Monthly Archives: February 2017

Puzzle #172: Divisibility by first 13 numbers

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Alok Goyal

I acquired a new book recently (thanks to Suman Saraf) – Problem Solving Strategies in Mathematics. Here is a problem from that book. It is a simple problem for adults, so will request people to show it to their children. … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #170: Rectangle and the Oil Well

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Alok Goyal

I got many correct answers, thanks to all who responded. This was a “simple” application of pythogoras theorem. I got correct answers from Abhinav Jain, Pratik Poddar, Karan, Praneeth Ruthala, Suman Saraf and Mahi Saraf. While everyone sent me only … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #171: Buying Dimsums

Posted on February 19, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This is a beauty of a puzzle sent by Suman Saraf – thanks Suman! A fast food restaurant sells dimsums in boxes of 7 and 3. What’s the greatest number of dimsums a person cannot buy. Generalize it for p … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #169: Division of a Cake

Posted on February 19, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This puzzle was not as easy as it looked…many people sent solution, but only Suman Saraf and his daughter Mahi sent the correct ones. To copy a line I really liked from Suman’s solution – The essence of fair or envy … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #170: Rectangle and the Oil Well

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This is a wonderful puzzle that I saw today after a long time. I was asked this puzzle in an interview in Microsoft back in 1994 March – yes it has been a long time! I saw it today in … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #168: Who Gets the Easter Eggs?

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This was a very counterintuitive puzzle, and a relatively difficult one, though one does not need to know any specific mathematical construct for it. Only two people (father – daughter pair) got the correct answer – Mahi and Suman Saraf! … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #169: Division of a Cake

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This is a very old puzzle. I remember this puzzle being asked by my Chemistry teacher in Class XI – Dr. Ravi Gopinath, someone was has had a strong influence in my passion for puzzles. I got reminded of this … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #167: 4 Rats in a Star

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Alok Goyal

This was a relatively simple puzzle, and I received correct answers from Mahi Saraf, Pratik Poddar, “Mashex” and Prakhar. Well done all! The answer is 2178 (RATS) Here is the explanation: Since the product is four digits long, RATS can … Continue reading →

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