Maths Puzzles

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By Cashflowco


Maths Puzzles vs Suduko

I just got back from Borders Books, I was blown away with 6 shelves of Maths Puzzles and Suduko.

I had to climb to the top shelf to read the titles,Math Puzzles to Stretch your Mind, Black Belt Suduko, and my favourite Idiots Guide to Suduko.

When you think about it 6 Shelves is a truckload of trees.

If you of said the word Suduko a couple years ago, Id probably thought it was some king of Oriental martial arts. Instead its just another form of Maths Puzzles.

I'm a great believer in doing Maths puzzles. Use it or loses it.

My dad's 75 years old,and he's as sharp as a tack. He loves nothing more than getting his teeth stuck into a Maths or Suduko Puzzles. He reckons it keeps him young. He keeps telling me "if you don't use your mind, it will die".

I meet plenty of deadheads, you know the ones dead from the neck up.

keep you mind active, by stretching with stimulating Maths Puzzles.

In my house it a race to see, who gets to do the Suduko Puzzle in the newspaper. Let me tell you my 10 year old daughter shows no mercy. I tell you these maths puzzles have improved her mathematics skills.

Now the world doesn't need another Suduko puzzle, because Borders has Shelves stuffed with Suduko books.

So to keep your mind sharp, I'd like to share Maths Puzzles which get Grey matter working.

Go on have a go.

Let me know how you found it

The Pirate's Dilemma Puzzle

"Shiver me timbers!

All cannon-balls are to be piled in square pyramids on deck," was the order issued to the pirate crew. This was done. Then came the further order, "All pyramids are to contain a square number of balls." Whereupon the trouble arose. "It can't be done," said the gunner. "Look at this pyramid, for example; there are sixteen balls at the base, then nine, then four, then one at the top, making thirty balls in all. But there must be six more balls, or five fewer, to make a square number." "It must pile one ball into a pyramid!" Is it really possible to obey both orders? be done," insisted the capi. "All you have to do is to put the right number of balls in your pyramids." "I've got it!" said a 2nd mate, the mathematical genius of the regiment. "Lay the balls out singly." "Bosh!" exclaimed the capitain. "You can't pile one ball into a pyramid!" Is it really possible to obey both orders?

The Artillerymens Dilemma Puzzle

Cannon Balls piled to form square pyramids
Cannon Balls piled to form square pyramids

Comments

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MrMarmalade profile image

MrMarmalade  says:
2 years ago

Your comments about Sudoku has given me food for thought

thank you

visvaashini  says:
5 months ago

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Brogicus  says:
5 months ago

Well I got the sequence as 1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140, 204... Which is a cubic (3rd differences are the same) I then used simultaneous equations to get 1/3 n^3 + 1/2 n^2 + 1/6 n - x^2 = 0 where n is the layer of the pyramid and x^2 is the square number that is the total of canon balls. I then tried putting it into the cubic equation but got stuck so I googled it and found http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CannonballProblem.htm Do I get bonus marks for having a go first?

Rubes profile image

Rubes  says:
3 months ago

The answer to the pyramid problem is quite simple. Don't put the canon balls in the centers of each layer. In a 4 tier pyramid, starting from the top, there would be 1,4,8,12 = 25. That was a fun brain teaser even though it took less than a min to figure out.

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