Learning
Maths Week 2009 Puzzles
Day1
Junior Cycle Puzzle
Matching Socks
You are about to leave for holiday, but you forgot socks! You race back to your room, but all the lights are off, so you can't see the colour of the socks.Never mind, because you remember that in your drawer there are ten pairs of white socks, ten pairs of black socks, and eleven pairs of blue socks, but they are all mixed up.How many of your socks do you need to take before you can be sure to have at last one matching pair?
Senior Cycle
Ten Balls in Five Lines
Place 10 balls in 5 lines in such a way that each line has exactly 4 balls on it.
Day 2
Junior Cycle Puzzle
Birthday
When asked about his birthday, a man said:"The day before yesterday I was only 25 and next year I will turn 28."This is true only one day in a year - when was he born?
Senior Cycle
Farmer Crosses River
A farmer wants to cross a river and take with him a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. There is a boat that can fit himself plus either the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. If the wolf and the goat are alone on one shore, the wolf will eat the goat. If the goat and the cabbage are alone on the shore, the goat will eat the cabbage.How can the farmer bring the wolf, the goat, and the cabbage across the river?
Day 3
Matchstick Puzzle's
Junior Cycle Puzzle
Move 3 matches to make 3 squares. There should be no overlapping or loose ends.
Senior Cycle
Move 3 matches to get only 4 squares. There should be no overlapping or loose ends.
Day 4
Junior Cycle Puzzle
"Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son."
What relation did the man in the picture bear to the speaker?
Senior Cycle
Grandpa
"My grandson is about as many days as my son is weeks, and my grandson is as many months as I am in years. My grandson, my son and I together are 100 years. Can you tell me my age in years?"
Day 5
Junior Cycle Puzzle
A rabbit falls into a dry well, 29.9 meters deep. When she attempts to climb out, she finds that she can climb three meters every day. However she cannot climb continuously, and every day as she rests she falls back two meters. How many days will it take the rabbit to get out of the well.
Senior Cycle
Desert Island
Many years ago, a cruise liner sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The survivors luckily landed on a remote desert island. There was enough food for the 220 people to last three weeks. Six days later a rescue ship appeared, unluckily this ship also sank, leaving an additional 55 people stranded on the island to now share the original rationed food. The food obviously had to be re-rationed, but everyone was now on one-half of the original ration, so how many days in total would the food last for, from the day of the original sinking?