Part 5

If 70 dogs with 5 legs each catch 90 rabbits with 3 legs each in 25 minutes, how many legs must 80 rabbits have to get away from 50 dogs with 2 legs each in half an hour?

8. Suppose a greyhound makes 27 springs whilst a hare makes 25, and the springs are equal: if the hare is 50 springs before the hound at the start, in how many springs will the hound overtake the hare?

The first Arithmetic in English was written by Tonstal, Bishop of London, and printed by Pinson in 1552.

Two persons playing dominoes 10 hours a day and making 4 moves a minute could continue 118,000 years without exhausting all the combinations of the game.

A schoolmaster wrote the word “dozen” on the blackboard, and asked the pupils to each write a sentence containing the word. He was somewhat taken aback to find on one of the slates the following unique sentence: “I dozen know my lesson.”

9. I have a piece of ground, which is neither square nor round, But an octagon, and this I have laid out In a novel way, though plain in appearance, and retain Three posts in each compartment; but I doubt Whether you discover how I apportioned it, e’en tho’ I inform you ’tis divided into four. But, if you solve it right, ’twill afford you much delight And repay you for the trouble, I am sure.

At an examination in arithmetic, a little boy was asked “what two and two made?” Answer--“Four.” “Two and four?” Answer--“Six.” “Two and six?” Answer--“Half-a-crown.”

10. A certain gentleman dying left his executor the sum of £3,000 to be disposed of in the following manner, viz.:--To give to his son £1,000, to his wife £1,000, to his sister £1,000, and to his sister’s son £1,000, to his mother’s grandson £1,000, to his own father and mother £1,000, and to his wife’s own father and mother £1,000--required, the scheme of kindred.

COPY OF LETTER FROM FIRM TO COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER.

Sydney, 25th Jan., 1895. MR. EINSTEIN, Townsville, DEAR SIR,

Ve hav receved your letter on the 18th mit expense agount and round list. vat ve vants is orders, ve haf plenty maps in Sydney vrom vich to make up round lists also big families to make expenses.

Mr. Einstein ve find in going through your expenses agount 10s. for pilliards please don’t buy no more pilliards for us. vat ve vants is orders, also ve do see 30s. for a Horse and Buggy, vere is de horse and vot haf you done mit de Buggy the rest on your expenses agount vas nix but drinks--vy don’t you suck ice. ve sended you to day two boxes cigars, 1 costed 6/-and the oder 3/6 you can smoke the 6/- box, but gif de oders to your gustomers, ve send you also samples of a necktie vat costed us 28/-gross, sell dem for 30/-dozen if you can’t get 30/-take 8/6, vat ve vants is orders. The neckties is a novelty as ve hav dem in stock for seven years and ain’d sold none. My brother Louis says you should stop in Rockhampton. His cousin Marks livs dere. Louis says you should sell Marks a good bill; dry him mit de neckties first, and sell mostly for cash, he is Louis’s cousin. Ve only giv credit to dem gustomers vat pays cash. Don’t date any more bills ahead, as the days are longer in the summer as in the vinter. Don’t show Marks any of the good sellers, and finaly remember Mr. Einstein mit us veder you do bisness or you do nothings at all vat ve vants is orders.

Yours Truly, SHADRACK & Co. P.S.--Keep the expenses down.

11. Two fathers and two sons went into a hotel to have drinks, which amounted to one shilling. They each spent the same amount. How much did each pay?

12. In a cricket match, a side of 11 men made a certain number of runs. One obtained one-eighth of the number, each of two others one-tenth, and each of three others one-twentieth. The rest made up among them 126 (the remainder of the score), and four of the last scored five times as many as the others. What was the whole number of runs, and the score of each man?

BRAINS v. BRAWN.

SCHOOLMASTER--“What is meant by mental occupation?”

PUPIL--“One in which we use our minds.”

SCHOOLMASTER--“And a manual occupation?”

PUPIL--“One in which we use our hands.”

SCHOOLMASTER--“Now, which of these occupations is mine. Come, now; what do I use most in teaching you?”

PUPIL (quickly)--“Your cane, sir!”

MAGIC ADDITION.

To write the answer of an addition sum, when only one line has been written.

73468 52174 } pair 47825 } 69341 } pair 30658 } ------ 273466 ======

Tell a person to write down a row of figures. Now, this row will constitute the main body of the answer. Tell him to write another row beneath it; you now write a row also, matching his second row in pairs of 9’s he writes one more row, and you again supply another in the same manner. Your addition sum will now consist of five lines, four of which are paired; the first line, or key line, being the answer to the sum.

From the unit figure in the key line deduct the number of pairs of 9’s--in this instance two--and place the remainder, 6, as the unit figure of the answer, then write in order the rest of the figures in the key line, annexing the 2 to the extreme left; this will constitute the complete answer.

It, of course, is not necessary to adhere to two pairs of 9’s; there may be three, four, or even more; but the total number of lines, including the key line, must be odd, and the number of pairs must be deducted from the unit figure of the key line, and this same number be written down at the extreme left. The number of figures in each line should always be the same. As the location of the key line may be changed if necessary, the artifice could not easily be detected.