If anyone is curious about the answer to yesterday’s problem (click on the picture for higher resolution):
In Figure 1 the frog weighs as much as 3 mice.
So in Figure 4 the hedgehog weighs as much as 6 mice. (The chickens cancel one another.)
Then in Figure 2 the dog and a mouse weigh as much as the hedgehog. So the dog plus a mouse weigh 6 mice, meaning the dog weighs 5 mice.
In Figure 5 the dog (5 mice) weighs as much as a chicken plus a mouse, so the chicken has to weigh the same as 4 mice.
So frog=3 mice, hedgehog=6 mice, dog=5 mice, chicken=4 mice.
So which answer? We need something to balance the hedgehog’s 6 mice plus another 2 mice = 8 mice.
A frog + dog = 3 + 5 = 8 mice
B frog + chicken = 3 + 4 = 7 mice
C mouse + chicken = 1 + 4 = 5 mice
D dog + hedgehog = 5 + 6 = 11 mice
So the answer has to be A.
Problems like this make me think, but I can answer them with just enough work to make them satisfying. Tomorrow I’ll talk about problems in the book that are too hard for me, not worth my effort even if I could finally figure them out. The thing that cracks me up is in the Amazon reviews one person said her 10 year old son thought the problems were too easy, more appropriate for 8 year olds, not 10. That puts me in my place! But more power to him. And good for the authors of these books.
December 9, 2022
how exciting…as well as mind bending
🙂
Ummm, say what?
🙂
My head can’t go there today. LOL
That’s fine too. 🙂
Math was my worst subject in high school and in my 11th year the business math teacher told me he was giving me a passing grade because I had tried really really hard and he knew that I would never get it and he wanted me to graduate
Good for him! You have plenty of other talents. 🙂
Reviews are so subjective! Working in hospitality so long, I learned long ago not to take them all to heart.
I didn’t think that was a bad review. And that didn’t mean it would be true for all 10 year olds.
These kind of puzzles are very good for our brain functions. I guess they keep it sharp. But I think my brain lost it’s edge quite awhile ago!
Ours have lost ours too, but I’m happier now than we were when we were younger. Last year when I was at the doctor’s she said, “It keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? “
Bah!
On the other hand, you like to cook and I don’t. It’s all good. 🙂
Hmm, I couldn’t even figure out that one of the animals was a dog.
I had trouble figuring out those animals too. In fact, I was wrong. Beate says it’s an alligator, which makes sense because it doesn’t have ears.