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Maths made interesting | Maths made interesting |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Can maths be fun? | Can maths be fun? |
Maths has long been associated with difficult school lessons and dreary household calculations, but for Rob Eastaway, author of How Many Socks Make a Pair, this does not have to be the case. See if you can answer his surprisingly interesting maths puzzles. | Maths has long been associated with difficult school lessons and dreary household calculations, but for Rob Eastaway, author of How Many Socks Make a Pair, this does not have to be the case. See if you can answer his surprisingly interesting maths puzzles. |
1.) Question 1 | 1.) Question 1 |
You have a drawer in your bedroom that contains an assortment of black, blue and brown socks. You start randomly taking individual socks out of the drawer, but it's too dark to see what colour socks you have taken. How many socks do you need to take out in order to guarantee that you have got a matching pair? | You have a drawer in your bedroom that contains an assortment of black, blue and brown socks. You start randomly taking individual socks out of the drawer, but it's too dark to see what colour socks you have taken. How many socks do you need to take out in order to guarantee that you have got a matching pair? |
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2.) Question 2 | 2.) Question 2 |
You are standing in front of the bathroom mirror and can see down to your navel. You walk back from the mirror. Can you now see: | You are standing in front of the bathroom mirror and can see down to your navel. You walk back from the mirror. Can you now see: |
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3.) Question 3 | 3.) Question 3 |
You are at a wedding with 50 guests. What is the chance that among those guests there are at least two who share a birthday? | You are at a wedding with 50 guests. What is the chance that among those guests there are at least two who share a birthday? |
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4.) Question 4 | 4.) Question 4 |
Imagine a piece of string has been tied tightly around the earth's equator (assume the earth is a perfect sphere!), with thousands of children stationed around the earth next to the string. You now cut the string at one place, and add in one more metre of string to give it a little 'slack'. By how much can the children around the equator now lift up the string? | Imagine a piece of string has been tied tightly around the earth's equator (assume the earth is a perfect sphere!), with thousands of children stationed around the earth next to the string. You now cut the string at one place, and add in one more metre of string to give it a little 'slack'. By how much can the children around the equator now lift up the string? |
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5.) Question 5 | 5.) Question 5 |
You are listening to a random news story on the Today programme, which quotes some statistic, such as the number of refugees from a country, a company's profits, or the number of seconds it took a competitor to win a race. What is the chance that the first digit of the statistic is either a 1 or a 2 ? | You are listening to a random news story on the Today programme, which quotes some statistic, such as the number of refugees from a country, a company's profits, or the number of seconds it took a competitor to win a race. What is the chance that the first digit of the statistic is either a 1 or a 2 ? |
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6.) Question 6 | 6.) Question 6 |
A man leaves his tent. He walks 1 mile south. Then he walks 1 mile east. Then he walks one mile north. To his surprise, he now discovers that he is back at his tent, and at this moment he spots a bear. What colour is it? | A man leaves his tent. He walks 1 mile south. Then he walks 1 mile east. Then he walks one mile north. To his surprise, he now discovers that he is back at his tent, and at this moment he spots a bear. What colour is it? |
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Answers | Answers |
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How did you do? | How did you do? |
0 - 1 : Eaten by a polar bear | 0 - 1 : Eaten by a polar bear |
2 - 3 : Trapped on the equator | 2 - 3 : Trapped on the equator |
4 - 6 : Clean pair of socks | 4 - 6 : Clean pair of socks |
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