the number, but then he remembered something he had discovered about the endings of squares and written down in his notebook, which made the whole thing much simpler.
After breakfast the next day, Manas submitted his answer to Bolbol, the court astrologer, who confirmed that it was correct.
Soon thereafter, Manas and Lailai rode off on two royal stallions of the time to see the countryside. Standing on a balcony, King Manu watched them briskly ride off with a smile.
What do you think was the magic number Manas worked out so he could marry Princess Lailai?
In the late afternoon of a sunny day, Jack sat under a spreading, umbrella-like tree on a campus hill studying his economics textbook and pondering on a problem assigned to him. Jack scratched his head and began to yawn and gaze into the distance.
Then, Jill walked barefoot up the hill on the verdant grass. “You look puzzled, Jack. What’s up,” she said with a big dimpled smile.
“I can’t figure out this economics problem professor Thrombastus von Vogelkopf assigned me,” Jack wailed.
“Tell me about it,” offered Jill and sat down, pulling up the legs of her tight jeans to get comfortable.
“Well, in this problem there is a Maya Insecurities Corp. which sells papers it calls insecurities, and last year they had a turnover of one type of insecurity to the value of 23,887.09 dollars. This year, sales of the insecurity rose to 43,445.89 dollars. So the professor wants me to figure out how much the insecurity concerned costs, and how many of it were sold each year,” Jack explained in frustration.
What do you think about that, Jill? Any ideas?” he moaned.
“Doesn’t the professor like you, Jack,” said Jill with a sympathetic tone. “What did you do or say to him, Jack?” she said with a knowing look.
“Well, I did kind of say that ever since the gold standard was dropped modern economic theory, practice and structure can be compared to a house of cards and a Ponzi scheme on a large scale promoted and taught by unscrupulous types with little concern for the human race, and that it would eventually lead to a big crash causing a grand depression and large-scale suffering – even another world war,” said Jack sincerely.
“I told him that incorruptible gold is the metal of the powerful Sun, imaginary values are the stock in trade of the deceptive Moon, where justice is a forgotten concept,” explained Jack. “From the look on his face, I believe he didn’t appreciate my point of view,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Ok, I get the picture,” said Jill, and burst out laughing. “I am taking a class in number theory, Jack, where I have learned things that can help you with this problem. And what will you give me in exchange for this, Jack?” She briefly pursed her lips and arched an eyebrow.
Can you help Jill work out Jack’s economics problem and find the value and amount of the insecurity sold for each of these years?
“Mommy, I want my cereal, my Munchy Crunchies,” pleaded Junior at the breakfast table. Mommy placed the cereal box, almond milk and honey in front of Junior.
While munching away Junior was avidly reading the promotional text on the back of the cereal box.
“Mommy, it says here that if I collect five famous Disney character cards, I will get a prize – a scout compass. There is one card in each box. Let’s quickly buy five boxes of Munchy Crunchies so I can get the compass for my Boy Scout trips,” suggested Junior with a bright enthusiastic look.
Daddy overheard Junior. “It doesn’t quite work that way, son. Maybe the five boxes we buy all have the same character card, or maybe just one different card.”
Junior was not discouraged. “It also says that cards have one of five colors on the other side: red, blue, green, yellow and orange,” informed Junior. “If all of the five character cards have a red back side, I can also win a Speedo bicycle. Please, daddy, we have to buy more boxes today,” pleaded Junior, munching away faster.
“Hmm,” said daddy.
“And, daddy, it also says that in one of every thousand boxes there is a gift card for a free trip to Disneyland for a family of three, with all expenses paid,” said Junior beaming.
Daddy became more interested. “Hmm, I will work out our chances for all this,” he said prudently, grabbed his calculator and went to his work room.
“Thanks, dad.” Junior was beaming with pleasure, thinking of the great prizes he would win and how much he would enjoy going to Disneyland.
Mommy cleaned the table. Then she made two cups of coffee and went to talk with daddy.
Can you help daddy work out how many cereal boxes on the average he will have to buy for Junior to obtain the five Disney characters and win a scout compass?
How many cereal boxes on average will win the red bicycle?
And how many boxes on average for a family trip to Disneyland?
Jackson was concentrating on the three cups filled with dice placed in front of him on the table covered with green felt, wondering which to choose.
“Some say that the result of any of the cups will be the same, just a fifty percent chance,” said Snipes the slick gambler. “Which of the cups do you say has the best chance?”
Jackson had bet Snipes a thousand dollars that he could pick the right cup and prove his point with a hundred throws of each cup.
Respectively, the cups – colored red, green and blue – contained six, twelve and eighteen dice. The issue was regarding the event probability of a throw of the cup with six dice giving at least one six, of the cup with twelve dice giving at least two sixes, and of the cup with eighteen dice giving at least three sixes. The question was which cup had the greatest event probability.
“Well, what do you say, Jackson,” said Snipes with a sly grin, a golden tooth glinting. “Which cup do you choose, the red, green or blue one?”
“Hard to say,” mumbled Jackson, thoughtfully stroking his bearded chin.
“Could be close, indeed. Snipes, would you mind if I check my runes?” Jackson pulled out a decorative brown leather bag containing rune stones and placed it on the table.
“No problem, Jackson. Take your time,” grinned Snipes, whose mental equipment did not believe in mumbo-jumbo.
Jackson rummaged in the rune bag with a pensive expression on his face and picked out three rune stones, which he carefully placed in a row on the green felt.
After a quick look at the runes he said, “Snipes, I’ll take that one,” indicating a certain cup on the table.
“Well, you picked the right one, Jackson. Just luck, I guess,” said Snipes with a mournful expression on his face and handed over the thousand dollars to Jackson.
“What about a game of Black Jack, eh?” Snipes placed a deck of cards on the table with a swift movement of his hand.
Jackson replaced his runes and walked away.
Which would you pick, the red, green or blue cup? And why?
The famous explorer Arbuthnot Smythe and his assistant Pascal stood before the stone door of an inaccessible ancient Roman underground tomb over which their torches showed was engraved “ET REQVIESCENT IBI TRES THESAURIS” in large letters.
Beside the door they saw three niches, each containing the bust of a lovely female aged from young to mature.
“Such exquisite sculpture work,” said Pascal full of admiration. “I wonder who the women were.”
“They appear to be related,” commented Arbuthnot, on an impulse pushing on the brooch sculpted on the older woman’s bust with his thumb and pulling her head forwards. This caused the stone door to open slowly on creaky hinges.
“Clever intuitive move,” exclaimed Pascal as they both entered and to their surprise saw that the interior of the tomb was illuminated by seven flaming lamps fixed around the walls.
They saw three exquisitely ornamented rectangular pools in each of which floated a perfectly preserved female body in serene repose, immersed in a transparent liquid. The older woman’s pool was placed on the left.
Arbuthnot Smythe and his assistant Pascal were speechless, eyes popping out and mouth dropping in wonder at this impossible spectacle.
After standing there for a while in a daze, Arbuthnot recovered himself sufficiently to speak. “I have read about this type of tomb in Blavatsky’s Isis book. It was for Cicero’s daughter,” he said in wonder. “Blavatsky even gives the formula for making these eternal flames. The tomb was found in the 19th century, news of which was inevitably suppressed by religious authorities,” he related.
“What shall we do,” asked an astounded Pascal.
“Nothing,“ replied Arbuthnot sadly. “What we see here has been accomplished with knowledge of advanced spiritual technology. Science and western religions are not ready for this, least of all so-called modern medicine.”
“We will make a record of what we find for some future generation, when religion has evolved to become scientific and science to become religious,” he said quietly.
They switched their attention to the foot of each stone tomb, where they saw a marble coffer with the inscriptions “SUMMAM FACIAT QUADRATUM – DIFFERENTIA EST AEQUALIS.”
Arbuthnot forced open the first marble coffer with his sturdy knife. As the lid fell back, they saw that the coffer was full of gold coins.
Arbuthnot picked up a gold coin and studied it with a magnifying glass. “This is an aureus coin of the type minted by Julius Caesar,” he shouted jubilantly. “It contains about eight grams of gold. What a treasure we have found, Pascal.”
“Really unbelievable. I wonder what’s in the other marble coffers,” said Pascal, unsheathing his knife to pry open the next marble coffer lid. Again they found it was full of aureus coins, although this marble coffer was smaller. The third, even smaller marble coffer revealed the same: full of aureus coins.
“I wonder how many aureus coins there are in these marble coffers,” said Pascal scratching his head. “Based on their size, each one contains a smaller number of coins.”
“Judging from the engraved Roman text, I would say that the sum of the number of coins in any two marble coffers, taken pairwise, adds up to a square.” replied Arbuthnot, replacing his knife in its scabbard.
“Brilliant, then the difference between the number of coins in one marble coffer and the next descending one must be the same, judging from the second inscription,” added Pascal with a big smile.
“Yes indeed, that must be so,” exclaimed Arbuthnot. “Then we only have to do the math to determine how many coins there are in each of the marble coffers.”
“Well, being a purist, you do the math, Arbuthnot. To avoid a headache, I will use a computer,” laughed Pascal. Arbuthnot had already pulled out a notebook and was writing down the details in equation form.
“Yes, I wonder who the women were,” said Arbuthnot Smythe. “My guess is they were the wife and daughters of a nobleman who met with a sudden unfortunate fate. So he left his treasure with them.”
Can you help Arbuthnot Smythe and Pascal work out how many gold coins each marble coffer contained?
Captain Jack Starwalker was being chased up the steps of a Mayan pyramid by a prodigiously large, Mayan warrior with a hideously painted face holding a hatchet in his hand, followed closely by the High Priest Ahau’s pet, a ferocious black jaguar.
Captain Starwalker had to get to the top of the pyramid precisely when the eclipse would start in a few seconds in order to be beamed back to his starship Orion.
Captain Starwalker was taking seven large steps at a time, the huge warrior was jumping eight steps at a time, grunting Mayan curses, and the black jaguar was leaping thirteen steps at a time – hissing with sharp, yellow canine teeth exposed.
Captain Starwalker was only 16 steps away from reaching the top of the pyramid, where he could see a blue energy halo already forming that would be his stargate exit.
The panting and howling warrior was gaining and only needed 22 steps to get to the top of the pyramid. The growling jaguar was gaining even more rapidly and was only 37 steps from the top.
Captain Starwalker took a final leap and jumped through the blue haze of the stargate to safety, while the warrior and the jaguar were bounced off by the solid blue energy of the stargate, as theirs was a mainly red energy.
They rolled and bumped irregularly back down the steep stairs, to the groaning dismay of a procession of irate Mayans headed by the High Priest Ahau.
Captain Jack Starwalker appeared on the beam-up deck of the starship Orion, wiped some sweat off his brow, checked that his historical artifact bag was fixed to his belt, straightened his uniform and walked through a passage to the command deck, where he was cheerfully welcomed by his officers.
Later, Captain Starwalker had to record in the ship’s log how many pyramid steps he had climbed, which required some thought, and he had to consult his star navigator Leonard about this. Can you help Leonard work out the number of steps there were on the Mayan pyramid?
Sir Lancelot was riding far from Camelot in pursuit of the Holy Grail when he came upon an abyss over which a bridge was stretched.
As he arrived, he saw another knight being confronted by a large, flame-snorting dragon named Dragon of the Abyss who roared: “Mortal, answer my riddle and pass in safety, or be cast into the abyss.”
“I am Sir Archibald, and will surely solve your riddle, Dragon of the Abyss,” he challenged. “What is your riddle, Dragon?”
“I am Odz, one half of me is a square, one third of me a cube. What is my cross?” The thunderous voice of the dragon reverberated among the mountains and was echoed from the abyss.
“Well, of course, it is six,” answered Sir Archibald, upon which he was cast into the abyss with his horse, screaming on the way down into the darkness.
Sir Lancelot thought a bit about the riddle and rode up to the Dragon of the Abyss before the bridge.
“My answer is true and you must let me pass. I have the answer to your riddle, my dragon.” He gave his answer and rode boldly on over the bridge. The Dragon of the Abyss did not stop him.
What is the correct answer to the riddle?
On a sunny Fall afternoon, Madame Lulu opened the creaky door to her gypsy wagon at the fairground in response to a persistent knock. In climbed Jasper from the step ladder with a confused look.
“Madame Lulu, I need to know when I will be born again, can you help me?” he blurted out excitedly, gesticulating.
“Let’s see what I can do,” replied Madame Lulu indicating a chair by a table adorned with a rich red tablecloth full of esoteric and astrological symbols. A white dove swooped down from above and landed on the back of Madame Lulu’s chair, looking on with interest.
Jasper sat down rapidly. “You see, Madame Lulu, I’m fatally ill from drug addiction, so I would like to know when I will be back, ” he confessed.
“Cross my palm with silver, my friend, and we’ll have a look,” smiled Madame Lulu sympathetically, sitting down across from Jasper and beginning to shuffle a pack of Tarot cards.
Madame Lulu swiftly placed five cards in a cross layout. “Central is the Death card in reverse, indicating the number 31. The Fool adjacent to it represents your next birth, so the duration of your next life will be your birth year divided by 31,” explained Madame Lulu.
“But, Madame Lulu, this is not enough information,” protested Jasper, busy writing down her statements in a small notebook.
“The Hermit above indicates a cross sum of 9. The Magician below reversed shows you will inherit your cloudy mental state in your next life for you to repair this unfortunate condition,” said Madame Lulu.
“The World’s number tau indicates your early life will pass into a century with no leap year,” informed Madame Lulu.
“Thank you, Madame Lulu, all noted,” exclaimed Jasper, placing a large silver dollar in Madame Lulu’s palm. “My friend Leonard will help me work out the figures. “
“So generous,” smiled Madame Lulu and escorted Jasper to the door of her wagon. “Wear this green jasper stone. It will help you on your way,” said Madame Lulu, folding a shiny green jasper stone into his hand.
Can you work out the year Jasper will be born again and the length of his life?
“Secundus, send seven scouts to gather intelligence about the positions of the barbarians!” barked generalis Clavdius Maximus to his centurion Celerem Secundus.
“Ave generalis, iam facta est.” Celerem Secundus ran off to dispatch seven scouts into the thick woods.
…These barbarians are primitive rabble. These tribus Germanicus will never develop a civilization as technically advanced as ours.
Clavdius Maximus wondered how many scouts would reappear. Lately only six out of ten scouts had found their way back to report what they had seen. The barbarians were very clever at spotting Roman scouts and would dispatch them quickly.
…Would at least five of the seven return?
What do you figure is the probability of at least five of the seven scouts reporting back?