For entertainment or for mental exercise, it is nice to get involved with games and puzzles. Here are some of the popular websites, which might be useful for our readers. Some of the puzzles appear in leading newspapers. By searching Google for key words, one can find dozens of similar sites.
- Nick’s mathematical puzzles
It is an excellent collection of mathematical puzzles, which will appeal to any engineer interested in it.
Problem:
113. Ant in a field
An ant, located in a square field, is 13 meters from one of the corner posts of the field, 17 meters from the corner post diagonally opposite that one, and 20 meters from a third corner post. Find the area of the field. Assume the land is flat.
Hint - Answer - SolutionSolution
Area of the field is 369 m2. - Cryptoquote
Also known as cryptogram or daily cryptoquote, the puzzle appears daily in leading newspapers. Here each letter is substituted for another, and the game is to find out original quote.
For example, AXYDLBAAXR can be LONGFELLOW.
Problem
WSZ CMYSW WB EZ SZOCA ABZK QBW OVWBUOWMPOFFL MQPFVAZ WSZ CMYSW WB EZ WONZQ KZCMBVKFL – SVEZCW SVUGSCZL
Solution
THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY INCLUDE THE RIGHT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY – HUBERT HUMPHREY
- Sudoku
The puzzle contains a partially filled grid of 9 squares of 3 x 3 size each. The player is required to fill out the grids by identifying missing number so that each 3 x 3 square contain number 1 to 9.
A more difficult level of game is called Stickdoku.
Problem
Solution
- Ask Marilyn
www.parade.com & Click on “Ask Marilyn”.
This is one of the most popular columns in USA. It is part of Parade magazine, which is distributed along with half of the Sunday newspapers all over USA. The column discusses puzzles of real life and imaginary in the field of mathematics, politics, science, religion, philosophy. The online site contains puzzles of past 4 issues, but if you click on “read article” somewhere in the puzzle, you can have access to past issues also.
Marilyn Vos Savant (http://www.marilynvossavant.com/) is described as a person with highest IQ in the world, as per MENSA club. She is married to a world famous nuclear physicist. Her analytical power is amazing.
Problem
Jennifer notes that her family members have varied occupations. Her cousin, aunt, uncle, mother, father, grandmother and grandfather are employed as a barista, a dairy farmer, a doctor, a mayor, a nurse, a postman and a veterinarian. (Occupations are in alphabetical order.)
Some facts: 1) Jason is not really Jessica’s father; 2) the mayor’s husband is the postman; 3) Hildegard runs the dairy farm; 4) the cute barista is the niece of the doctor; 5) the nurse is the daughter of the mayor and wife of the doctor; and 6) Jennifer’s father is so afraid of dogs that he faints if he sees one. Who does what?
Solution
Because of No. 6, Jennifer’s father must not be the postman or veterinarian. And because of Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5, he must not be the mayor, the dairy farmer, the barista or the nurse, all of whom are women. So Jennifer’s father is the doctor.
If so, No. 5 means that Jennifer’s mother is the nurse, and Jennifer’s grandmother is the mayor. So No. 4 means Jennifer’s cousin is the barista, No. 3 means that Jennifer’s aunt runs the dairy farm, and No. 2 means that Jennifer’s grandfather is the postman. Which means Jennifer’s uncle is the veterinarian, because he’s the only one left.
Jason and Jessica are red herrings! The fact about them in No. 1 is irrelevant to solving this puzzle.