M001   Freight Train  

            The Guard at the rear of a freight train travelling in the wild west needs to send   a message to the engine driver to inform him of danger ahead.  The guard asks     Hopalong Hardly to ride his horse to the front of the train, deliver the message and return back again.  The train is 300 metres in length and during Hopalongs   ride to the front of the train and back again it travels 400 metres.

            Both the train and the cowboy move at a uniform speed. 

            Q.  How far does Hopalong travel?  

            ANS: 800 metres  

M002  Space Race  

At  the halfway point in the Intergalactic Cup Handicap Race, Captain Soslow said that 18 light years ago he was 3 times as far as his closest competitor         Andy            Andromeda.  But now he was only twice as far, which was surprising considering both spacecraft were travelling at the same speed.

            Q. How far from the start (in light years ) is Andy Andromeda  now?  

            ANS: 36 Light years.  ( The Race is 144 LY, Soslow is 72 now, 18 LY ago     Andy was 18LY, and Soslow 54 LY)  

M003   Average Age  

            The MEAN family of four consists of  Father, Mother, Judy and Fred.

            Father and mother was 30 and 25 when Fred was born.  Judy is 5 years older   than Fred.  The average age of the family is 40.

            Q. How old is Fred?  

            ANS:  Fred is 25.  

M004   All the Kings Children.  

            On the Planet Zenon there were continual wars.  The King was well protected   by his children who form his body guard.  The enemy captured one of his sons and interrogated him.

            " How many body guards are there" asked the enemy.

            He answered " I have 4 times as many sisters as brothers in the body guard;

             However each of my sisters has 3 times as many sisters as brothers."

            Q. How many children are there in the Kings bodyguard?  

            ANS:  21  ( Boys = 5, girls = 16 )  

M005   Number Plate Ratio.  

            At the regular Whippet Car Club meeting, amateur mathematician Mergatroyd   Marmalade noted that most cars had yellow number plates.  Half the cars with           black number plates moved off on the tour leaving the ratio of yellow to black    at 12 to one.  Within a half hour 2 more cars with black number plates started    out altering the yellow to black ratio to 20 to one.  At this stage no cars with yellow number plates had moved off on tour.

            Q.  How many cars with yellow number plates are there?  

            ANS:  60  ( Black 10, Total  70)  

M006   Veteran Meeting  

            Millie Speedhog sets out in a Model T Ford on a journey from Alphadale  to     Betawood at an average speed of 10 Km/h.   Four hours later Willie Wagtail in     a Packard starts from Betawood at an average speed of 20 Km/h.  The distance            between the two towns is 400 Km.

            Q. When they meet how far will they be from Alphadale?  

            ANS: 160 Km    

M007   Ticktock Time  

            Teacher Tom Timeclock set this puzzle for his class.  It is now a certain             number of  minutes past nine o'clock but it was seven times as many minutes past eight o'clock, 18 minutes ago.

            Q.  What is the time now?  

            ANS:  9.07  

M008   Birthday Guess            

            At the local village tea party Tom Trickey conducted a game to see who could   guess his age.

            Mrs. Murphy guessed 40.

            Rev. Churchyard who had baptised Tom thought he was 50.

            The butcher decided on 43.

            Miss Baker guessed he was 58

            "Well" said Tom "one of you are correct, but the others are out

            by 3, 15 and 7."

            Q.  Who guessed correctly?  

            ANS: The butcher with 43.  

M009   At Warp Speed  

Captain Soslow who was participating in the intergalactic cup race left the half way point and could only travel at an average speed of  20 Km/s. due to a faulty Warp Drive motor.  However when this was repaired he travelled at a new speed for 20 seconds thus increasing his overall average speed.  The overall average speed from the half way point was 30 Km/s. and distance travelled using the Warp Drive Motor was three and a half  times the distance without it.

            Q.  What was the total distance travelled from the half way point?  

            ANS:  900 Km  

M010   Tricky Rogaine  

            Tricky West an intrepid bushwalker and orienteer was 9 Km north of Rocky     Creek which flowed due east.  He was also 12 Km west and 11 Km south of        the check point in the Rogaine Competition conducted by the Never Lost             Walking Club.  His instructions were to go to the creek and return to the check point. 

            Q.  What is the shortest distance Tricky can travel?  

            ANS: 31.4 Km (Equal angles)  

M011   The Fearless Fly Flight  

            The two railway stations Alphaville and Betawood are 200 Km apart.  Train A leaves Alphaville travelling at 25 Km/h and at the same time train B leaves Betawood travelling at 15 Km/h, both on the same track heading towards each other.  Fearless Fred the speedy house fly is on the front of train A and at the start immediately travels at 100 Km/h towards train B.  When Fred reaches train B he immediately turns and flies back again and this continues in an ever diminishing way until the two trains meet.  Assume speeds are uniform.

            Q.  How far does Fred Fly?  

            ANS: 500 Km   

M012   Children's Lollies  

            Amateur Mathematician Mildred Marmaduke held a birthday party for her         daughter Mary.  Mildred handed around chocolate licorice lollies to all the children, trying to ensure each received an equal amount.  However when each child counted their lollies it was found that each had 15 except one who had only 10.  Mildred noted that if the number of children was subtracted from the total number of lollies it would equal 765.

            Q.  How many children are there?  

            ANS: 55 children  

M013   Relations Puzzle  

            Fred Puzzla attended the annual social  of the Downtown Genealogical Society. He posed this puzzle to the members "I don't have any brothers or children, yet my father's grandson is Burt's father's son - What is my relation to Burt?"

            Q.  Can you answer Fred's puzzle?  

            ANS: Burt is the son of Fred's sister ie his nephew.  

M014   Lucky Cherry   

            Four friends attended Lucky Pete's gambling casino and played a $1 poker       machine which 'pays' on cherries.  Each extra cherry doubles the payout up to four cherries.  They each play once and all four get a different number of  cherries.  The two lowest combined winnings was $28.

            Q.  How much was the total earnings of the four friends?  

            ANS: $146

M015   The Times Wrong  

            Terry Timepiece lived in the Swiss town of Chronodale and prided himself on    having all his clocks accurate.  However one morning after a storm which caused a blackout he noticed all three of his electric clocks were slow on an average of 1 hour 30 minutes.  The clocks were showing the times of 6.40, 5.30 and 4.20.

            Q.  What is the time now?  

            ANS: 7.00   

M016   Honest Sid

            Honest Sid the local used car dealer sold two motor cars for $20,000 each and     four trucks at $18,000 each.  Each of the vehicles were purchased for the same amount yet he noticed that the profit for the sale of the two cars was the same as for the four trucks.

            Q.  How much did he pay for each vehicle?  

            ANS: $16,000  

M017   High Cost  

Mrs. Murphy found an old account from her grocer which showed that the cost of butter 10 years ago was seven times that of margarine.  However it is now only three times as much even though both products have increased uniformly at $1 per year.

            Q.  How much is butter now?

            ANS: $45