15.--POCKET MONEY.
What is the largest sum of money--all in current silver coins and no four-shilling piece--that I could have in my pocket without be-ing able to give change for a half-sovereign?
16.--THE MILLIONAIRE'S PERPLEXITY.
Mr. Morgan G. Bloomgarten, the millionaire, known in the States as the Clam King, had, for his sins, more money than he knew what to do with. It bored him. So he determined to persecute some of his poor but happy friends with it. They had never done him any harm, but he resolved to inoculate them with the "source of all evil." He therefore proposed to distribute a million dollars among them and watch them go rapidly to the bad. But he was a man of strange fancies and superstitions, and it was an inviolable
rule with him never to make a gift that was not either one dollar or some power of seven--such as 7, 49, 343, 2,401, which numbers of dollars are produced by simply multiplying sevens together. Another rule of his was that he would never give more than six persons exactly the same sum. Now, how was he to distribute the 1,000,000 dollars? You may distribute the money among as many people as you like, under the conditions given.
17.--THE PUZZLING MONEY-BOXES.
Four brothers--named John, William, Charles, and Thomas--had each a money-box. The boxes were all given to them on the same day, and they at once put what money they had into them; only, as the boxes were not very large, they first changed the money into as few coins as possible. After they had done this, they told one another how much money they had saved, and it was found that if John had had 2s. more in his box than at present, if William had had 2s. less, if Charles had had twice as much, and if Thomas had had half as much, they would all have had exactly the same amount.
Now, when I add that all four boxes together contained 45s., and that there were only six coins in all in them, it becomes an entertaining puzzle to discover just what coins were in each box.
18.--THE MARKET WOMEN.
A number of market women sold their various products at a certain price per pound (different in every case), and each received the
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same amount--2s. 21/2d. What is the greatest number of women there could have been? The price per pound in every case must be
such as could be paid in current money.
19.--THE NEW YEAR'S EVE SUPPERS.
The proprietor of a small London cafe has given me some interesting figures. He says that the ladies who come alone to his place for refreshment spend each on an average eighteenpence, that the unaccompanied men spend half a crown each, and that when a gentleman brings in a lady he spends half a guinea. On New Year's Eve he supplied suppers to twenty-five persons, and took five pounds
in all. Now, assuming his averages to have held good in every case, how was his company made up on that occasion? Of course, only single gentlemen, single ladies, and pairs (a lady and gentleman) can be supposed to have been present, as we are not considering larger parties.
20.--BEEF AND SAUSAGES.
"A neighbour of mine," said Aunt Jane, "bought a certain quantity of beef at two shillings a pound, and the same quantity of sausages at eighteenpence a pound. I pointed out to her that if she had divided the same money equally between beef and sausages she would have gained two pounds in the total weight. Can you tell me exactly how much she spent?"
"Of course, it is no business of mine," said Mrs. Sunniborne; "but a lady who could pay such prices must be somewhat inexperienced in domestic economy."
"I quite agree, my dear," Aunt Jane replied, "but you see that is not the precise point under discussion, any more than the name and morals of the tradesman."
21.--A DEAL IN APPLES.
I paid a man a shilling for some apples, but they were so small that I made him throw in two extra apples. I find that made them cost just a penny a dozen less than the first price he asked. How many apples did I get for my shilling?
22.--A DEAL IN EGGS.
A man went recently into a dairyman's shop to buy eggs. He wanted them of various qualities. Pg 4The salesman had new-laid eggs
at the high price of fivepence each, fresh eggs at one penny each, eggs at a halfpenny each, and eggs for electioneering purposes at a greatly reduced figure, but as there was no election on at the time the buyer had no use for the last. However, he bought some of each of the three other kinds and obtained exactly one hundred eggs for eight and fourpence. Now, as he brought away exactly the same number of eggs of two of the three qualities, it is an interesting puzzle to determine just how many he bought at each price.
23.--THE CHRISTMAS-BOXES.
Some years ago a man told me he had spent one hundred English silver coins in Christmas-boxes, giving every person the same amount, and it cost him exactly PS1, 10s. 1d. Can you tell just how many persons received the present, and how he could have managed the distribution? That odd penny looks queer, but it is all right.
24.--A SHOPPING PERPLEXITY.
Two ladies went into a shop where, through some curious eccentricity, no change was given, and made purchases amounting together to less than five shillings. "Do you know," said one lady, "I find I shall require no fewer than six current coins of the realm to pay for what I have bought." The other lady considered a moment, and then exclaimed: "By a peculiar coincidence, I am exactly in the same dilemma." "Then we will pay the two bills together." But, to their astonishment, they still required six coins. What is the smallest possible amount of their purchases--both different?
25.--CHINESE MONEY.
The Chinese are a curious people, and have strange inverted ways of doing things. It is said that they use a saw with an upward pres-sure instead of a downward one, that they plane a deal board by pulling the tool toward them instead of pushing it, and that in building a house they first construct the roof and, having raised that into position, proceed to work downwards. In money the currency
of the country consists of taels of fluctuating value. The tael became thinner and thinner until 2,000 of them piled together made
less than three inches in height. The common cash consists of brass coins of varying thicknesses, with a round, square, or triangular
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hole in the centre, as in our illustration.
These are strung on wires like buttons. Supposing that eleven coins with round holes are worth fifteen ching-changs, that eleven with square holes are worth sixteen ching-changs, and that eleven with triangular holes are worth seventeen ching-changs, how can a Chinaman give me change for half a crown, using no coins other than the three mentioned? A ching-chang is worth exactly twopence and four-fifteenths of a ching-chang.
26.--THE JUNIOR CLERK'S PUZZLE.
Two youths, bearing the pleasant names of Moggs and Snoggs, were employed as junior clerks by a merchant in Mincing Lane. They
were both engaged at the same salary--that is, commencing at the rate of PS50 a year, payable half-yearly. Moggs had a yearly rise of
PS10, and Snoggs was offered the same, only he asked, for reasons that do not concern our puzzle, that he might take his rise at PS2,
10s. half-yearly, to which his employer (not, perhaps, unnaturally!) had no objection.
Now we come to the real point of the puzzle. Moggs put regularly into the Post Office Savings Bank a certain proportion of his sal-ary, while Snoggs