Brain Teaser No 1

I live in Newbury.

The live wire is usually coloured red or brown.

Cheers

Don

Don,

While all these certainly have different ways to pronounce them, their pronunciation does not depend on whether the first letter is a capital. I'm itching to tell you the word I have in mind but might wait a little longer.

cheers,

Dan

Dan,

I'm itching to tell you the word I have in mind but might wait a little longer.

I know the feeling !!

However, they might help jog somebody's memory to solve Dan's puzzle.

This is what I said a few posts back. I was hoping that by posting a few examples, others would join in and we would eventually find an example that only depended on capitalization rather than context.

Seems like a three man show (Dan, Paul, Don) at the moment

Cheers

Don

"Seems like a three man show (Dan, Paul, Don) at the moment."

What my answer lacks in quality it makes up for in appropriateness: the word "dan" (as used in karate, go etc.) is pronounced differently from "Dan". At least it is in Japanese...

--J

[This message was edited by JeremyD on MONDAY 16 June 2003 at 13:18.]

JeremyD,

Neat one, I'm sure Dan is just about to give you the prize.......

if so, you can take a bow.....meanwhile, i'm preparing my bow and arrow to shoot him if his example isn't stupendous....

Cheers

Don

PS Mrs Don has just gone out to sow some potatoes so that this winter the sow (female pig) has something to eat....

Planets

The drawing shows a very simple planetary system of two planets orbiting their sun. The planets are currently in line with each other and the sun.

The outer planet takes 15 years to orbit the sun and the inner planet takes 5 years. The orbits are circular

When will they next be in line with the sun, to the nearest month (12 months = I year)

Cheers

Don

Apparently, we can't edit posts after 260 minutes or something. Hence this:

quote:

---

Originally posted by JeremyD:
What my answer lacks in quality it makes up for in...

---

A bit thoughtless of me if that is the right answer - sorry.

I'm afraid constant automatic self-criticism of this sort is typical of depressives.
Hmmm... I seem to be criticising myself again...

--J

No, as much as I'd like it to be, that's not the answer.

cheers

Dan

Don,
Planets.

90 months

Steve D

Don
Planets (again!)

...90 months to be lined up on the same side of the sun.
...45 months to be lined up on opposite sides of the sun.

Steve D

Steve D,

Yes, I went for the 90 months first, before spotting the 3 years 9 months solution. I then realised I should have used RELATIVE angular velovities of 6 - 2 = 4 deg per month through an angle of 180 deg....

Cheers

Don

Don,
Yes, that's how I did it also.
Steve D

Box Puzzle.
You have a sheet of paper 30cm by 30cm.
If you fold up the sides (plus a minor amount of cutting) you can make a "box" (with open top).
The first question is what height of box gives the biggest box volume?
The second question is for a sheet of paper "n"cm by "n"cm, what height of box (in terms of "n") gives the biggest box volume?
Steve D

2000 cm³
Largest volume is when height of sides = n/6

Simon

Simon,

Nearly well done!
The first question asked for the box height giving the maximum volume, not the volume itself. But that's being picky, you were obviously on the right track.
Would you care to share your method with us?

For information, my daughter has been given this problem as coursework for her GCSE maths.

Regards,

Steve D

Note to self, read the question. h=5cm

height of box = h
Volume of box = (n-2h)²h
= 4h³-4nh²+n²h
Maxima and minima of V are at dV/dh = 0
12h²-8hn+n²=0
(2h-n)(6h-n)=0
first zero is minimum volume, second (h=n/6) is maximum.

Simon

Simon,
Well explained.
That's how I did it also.
My daughter hasn't done calculus yet, so her project is to graph the results for different heights from a given sheet, then see what happens as the sheet size changes, then work out and test what the relationship might be.
I don't remember maths being as interesting as this when I did O levels!
Steve D

I don't remember maths being as interesting as this when I did O levels!

enjoy it while you can, you'll soon be saying I don't remember maths .....

Any ideas on Dan's capitalisation other than reading > Reading ??

Cheers

Don

I don't remember maths being as interesting as this when I did O levels!

enjoy it while you can, you'll soon be saying I don't remember maths.....

Anyone got any ideas on Dan's capitalisation teaser other than reading > Reading ?

Cheers

Don

PS I thouht I had lost this post so re-typed it, apologies

Should I finish it up? I hope you all have taken a shine to this puzzle.

cheers

Dan

Dan,

I shall have to record, just for the record, that you might have just given us a hint ?

Cheers

Don

Dan,

The Capital is Warsaw........

Cheers

Don

Dan,

No takers. I sent some polish to my Polish friend.

Cheers

Don

Two Ladders

Two vertical walls form an alleyway across a horizontal street. See diagram below.

Two ladders are placed against opposing walls. One reaching 6m up one wall, the other 4m up the other wall. Each ladder is toed in against the opposite wall. The ladders are adjacent.

At what height do they cross ?

Not as good as as Bam's , by a long chalk, but worth a try...

Cheers

Don

Somewhere between 0 and 4m?

Paul