These were in our local village magazine today. Aimed at young people. How embarrassing we didn't immediately get them. Took a moment or three.
I expect they're old chestnuts to the rest of you, but hey, someone might find them marginally amusing for a nanosecond.
First
You are the pilot of an aeroplane that flies from London to Naples - a distance of 1000 miles. The plane leaves at 10am, travels at 200 miles an hour and makes one stop of 30 minutes. What is the pilot's name?
And
A set of ten books is arranged in an orderly way on a shelf. Each book has 100 pages. A worm, starting at page 1 of the first book, eats his way through to page 100 of the last book. How many pages has he eaten?
I have to say we are still not sure we agree with the answer to this second one! Any other similar welcome. It's going to be Christmas with the in-laws you know.
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The answer to number 1 is easy , its me.
No 2... I would say none because he has only eaten his own diameter on each page, not the whole page.
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>>A set of ten books is arranged in an orderly way on a shelf. Each book has 100 pages. A worm, starting at page 1 of the first book, eats his way through to page 100 of the last book. How many pages has he eaten?
Perhaps the clue here is to remember that a book is printed two sided. So a book of 100 pages has only 50 pieces of paper.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 23 Dec 18 at 14:09
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400 or 800 would be acceptable answers to the second puzzle IMO.
Ignoring the nuance of whether the worm actually eats the (whole) page when he makes a hole in it...
If the books are shelved in a conventional manner then p1 vol1 is next to p100 vol2; and p100 vol10 is next to p1 vol9. As p1 should be a left hand page, he shouldn't have to eat through it to get to the next volume. Similarly he will get to p100 vol10 before he has eaten it as it will be facing him when he gets there. So he will have 'eaten' the 800 pages in between. Which is of course only 400 actual sheets since he gets 2 sides per hole.
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>>As p1 should be a left hand page
I don't think so. Surely a right hand page and thus 100 is a left hand page? Or am I misunderstanding you?
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 23 Dec 18 at 14:21
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Glad you were paying attention,I got that the wrong way round but I knew what I meant!
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I hang on your every word, Manatee, your every word.
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Yes, well, here you go. Here is the answer given. I'm still not at all sure about this:
802 pages. Look at a row of books on the shelf and you will see why the worm didn't eat 99 pages of the first book and 99 pages of the last one.
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Page 1 isn't the first piece of paper. There will be flyleaf, publication details, author's biography, title page, contents, and quite possibly introduction pages in small-case Roman numerals. There may be additional pages at the back, possibly an index.
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First puzzle - from the speed, does this refer to some historic or record-breaking flight, by someone whose name we ought to know?
There is a similar one about the Orient Express leaving Constantinople, and making an unscheduled stop somewhere in the Balkans. The same question, what was the name of the engine driver, has the answer "King Boris of Bulgaria".
He was a noted railway enthusiast, and this is apparently a true story.
(source - Round Britain Quiz, I think)
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Sun 23 Dec 18 at 15:36
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>>First puzzle - from the speed, does this refer to some historic or record-breaking flight, by someone whose name we ought to know?
"*YOU* are the pilot of an aeroplane...…….
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 23 Dec 18 at 15:43
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Doh - read the question Pope!
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>>Page 1 isn't the first piece of paper. There will be...……
It made no comment about how the pages were numbered, simply that there were 100 pages.
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>> >>Page 1 isn't the first piece of paper. There will be...……
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>> It made no comment about how the pages were numbered, simply that there were 100
>> pages.
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You said starting at page 1
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>> You said starting at page 1
No, I didn't.
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Christmas puzzles - helicopter
