Author Archives: Alok Goyal

Puzzle #136: Talkative Eve

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Alok Goyal

Another beautiful puzzle from one of the Martin Gardner collections – this one is from “Mathematical Circus” in a chapter titled “Eccentric Chess and Other Problems”.  I am reproducing this verbatim from his collection. This cryptarithm (or alphametic, as some … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #134: Rotating Coins

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This was indeed a gem of a puzzle, and the more I have thought about it, the more I like it. Thanks again to Girish Tutakne for sharing this puzzle. I received a few correct answers – Suman Saraf, Prakhar … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #135: Two Dice = Nine Cards

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This is a gem of a puzzle from Gurmeet.net, one of my favourite collection of puzzles! Alice has two standard dice with labels 1 thru 6. When she rolls them and adds their labels, she gets a distribution over integers … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #133: Find the Letters

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This was a relatively simple problem and many people sent me the correct solution, that includes – Anisha and Arushi Goyal (together), Piyush Maheshwari, Suman Saraf, Karan Sharma, Manjiri, Arun Kohli and Abhinav Jain. Well done all! The answer is as … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #132: Boys, Girls and Pennies

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Alok Goyal

I got a few correct solutions to the puzzle – Suman Saraf, Manjiri and Karan Sharma. Congratulations to all three! Answer: Boys count out at interval of 14 and girls count out at interval of 13. Unfortunately, I was hoping … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #134: Rotating Coins

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This is a gem of a problem pointed to me by an avid puzzler and an IITD friend (now in Philippines) – Girish Tutakne. Thanks Girish. Even though I know the answer, it still baffles me! Suppose we have 2 … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #133: Find the Letters

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This is a cute problem, a relatively easy one, from Brilliant.org. For those of you who have stopped sharing the puzzles with children, might be a good idea to share this one, I think most kids can do this with … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #131: The Pyramid Problem

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This was a ver unintuitive problem, and thanks again to my nephew Karan Sharma on sending this problem. People who sent the correct answers included Abhinav Jain, Pratik Poddar and Suman Saraf. The answer is 5. It is kind of … Continue reading →

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Puzzle #132: Boys, Girls and Pennies

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Alok Goyal

This is a very nice puzzle borrowed from Alok Mittal’s Mathematical Circles class. Five boys and five girls found five pennies. It was decided to arrange the group in circle, and count out individuals at fixed intervals, giving them a … Continue reading →

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Solution to Puzzle #130: The Plato Riddle

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Alok Goyal

Thanks again to Sirisha for this wonderful puzzle. As I mentioned this was more of a teaser, and a play with words more than math. I only got two correct answers – One from Girish Tutakne and another from Vikas … Continue reading →

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