Puzzle 1:

Take 9 from 6, 10 from 9, 50 from 40 and leave 6

Puzzle 2:

The Man at St. Ives
This is one of the oldest riddles in history

As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits;
Kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

Puzzle 3:

A man was walking down a country lane with a baket of apples. He met a little girl and gave her half the apples, plus another half apple, then continued on his way. A while later, he met another little girl and gave her half the remaining apples, plus half of another one, and continued on his trip.

Further down the road, he came accross another little girl and gave her half the remaining apples, plus another hlf. Now his basket was empty.

How many apples did he start out with?

Note: No apples were cut during this trip

Puzzle 4:

What is wrong with the following proof?

• Let a = b
• Then
• So
• And ,
• Then,
• And .
• So, this can be written as ,
• and cancelling the from both sides gives
• Answer: 1 = 2

 

(Solutions will be posted next month)

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“Symmetry Energy Image II,” by Rob Scharein, Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, B.C., Canada

This example illustrates the SE rendering mode in KnotPlot, which visualizes the symmetric energy distribution. KnotPlot is a program to visualize and manipulate mathematical knots in three and four dimensions, and the website includes a wealth of resources and pictures. This picture is a direct screen capture from KnotPlot, rendered entirely in OpenGL, an environment for portable, interactive graphics applications.

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• Canadian Mathematical Society - http://www.cms.math.ca/
  • promotes and advances the discovery, learning and application of mathematics in Canada
• American Mathematical Society - http://www.ams.org/
  • founded in 1888 to further the interests of mathematics research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its meetings, publications, advocacy, and other programs
• Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences - http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/
  • a focal point for excellence in mathematics, bridging research, education and industry
• Wolfram MathWorld - http://mathworld.wolfram.com/
  • the web's most extensive mathematics resource
• WolframAlpha - http://www.wolframalpha.com/
  • computational knowledge engine

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