Here is an interesting little puzzle suggested to me by Mr. W. T. Whyte.
Mark off on a sheet of paper a rectangular space 5 inches by 3 inches,
and then find the greatest number of halfpennies that can be placed
within the enclosure under the following conditions. A halfpenny is
exactly an inch in diameter. Place your first halfpenny where you like,
then place your second coin at exactly the distance of an inch from the
first, the third an inch distance from the second, and so on. No
halfpenny may touch another halfpenny or cross the boundary. Our
illustration will make the matter perfectly clear. No. 2 coin is an inch
from No. 1; No. 3 an inch from No. 2; No. 4 an inch from No. 3; but
after No. 10 is placed we can go no further in this attempt. Yet several
more halfpennies might have been got in. How many can the reader place?
430.--FIND THE MAN'S WIFE.
[Illustration]
One summer day in 1903 I was loitering on the Brighton front, watching
the people strolling about on the beach, when the friend who was with me
suddenly drew my attention to an individual who was standing alone, and
said, "Can you point out that man's wife? They are stopping at the same
hotel as I am, and the lady is one of those in view." After a few
minutes' observation, I was successful in indicating the lady correctly.
My friend was curious to know by what method of reasoning I had arrived
at the result. This was my answer:--
"We may at once exclude that Sister of Mercy and the girl in the short
frock; also the woman selling oranges. It cannot be the lady in widows'
weeds. It is not the lady in the bath chair, because she is not staying
at your hotel, for I happened to see her come out of a private house
this morning assisted by her maid. The two ladies in red breakfasted at
my hotel this morning, and as they were not wearing outdoor dress I
conclude they are staying there. It therefore rests between the lady in
blue and the one with the green parasol. But the left hand that holds
the parasol is, you see, ungloved and bears no wedding-ring.
Consequently I am driven to the conclusion that the lady in blue is the
man's wife--and you say this is correct."
Now, as my friend was an artist, and as I thought an amusing puzzle
might be devised on the lines of his question, I asked him to make me a
drawing according to some directions that I gave him, and I have
pleasure in presenting his production to my readers. It will be seen
that the picture shows six men and six ladies: Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and
11 are ladies, and Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 are men. These twelve
individuals represent six married couples, all strangers to one another,
who, in walking aimlessly about, have got mixed up. But we are only
concerned with the man that is wearing a straw hat--Number 10. The
puzzle is to find this man's wife. Examine the six ladies carefully, and
see if you can determine which one of them it is.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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