Featuring the unique "ScienceToday" monthly magazine published by Times of India, during 1966-1991.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Puzzles - for being healthy, wealthy, and happy

Some of my associates pointedout that I am losing focus on "Science Today", with the serial on "A puzzle a day".
I think they are right !  Hence I am compelled to terminate this series here.
BUT, I have started a new blog for this series. "A PUZZLE A DAY"

apuzzleaday.blogspot.com




I invite you ALL to visit the new blog too. You will certainly be impressed.

The theme of the blog is :

Puzzles - for being healthy, wealthy, and happy !

Prasanna.

Wings..History of ...





Did you read "Wings to tomorrow" ?  (Nov 6, 2007)
If so, please see the pictures given here.  They are from "The Hindu" dt 12 Nov, 2007.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Comments from Vivek

Hi Vivek,
Thank you for posting your answers to the puzzles. Most of them are on target. Please keep answering the puzzles. I shall post the answers shortly. As you had suggested, I shall reframe the design, with time out and so on... Kindly bear with me for a few days. ( Seeking apology for being late is not proper, I know. However... please wait.)
Prasanna

Coins

Here is the puzzle for Saturday.. in advance..

P 39

Ramu has 9 coins with him. 8 are of 1 gm and 1 is of 2 grams weight. How can you help Ramu to find out the heavier coin in minimum number of weighing and how many weighing it will need?

Liars..

P 38
There are three people A, B, C. Liars are of same type and Truth speaking people are of same type. Find out who is speaking truth and who is speaking false from the following statements:
a)    A says: B is a liar.                 b)  B says: A and C are of same type.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Puzzles

P37
Six drinking glasses stand in a row, with the first three full of juice and the next three empty. By moving only one glass can you arrange them, so empty and full glasses alternate?

P36
A man is asked what his daughters look like. He answers, "They are all blondes but two, all brunettes but two, and all redheads but two." How many daughters did he have?

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Wings to tomorrow - pictorial feature.












Today, let me tell you an interesting topic. Did you see the above pictures ?
In the July 1967 issue of ScienceToday, there is an interesting article about air transportation.
It deals with a variety of aircrafts of (the then ) tomorrow.

"
WINGS TO TOMORROW
A pictorial feature on existing flying machines and a preview of air transportation of the future.


When the German Rumpler Taube flew in over Paris on August 30, 1914 with three small bombs, it looked verymuch like a bird. Today, after more than six decades man is a master of the skies. This is the story of air transportation of today and tomorrow - from the ground up.
"
The article gives a number of photographs of various air vehicles, of the past and under development. Please see some of them above.
I haven't given any explanation to the pictures. Are you interested ? Then I can ... !

This is one of the many articles- certainly very educative and informative - published in Science Today.  Don't you feel these are relevant and useful even today ?
 Yes they are, I believe.


P35
An old puzzle.. but continues to puzzle !

A man owns a square field. It has a house (shown square shaded) and ten trees. He offers it to his five sons on condition that they shall live together in the house and divide the land into five equal plots. Each plot must be of the same shape and to contain two trees. How could the sons divide this land?
( See picture above )

Monday, November 5, 2007

Comments... Answers.....

Thanks to all for their comments.
As you have suggested, (and I had hinted earlier), I shall start posting answers to the puzzles.
Kindly bear with me for a few days. 
About providing a time out facility : Thank you for the suggestion. I shall try to redesign the "A puzzle a day" serial in this blog.
Please keep visiting this place for the puzzle.. Your suggestions are very valuable to me.. Thanks ...

Cases of Barrel and Switches

P 34
The Barrel : There is a barrel with no lid and some beer in it. "This barrel is more than half full," said Chuck. "No it's not," say Joe. "It's less than half full." Without any measuring implements and without removing any beer from the barrel, how can they easily determine who is correct?

P33
Switches : Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb if you are only allowed to enter the room once?

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Space age puzzle

Sorry, for a second time..   That's not good....  However, I pray excuse for not posting the puzzle for the last two days. My work has been in trouble, due to a travel requirement.  

Here are two puzzles. Please try them.

P31

The grand prix in Space
Time : The future; Scene : The Grand Prix of the Space Age.
The course from the race is from Earth to the Moon and back. The qualifying mark is a round trip in four days for an average of a little over 5000 miles per hour. The favourite got off to a bad start and managed to average only 2500 miles per hour for the first half of the journey. However, this did not worry him unduly, as his machine had a gimmik or two up its fuselage. “ I can easily average 7500 on the return journey, and I’ll still make it, safely”, he thought.
Could he qualify ?



P32


On one of the TV quiz programmes, where they offer Rs. 64000 for the correct answer to questions like “What did Humpy Dumpy sit on ?”, the quiz master offered the question - “Why are 1963 cents worth almost $ 20 today ?”
The only numismatist on the panel was so goofed that he not only didn’t answer the question, but also the next two questions and thus lost his chance of winning the prize. In his place, what would you have said ?