Litton's Problematical Recreations

1. In a lottery the total prize money available was a million dollars, paid out in prizes which
were powers of $11 viz., $1, $11, $121, etc. Noe more than 6 people received the same
prize. How many prize winners were there, and how was the money distributed?
Answer: 20 winners

2. Maynard the Census Taker visited a house and was told, “Three people live there. The
product of their ages is 1296, and the sum of their ages is our house number.” After an
hour of cogitation Maynard returned for more information. The house owner said, “I
forgot to tell you that my son and grandson live here with me.” How old were the
occupants and what was their street number?
Answer: age of occupants = 1 and 18, street number = 72

3. Dr. Reed, arriving late at the lab one morning, pulled out his watch and the hour hand
are exactly together every sixty-five minutes.” Does Dr. Reed’s watch gain or lose, and
how much per hour?
Answer: Gains 60/143 minutes

4. A salesman visits ten cities arranged in the form of a circle, spending a day in each. He
proceeds clockwise from one city to the next, except whenever leaving the tenth city.
How many days must elapse before his location is completely indeterminate, i.e., when
he could be in any one of the ten cities?
Answer: 83

5. A man walks one mile south, one mile west, and then one mile north ending where he
began. From how many points on the surface of the earth can such a journey be made?
(There are more than 1)
Answer: Infinite

6. How many colors are necessary for the squares of a chessboard in order to assure that a
bishop cannot move from one square to another of the same color?
Answer: 8 colors

7. Six boys on a hockey team pick a captain by forming a circle and counting out until only
one remains. Joe is given the option of deciding what number to count by. If he is second
in the original counting order what number should he choose?
Answer: 10

8. Six grocers in a town each sell a different brand of tea in four ounce packets at 25 cents
per packet. One of the grocers gives short weight, each packet of his brand weighing only
3 ¾ ounces. If I can use a balance for only one weighing, what is the minimum amount I
must spend to be sure of finding the grocer who gives short weight?
Answer: 3.7 dollars

9. On a certain day, our parking lot contains 999 cars, no two of which have the same 3-
digit license number. After 5:00 p.m. what is the probability that the license numbers of
the first 4 cars to leave the parking lot are in increasing order of magnitude?
Answer: 4! or 24

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 Litton's Problematical Recreations

10. 1960 and 1961 were bad years for ice cream sales but 1962 was very good. An accountant
was looking at the tonnage sold in each year and noticed that the digital sum of the
tonnage sold in 1962 was three times as much as the digital sum of the tonnage sold in
1961. Moreover, if the amount sold in 1960 (346 tons), was added to the 1961 tonnage,
this total was less than the total tonnage sold in 1962 by the digital sum of the tonnage
sold in that same year. Just how many more tons of ice cream were sold in 1962 than in
the previous year?
Answer: 361 tons

11. In European countries the decimal point is often written a little above the line. An
American, seeing a number written this way, with one digit on each side of the decimal
point, assumed the numbers were to be multiplied. He obtained a two-digit number as a
result, but was 14.6 off. What was the original number?
Answer: 5.4 = 20

12. Three hares are standing in a triangular field which is exactly 100 yards on each side.
One hare stands at each corner; and simultaneously all three set off running. Each hare
runs after the hare in the adjacent corner on his left, thus following a curved course
which terminates in the middle of the field, all three hares arriving there together. The
hares obviously ran at the same speed, but just how far did they run?
Answer: 100 yards

13. A one-acre field in the shape of a right triangle has a post at the midpoint of each side. A
sheep is tethered to each of the side posts and a goat to the post on the hypotenuse. The
ropes are just long enough to let each animal reach the two adjacent vertices. What is the
total area the two sheep have to themselves, i.e., the area the goat cannot reach?
Answer: one acre

14. A rectangular picture, each of whose dimensions is an integral number of inches, has an
ordinary rectangular frame 1 inch wide. Find the dimensions of the picture if the area of
the picture and the area of the frame are equal.
Answer: 3 x 10 or 4 x 6

15. An Origami expert started making a Nani- des-ka by folding the top left corner of a sheet
of paper until it touched the right edge and the crease passed through the bottom left
corner. He then did the same with the lower right corner, thus making two slanting
parallel lines. The paper was 25 inches long and the distance between the parallel lines
was exactly 7/40 of the width. How wide was the sheet of paper?
Answer: 24 inches

16. The Sultan arranged his wives in order of increasing seniority and presented each with a
golden ring. Next, every 3rd wide, starting with the 2nd, was given a 2nd ring; of these
every 3rd one starting with the 2nd received a 3rd ring, etc. His first and most cherished
wife was the only one to receive 10 rings. How many wives had the Sultan?
Answer: 9842 wives

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 Litton's Problematical Recreations

17. The undergraduate of a School of Engineering wished to form ranks for a parade. In
ranks of 3 abreast, 2 m2n were left over; in ranks of 5, 4 over; in 7’s, 6 over; and 11’s, 10
over. What is the least number of marchers there must have been?
Answer: 1154

18. Find the smallest number (x) of persons a boat may carry so that (n) married couples
may cross a river in such a way that no woman ever remains in the company of any man
unless her husband is present. Also find the least number of passages (y) needed from
one bank to the other. Assume that the boat can be rowed by one person only.
Answer: number of persons x = 2, number of passages y = 5

19. The sum of the digits on the odometer in my car (which reads up to 99999.9 miles) has
never been higher than it is now, but it was the same 900 miles ago. How many miles
must I drive before it is higher than it is now?
Answer: 100

20. A certain magic square contains nine consecutive 2-digit numbers. The sum of the
numbers in any line is equal to one of the numbers in the square with the digits reversed.
This is still the case if 7 is added to each entry. What is the number in the center square?
Answer: 17

21. Two men are walking towards each other at the side of a railway. A freight train
overtakes one of them in 20 seconds and exactly ten minutes later meets the other man
coming in the opposite direction. The train passes this man in 18 seconds. How long
after the train has passed the second man will the two men meet? (Constant speeds are
to be assumed throughout.)
Answer: 5562

22. Two snails start from the same point in opposite directions toward two bits of food. Each
reaches his destination in one hour. If each snail had gone in direction the other took, the
first snail would have reached his food 35 minutes after the second. How do their speeds
compare?
Answer: V1 = 3/4V2

23. A pupil wrote on the blackboard a series of fractions having positive integral terms and
connected by signs which were either all + or all x, although they were so carelessly
written it was impossible to tell which they were. It still wasn’t clear even though he
announced the result of the operation at every step. The third fraction had denominator
19. What was the numerator?
Answer: Numerator = 25

24. Mr. Field, a speeder, travels on a busy highway having the same rate of traffic flow in
each direction. Except for Mr. Field, the traffic is moving at the legal speed limit. Mr.
Field passes one car for every nine which he meets from the opposite direction. By what
percentage is he exceeding the speed limit?
Answer: 25%

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 Litton's Problematical Recreations

25. In a carnival game, 12 white balls and 3 black balls are put in an opaque bottle, shaken
up, and drawn out one at a time. Thee player gets 25 cents for each white ball which
emerges before the first black ball. If he pays one dollar to play, how much can be he
expect to win) or lose) on each game?
Answer: Loss of 25 cents/game

26. There are four volumes of an encyclopedia on a shelf, each volume containing 300 pages,
(that is, numbered 1 to 600), but these have been placed n the shelf in random order. A
bookworm starts at the first page of Vol. 1 and eats his way through to the last page of
Vol.
4. What is the expected number of pages (excluding covers) he has eaten through?
Answer: 500

27. Venusian batfish come in three sexes, which are indistinguishable (except by Venusian
batfish). How many live specimens must our astronauts bring home in order for the odds
to favor the presence of a “mated triple” with its promise of more little batfish to come?
Answer: 4

28. Dr. Fubisher LaRouche, the noted mathematician, was shoping at a hardware store and
asked the price of certain articles. The salesman replied. “One would cost 10 cents, eight
would ost 10 cents, seventeen would cost 20 cents, one hundred and four would cost 30
cents, seven hundred and fifty-six would aslo cost 30 cents, and one thousand and
seventy- two would cost 40 cents.” What was Dr. LaRouche buying?
Answer: 10 cent/number

29. In a memorable game with the Podunk Polecats, the Mudville Mets established a record.
They received the maximum number of walks possible in one inning in which one player
(who happened to ne the Mighty Casey) was up three times and accounted for all three
outs. How many walks did Podunk allow in that tedious half-inning?
Answer: 30

30. In the game “subtract-a-square,” a positive integer is written down and two players
alternately subtract squares from it with the restriction that the remainder must never be
less than zero. The player who leaves zero wins. What square should the first player
subtract if the original number is 29?
Answer: 9

31. Maynard’s Grandfather Clock is driven by two weights, one for the striking mechanism
which strikes the hours only, and the other for the time mechanism. When he hears the
clock strike his bedtime, he immediately winds the clock and retires. After winding, the
weighs are exactly opposite each other. The weighs are again opposite every six hours
thereafter. What is Maynard’s bedtime?
Answer: 9 pm or 3 am

32. In a fast Major League baseball game, pitcher Hi N. Outside managed to get by possible.
He played the entire game, which was not called prior to completion. How many pitches
did he make?
Answer: 25 pitches

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 Litton's Problematical Recreations

33. A hospital nursery contains only two baby boys; the girls have not yet been counted. At
2:00 p.m. a new baby is added to the nursery. A baby is then selected at random to be the
first to have its footprint taken. It turns out to be a boy. What is the probability that the
last addition to the nursery was a girl?
Answer: 2/5

34. If two marbles are removed at random from a bag containing lack and white marbles, the
chance that they are both white is 1/3. If 3 are removed at random, the chance that they
all are white is 1/6. How many marbles are there of each color?
Answer: 6 white, 4 black

35. A chemist has three large test tubes and a beaker with 54 c.c. of elixir. Using the test
tubes and ingenuity only, how can he retain 50 c.c. in the beaker?
Answer: 50

36. A neat computer programmer wears a clean shirt every day. If he drops off his laundry
and picks up the previous week’s load every Monday night, how many shirts must he
own to keep him going?
Answer: 15

37. A sharp operator makes the following deal. A player is to toss a coin and receive 1, 4, 9,
….. n2 dollars if the first head comes up on the first, second, third,… n-th toss. The sucker
pays ten dollars for this. How much can the operator expect to make if this repeated a
great many times?
Answer: $4 per game

38. An expert on transformer design relaxed one Saturday by going to the races. At the end
of the first race he had doubled his money. He bet $30 on the second race and tripled his
money. He bet $54 on the third race and quadrupled his money. He bet $72 on the
fourth race and lost it, but still had $48 left. With how much money did he start?
Answer: 29

39. Citizens of Franistan pay as much income tax (percentage-wise) as they make rupees per
week. What is the optimal salary in Franistan?
Answer: 50 rupees

40. A necklace consists of pearls which increase uniformly from a weight of 1 carat for the
end pearls to a weight of 100 carats for the middle pearl. If the necklace weighs
altogether 1650 carats and the clasp and string together weigh as much (in carats) as the
total number of pearls, how many pearls does the necklace contain?
41. Answer: 33 pearls

42. The teacher marked the quiz on the following basis: one point for each correct answer,
one point off for each question left blank and two points off for each question answered
incorrectly. Pat made four times as many errors as Mike, but Mike left nine more
questions blank. If they both got the same score, how many errors did each make?
Answer: Pat = 8 errors, Mike = 2 errors

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43. My house is on a road where the numbers run 1, 2, 3, 4… consecutively. My number is a

three digit one and, by a curious coincidence, the sum of all house numbers less than
mine is the same as the sum of all house numbers greater than mine. What is my number
and how many houses are there on my road?
Ans: house number = 204, no. of houses = 208

44. Four players played a hand of hearts at $1 a point (pairwise payoffs). Dave lost $10 to Arch,
$12 to Bob, and $20 to Chuck. How many hearts did poor Dave take in?
Answer: 4

45. All the members of a fraternity play basketball while all but one play ice hockey; yet the
number of possible basketball teams (5 members) is the same as the number of possible
ice hockey teams (6 members). Assuming there are enough members to form either type
of team, how many are in the fraternity?
Answer: 15

46. A game of super-dominoes is played with pieces divided into three cells instead of the
usual two, containing all combinations from triple blank to triple six, with no
duplications. For example, the set does not include both 1 2 3 and 3 2 1 since these are
merely reversals of each other. (But, it does contain 1 3 2.) How many pieces are there in
a set?
Answer: 196

47. A spider and a fly are located at opposite vertices of a room of dimensions 1, 2 and 3
units. Assuming that the fly is too terrified to move, find the minimum distance the
spider must crawl to reach the fly.
Answer: 18

48. A circle of radius 1 inch is inscribed in an equilateral triangle. A smaller circle is inscribed
at each vertex, tangent to the circle and two sides of the triangle. The process is
continued with progressively smaller circles. What is the sum of the circumference of all
circles? Answer: 5π

49. Max and his wife Min each toss a pair of dice to determine where they will spend their
vacation. If either of Mins dice displays the same number of spots as either of Max’s, she
wins and they go to Bermuda. Otherwise, they go to Yellowstone. What is the chance
they’ll see “Old Faithful” this year?
Answer: 0.514

50. How many three-digit telephone area codes are possible given that: (a) the first digit
must not be zero or one; (b) the second digit must be zero or one; (c) the third digit must
not be zero; (d) the third digit may be one only if the second digit is zero?
Answer: 136

51. Rigorously speaking, two men are “brothers- in-law” if one is married to the full sister of
the other. How many men can there be with each man a brother-in-law of every other
man?
Answer: 3 men

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 Litton's Problematical Recreations

52. A forgetful physicist forgot his watch one day and asked an E.E. on the staff what time it
was. The E.E. looked at his watch and said: “The hour, minute, and sweep second hands
are as close to trisecting the face as they ever come. This happens only twice in every 12
hours, but since you probably haven’t forgotten whether you ate lunch, you should be
able to calculate the time.” What time was it to the nearest second?
Answer: 2:54:35 and 9:05:25

53. A diaper is in the shape of a triangle with sides 24, 20 and 20 inches. The long side is
wrapped around the baby’s waist and overlapped two inches. The third point is brought
up to the center of the overlap and pinned in place. The pin is to go through three
thicknesses of material. What is the area in which the pin may be placed?
Answer: 2.5 in^2

54. In Byzantine basketball there are 35 scores which are impossible for a team to total, one
of them being 58. Naturally a free throw is worth fewer points than a field goal. What is
the point value of each?
Answer: free throw = 8, field goal = 11

55. A man leaves from the point where the prime meridian crosses the equator and moves
forty-five degrees northeast by geographic compass which always points toward the
north geographic pole. He constantly corrects his route. Assuming that he walks with
equal facility on land and sea, where does he end up and how far will he have traveled
when he gets there?
Answer: North Pole, meters sqrt 2 x 10^7

56. A cowboy is five miles south of a stream which flows due east. He is also 8 miles west and
6 miles north of his cabin. He wishes to water his horse at the stream and return home.
What is the shortest distance he can travel and accomplish this?
Answer: 17.9 miles

57. The Ben Azouli are camped at an oasis 45 miles west of Taqaba. They decided to
dynamite the Trans-Hadramaut railroad joining Taqaba to Maqaba, 60 miles north of
the oasis. If the Azouli can cover 18 miles a day, how long will it take them to reach the
railroad? Answer: 2 days

58. A student beginning the study of Trigonometry came across an expression of the form sin
(X + Y). He evaluated this as sin X + sin Y. Surprisingly he was correct. The values of X
and Y differed by 10˚; what were these values, assuming that 0˚ < X < Y < 360˚?
Answer: x = 175˚, y = 185˚

59. Dad and his son have the same birthday. One the last one, Dad was twice as old as
Junior. Uncle observed that this was the ninth occasion on which Dad’s birthday age has
been an integer multiple of Junior’s. How old is Junior?
Answer: Junior = 36 years old, Dad = 72 years old

60. Between Kroflite and Beeline are five other towns. The seven towns are an integral
number of miles from each other along a straight road. The towns are so spaced that if
one knows the number of miles a person has traveled between any two towns he can

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determine the

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particular towns uniquely. What is the minimum distance between Kroflite and Beeline
to make this possible?
Answer: 25 miles

61. There are three families, each with two sons and two daughters. In how many ways can
all these young people be married?
Answer: 80

62. In the final seconds of the game, your favorite N.B.A team is behind 117 to 118. Your
center attempts a shot and is fouled for the 2nd time in the last 2 minutes as the buzzer
sounds. Three to make two in the penalty situation. Optimistic? Note: the center is only a
50% free- thrower. What are your team’s overall chances of winning?
Answer: 69%

63. Two wheels in the same plane are mounted on shafts 13 in. apart. A belt goes around
both wheels to transmit power from one to the other. The radii of the two wheels and the
length of the belt not in contact with the wheels at any moment are all integers. How
much larger is one wheel than the other?
Answer: 5 inches larger

64. A group of hippies are pondering whether to move to Patria, where polygamy is practiced
but polyandry and spinsterhood are prohibited, or Matria, where polyandry is permitted
and polygamy and bachelorhood are proscribed. In either event the possible number of
“arrangements” is the same. The girls outnumber the boys. How many are there?
Answer: 4 girls, 2 boys

65. Three farmers, Adams, Brown and Clark all have farms containing the same number of
acres. Adams’ farm is most nearly square, the length being only 8 miles longer than the
width. Clark has the most oblong farm, the length being 34 miles longer than the width.
Brown’s farm is intermediate between these two, the length being 28 miles longer than
the width. If all the dimensions are in exact miles, what is the size of each farm?
Answer: Adam = 40 x 48, Brown = 32 x 60, Clark = 30 x 64

66. At this moment, the hands of a clock in the course of normal operation describe a time
somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 on a standard clock face. Within one hour or less, the
hands will have exactly exchanged positions; what time is it now?
Answer: 4:26.853

67. Three rectangles of integer sides have identical areas. The first rectangle is 278 feet
longer than wide. The second rectangle is 96 feet longer than wide. The third rectangle is
542 feet longer than wide. Find the area and dimensions of the rectangles.
Answer: Area is 1,466,690 square feet
Rectangular dimensions are: 1080 x 1358; 1164 x 1260; 970 x 1512 feet

Prepared by Engr. Matthew