I agree with the 15/36 too. Basically adding 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 as 5 combinations of rolls with a 6, 4 with a 5 etc.
I think 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound? So 240 pence in a pound. 4 pounds would be 960 pence, leaving 40 pence - or 3 shillings (36p) and 4 pence. So, 4 pounds, 3 shillings and 4 pence.
Mrs R gleefully struggled with this as she has not yet reached a senior age. But she correctly reached the same answer.
A couple of follow up general knowledge questions.
Which is the greater, 1000d or 4 guineas? Or are they the same?
Mrs R recently asked me what was the exact date of UK decimalisation? I impressed her by giving the correct answer immediately, but then I blew it by singing the jingle “use your old coppers in six penny lots”. What was the date?
I think a guinea is £1 plus 1 shilling, or 252d (old pence). So 4 guineas will be 1008d, marginally more than 1000d.
One of the ‘brilliant’ aspects of our old £:s:d system was that you could pay exactly 1/3 of a £.
And the derivatives such as 1/6, 2/3 etc, as well as the more common 1/8, 1/4 etc.
Which day is it ?
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday ??
Have you ever been in that situation when you are completely unsure of which day of the week it is ? It doesn’t happen to me very often, but last week was one of those occasions. I found myself asking Mrs D “Which day is it today ?”
Her reply almost gave me a headache …
“The day after the day before yesterday was Monday, and the day before the day after tomorrow is Wednesday”
She thought her answer was as clear as a bell. I admit, It did enable me to sort out which day it actually was, but “clear as a bell ?” ….
My whole weeks that confusing these days, so while I wait for my next chemo session I’ll have a crack and say it’s Tuesday. Mrs Pete was no help whatsoever.
I agree with Tuesday.
I’m not working on a typical work day, so it must be Friday today
Well done Pete, Tuesday it is !
Whatever you do, don’t try explaining it to Mrs Pete.
Thinking of you and rooting for you with your next chemo session.
I’m sure Tuesday is pleased
Well done.
Ooops !!
I deleted the most recent Teaser, ie the one about foot-steps, simply because i’d made a school-boy error in the text. It shouldn’t have affected the arithmetic, but the badly written text could have been confusing.
I’ll see if I can re-draft the text for another day.
Brain Grid
The Brain Teaser thread has been running for quite a few years now.
However, this is the first time that I have found an excuse to use the word “Brain” in a teaser. It’s not brilliant, and it took me quite a while to solve. I’m not sure if I resorted to “Trial and Error” (or Trial and Terror, as I sometimes call it !) or whether I managed to work through a logical pathway. Anyway, I hope a few of you will give it a go:
All you need to do is fit the letters of the word “Brain” into the grid below, such that each letter appears once in each column, once in each row, and once in each bold-outlined box. I’ve put a few letters into the grid just to get you started.
Simple concept.
I’ll post my solution to the Brain Grid later today.
Well done Ravvie, or should I say Mrs R ?
Hopefully one or two others enjoyed the puzzle also.
Another dicey game of chance …
One of my grandsons came up with an unusual twist on a game with an ordinary, fair dice.
If I roll a 1, I win.
If I roll a 2 or 3, I loose
If I roll a 4, 5 or 6, I have to roll the dice a second time …
If I have to roll the dice this second time and …
I roll an odd number, I now win
I roll an even number, I now loose
What is the probability of me winning the game ?
5/12, or 41.7%
That was quick!
Mrs R agrees. She didn’t even give me a chance to work it out myself!
Flicking heck !!
Oh dear !
Let’s see if we can put that right with another prob teaser from the grandsons …
They produced a “spinner” made out of wood and a freely running pointer (red) which I am assured is completely unbiased, regardless of where the pointer lies when it is flicked, or who and how they flick it !. Also the ‘Pie’ slices are all equal and all spins are independent of one another. Let’s at least take their word for the purpose of the Teaser.
Their rules are …
25p a go
Spin the spinner twice
Win £1 if your total score is 5 or more.
They were aiming to get Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents etc between them to play a total of 200 games.
What was their estimated ‘profit’, or ‘loss’, from 200 games ?