#221 Logical World Cup
Set by Colin Beveridge
鈥淒rat,鈥� said Ron the reporter. 鈥淣ow the Logical World Cup is over, the editor wants to know how many games each team won, drew and lost, but all I have are the points totals.鈥�
鈥淢aybe I can help,鈥� said Martha the mathematician. 鈥淪how me what
测辞耻鈥檝别&苍产蝉辫;驳辞迟.鈥�
Ron passed her the sheet of paper he had been glaring at.
Solution next week
#220 Artificial Intelli-Vision song contest
Solution
Eight countries took part and the winning song scored 36 points.
If there are N countries, each judging panel gave scores to N-1 songs, and the score of 10 was then deducted, so the 222 total points = (number of countries in the final round 鈥� 2) x the sum of each different number that the panels chose. No countries tied, so there are at most nine different countries. Since the factors of 222 are 2, 3, and 37, there must have been eight scores (from eight countries) that added to 37.
We know one score was 7 points, and the only combination that adds to 37 is 9,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. The best musical act must have scored 37-1 = 36.
Quick quiz #201
set by Bethan Ackerley
1 Papilionoidea is a superfamily of聽which聽kind聽of insect?
2 What name is given to the current geological era, spanning from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the present day?
3 Trees and other plants that produce 鈥渆xposed鈥� seeds that aren鈥檛 protected by an聽ovary or fruit are known as what?
4 Cherenkov radiation often produces flashes聽of light of which colour?
5 The steroid cortisol is produced by聽which聽of聽the body鈥檚 glands?
Quick quiz #201
Answers
1 Butterflies
2 The Cenozoic Era
3 Gymnosperms
4 Blue
5 The adrenal glands