AFOVA Newletters of Year 2001

Page 4 of 52 c) Wg Cdr C B Menon d) Surg Cdr C V Natarajan Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief. ~ Joseph Addison In order to tickle the grey cells, a puzzle corner is being introduced. The answers to the puzzles need to be posted to the President/Secretary, so as to reach them latest by the 20 th July 2000. Prizes will be awarded to the winners. The Weighty ‘One’ There were two friends – Ram and Shyam who were also traders. One day, Ram had to weigh out 40 kgs to a customer. When he started to weigh the item, he found that the 40 kgs stone that he had was missing. Not wanting to keep the customer waiting, he told his son Lav to go across to Shyam’s place and borrow a 40 kgs stone from him. Lav ran across to Shyam’s place, borrowed the weighing stone and ran back. Just as he was reaching the shop, he slipped and fell. And in the fall, the weighing stone broke into four uneven pieces. Ram was horrified. However, while checking the weights of the four pieces, he discovered to his surprise that he could now weigh any item from One to Forty kilos (integral figures only). What were the weights of each of the four pieces? The Odd One Out This is a fairly simple puzzle. You are given twenty seven gold nuggets. Unfortunately, when the jeweler was making them, his ideas were not all that straight. Hence, one of the nuggets into which he had added some lead, became much heavier than the rest. In other words, 26 nuggets are identical and weigh the same, but one is heavier. You are given a simple balance with no weights. You have time for only three weighings, in which to find out which of the nuggets is the odd one out. The Mixture “Just watch me perform the experiment”, said Professor Wise-Crackers. “From this beaker I transfer ten cc of ethyl alcohol into the beaker containing methyl alcohol. And now from this mixture of ethyl and methyl alcohol, ten cc go back to the first beaker. Well, you see”, continued the Professor, “some volume of ethyl alcohol has finally transferred into the beaker containing methyl alcohol, and some volume of methyl alcohol has gone to the ethyl alcohol beaker. Well, which of these two volumes is greater?” “Ethyl alcohol”, said one bright student. “Methyl alcohol”, exclaimed another. What do you say? ++++++++++++++++++++ George a keen golfer, was going through a bad spell, so he went to a professional for advice. “Your trouble is all in your mind,” said the pro. “I want you to play a full round of eighteen holes with only an imaginary ball. Keep a careful score for each hole and bring me your card.” George followed the advice and presented his card to the professional. “Tomorrow,” he said, “I want you to play another full round of eighteen holes, this time with a ball, but with an imaginary club. Keep a score and bring me your card.” Keep a careful score for each hole and bring me your card.”