Puzzles and Brainteasers, Set 9
I have more books from Martin Gardner than from any other author. My first Gardner book was aha! Insight when Dr. Shaughnessy (currently the NCTM President) required us to get it for his class. Gardner passed away two years ago, he was 95. The Broken Bracelet is from this book. Dr. Shaughnessy actually gave us a similar problem, he called it Casper and Wanda.
Gloria, a young lady from Arkansas, is visiting in California. She wants to rent a hotel room for a week. The clerk was very unpleasant.
Clerk: The room is $20 per day and you have to pay cash.
Gloria: I'm sorry sir, but I don't have any cash. However, I do have this solid gold bracelet. Each of its seven links is worth more than $20.
Clerk: Alright, give me the bracelet.
Gloria: No, not now. I'll have a jeweler cut the bracelet so I can give you a link a day. Then when I get some money at the end of the week I'll redeem it.
The clerk finally agreed. But now Gloria had to decide how to cut the bracelet. She was in a dilemma.
Gloria: I have to be careful because the jeweler is going to charge me for each link that he cuts and for each link that he joins when the bracelet is put back together again.
What is the fewest number of links that need to be cut to pay the clerk for the week? What is the minimum of cut links for a chain of n length?
**********
This one is from Mr. Gardner's The 2nd Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions. He was a contributor to Scientific American for over 25 years.
The Absent-Minded Teller
An absent-minded bank teller switched the dollars and cents when he cashed a check for Mr. Brown, giving him dollars instead of cents, and cents instead of dollars. After buying a five-cent newspaper, Brown discovered that he had exactly twice as much as his original check. What was the amount of the check?
This is a PS for my Geometry students.
Area from Arc
The arc below has a measure of 40 degrees, and its endpoints are at (1,5) and (5,3). Find the area of the circle that contains the arc.
If you need answers or solutions to any of the problems, please email me at fawnpnguyen@gmail.com or leave a comment. Thank you!
Gloria, a young lady from Arkansas, is visiting in California. She wants to rent a hotel room for a week. The clerk was very unpleasant.
Clerk: The room is $20 per day and you have to pay cash.
Gloria: I'm sorry sir, but I don't have any cash. However, I do have this solid gold bracelet. Each of its seven links is worth more than $20.
Clerk: Alright, give me the bracelet.
Gloria: No, not now. I'll have a jeweler cut the bracelet so I can give you a link a day. Then when I get some money at the end of the week I'll redeem it.
The clerk finally agreed. But now Gloria had to decide how to cut the bracelet. She was in a dilemma.
Gloria: I have to be careful because the jeweler is going to charge me for each link that he cuts and for each link that he joins when the bracelet is put back together again.
What is the fewest number of links that need to be cut to pay the clerk for the week? What is the minimum of cut links for a chain of n length?
**********
This one is from Mr. Gardner's The 2nd Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions. He was a contributor to Scientific American for over 25 years.
The Absent-Minded Teller
An absent-minded bank teller switched the dollars and cents when he cashed a check for Mr. Brown, giving him dollars instead of cents, and cents instead of dollars. After buying a five-cent newspaper, Brown discovered that he had exactly twice as much as his original check. What was the amount of the check?
This is a PS for my Geometry students.
Area from Arc
The arc below has a measure of 40 degrees, and its endpoints are at (1,5) and (5,3). Find the area of the circle that contains the arc.
If you need answers or solutions to any of the problems, please email me at fawnpnguyen@gmail.com or leave a comment. Thank you!
Posted by fawnnguyen at February 18, 2012 8:32 PM 
Categories: Mathematics, Puzzles and Brainteasers
Tags: Martin Gardner The Absent-Minded Teller The Broken Bracelet Area from Arc
Categories: Mathematics, Puzzles and Brainteasers
Tags: Martin Gardner The Absent-Minded Teller The Broken Bracelet Area from Arc
Hi Fawn,
Since you made a comment on my site, I thought I'd return the favor. I also have more books from Martin Gardner than anyone else - they're a great read.
Nice site!
Bill Lombard
mathvideouniversity.com
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Thanks, Bill, for stopping by. I also want to tell you that I started my students in writing math journals more seriously and consistently after getting ideas from your "The Language of Math."
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