When the principle is understood there is no difficulty in writing down
the dimensions of as many sets of cubes as the most exacting collector
may require. If the reader would like one, for example, with plenty of
nines, perhaps the following would satisfy him: 99999999/99990001 and
19999/99990001.
131.--THE SPANISH MISER.
There must have been 386 doubloons in one box, 8,450 in another, and
16,514 in the third, because 386 is the smallest number that can occur.
If I had asked for the smallest aggregate number of coins, the answer
would have been 482, 3,362, and 6,242. It will be found in either case
that if the contents of any two of the three boxes be combined, they
form a square number of coins. It is a curious coincidence (nothing
more, for it will not always happen) that in the first solution the
digits of the three numbers add to 17 in every case, and in the second
solution to 14. It should be noted that the middle one of the three
numbers will always be half a square.
132.--THE NINE TREASURE BOXES.
Here is the answer that fulfils the conditions:--
A = 4 B = 3,364 C = 6,724
D = 2,116 E = 5,476 F = 8,836
G = 9,409 H = 12,769 I = 16,129
Each of these is a square number, the roots, taken in alphabetical
order, being 2, 58, 82, 46, 74, 94, 97, 113, and 127, while the required
difference between A and B, B and C, D and E. etc., is in every case
3,360.
133.--THE FIVE BRIGANDS.
The sum of 200 doubloons might have been held by the five brigands in
any one of 6,627 different ways. Alfonso may have held any number from 1
to 11. If he held 1 doubloon, there are 1,005 different ways of
distributing the remainder; if he held 2, there are 985 ways; if 3,
there are 977 ways; if 4, there are 903 ways; if 5 doubloons, 832 ways;
if 6 doubloons, 704 ways; if 7 doubloons, 570 ways; if 8 doubloons, 388
ways; if 9 doubloons, 200 ways; if 10 doubloons, 60 ways; and if Alfonso
held 11 doubloons, the remainder could be distributed in 3 different
ways. More than 11 doubloons he could not possibly have had. It will
scarcely be expected that I shall give all these 6,627 ways at length.
What I propose to do is to enable the reader, if he should feel so
disposed, to write out all the answers where Alfonso has one and the
same amount. Let us take the cases where Alfonso has 6 doubloons, and
see how we may obtain all the 704 different ways indicated above. Here
are two tables that will serve as keys to all these answers:--
Table I. Table II.
A = 6. A = 6.
B = n. B = n.
C = (63 - 5n) + m. C = 1 + m.
D = (128 + 4n) - 4m. D = (376 - 16n) - 4m.
E = 3 + 3m. E = (15n - 183) + 3m.
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