#192 Hand over
Set by Howard Williams
It was decided that Friendly Co. Ltd and Amicable Co. Ltd would merge and form the Friendly Amicable Co. Ltd. Alas, things have proved less than friendly in the boardroom.
First, there were some angry resignations from the original dozen or so directors at the two companies.
And then, the first board meeting of the new company didn鈥檛 begin well, with old enmities preventing a group of the board members from shaking hands among themselves. This meant that the number of handshakes was exactly one-third down on the number there would have been if everyone had shaken hands with everyone else.
Let鈥檚 just hope the share price doesn鈥檛 go the same way.
How many members are on the new board?
Solution next week
#191 Sharing is scaring
Solution
Cindy and Ben each ate five sugar drops. To give away half, everyone must have started with an even number. Alice couldn鈥檛 have started with six or more, because then she would have given three away, and hasn鈥檛 received anything from Ben. She could have started with four, given two away and received one, but that would make her the only one who ended up with less than they started with, which rules out any possibilities for Cindy and Dan. So, Alice had two, gave away one to Cindy, and got two from Ben, who started with four. Cindy must be the only one who ends up with fewer, so everyone else gains. This leads to Dan starting with six and Cindy eight.
Quick quiz #176
Quick quiz #176
1 In megalithic monuments, what name is given to a structure comprised of two large, vertical stones supporting a third, horizontal stone?
2 How many people died in the 2003 Columbia disaster?
3 What is the world鈥檚 deepest river?
4 The two main groups of carotenoid pigments are carotenes and what?
5 Cinnabar is a bright red, naturally occurring form of which compound?
Quick quiz #176
Answers
1 A trilithon, or trilith
2 Seven, the space shuttle鈥檚 entire crew
3 The Congo river, which reaches a depth of around 220 metres
4 Xanthophylls
5 Mercury sulphide