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Monthly Brain Teaser and September’s answer
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
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Last month you were given this problem:
Last month you were asked to determine, without using paper, pencils or calculators, how much earth there is in a trench that is 3 feet 3 inches wide, 2 feet 6 inches deep, and 10 yards long?
The answer is of course – None. Otherwise it would not be a trench.
This month have a look at this problem. An amateur woodworker bought a 10 foot length of mahogany for £400. He needed to have it cut into 1 foot lengths but did not have good enough tools to do this and in any case did not trust his ability to cut this expensive wood accurately enough. The woodyard therefore offered to cut it for him at a cost of £10 per cut (they had to use special tools that blunted quickly on mahogany), and he agreed. When the man came to collect his purchase the woodyard handed him a bill for £500, which he thought excessive? Was he being unreasonable?
Ian N Johnson says:
October 20th, 2010
15:49
[spoiler]Only takes 9 cuts to give him 10 * 1 foot lengths[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Therefore wood is £400, 9 cuts @ £10 each is a further £90, so he is being oversharged by a nice crisp tenner.[/spoiler]
Tell these chancers to wise up!
Best wishes as ever
Ian