Euphonious names
What work, by whom, contains, amongst other things, speak-your-weight machines being trained to sing the Hallelujah Chorus?
Why is the pattern “X X Name” euphonious? “N Simpson” just seems wrong. How about
A Milne
G Chesterton
T Elliot
H Wells
P O’Rourke
- Don’t forget R. G. Bargy and M. T. Vessel
Here’s a question
Suppose there is 1 ton of coal sitting at the top of a 4500 foot high (1500m) mountain. There are two ways we could extract energy from that:
- Burning it
- Dropping it down to sea level on the end of a winch, using the weight of the coal to drive the winch backwards to generate electricity. Like giant cuckoo clock weights.
Now have a rough guess, ignoring all the side issues, how the amount of chemical energy compares to the amount of gravitational energy in that ton of coal.
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How often are there 5 Fridays in a month?
A very simple question. An opportunity for you to exercise your brain cells. There are no tricks or shortcuts just simple sitting down with paper and pencil for a few minutes. Read more
Not difficult test
I thought I’d put together a few questions to test general intellectual ability. The sort of test you’d use if you were going to employ someone. The object isn’t to present you with puzzles that you need some insight into solving, it isn’t to trick or require cleverness, but simply to see if you have a bit of everyday knowledge and can put your brains to work on straightforward problems.
Part of the test is to read the questions carefully. Another is to see if you can cope with mildly confusing situation. Another is to see how diligent you are. Some knowledge of English and metric units is required.
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Puzzle – Up and down the mountain
How Unlikely?
One Monday a man walks up a mountain, starting at 9am and arriving at the hotel at the top at 3pm. The next day after a good breakfast he starts out at 9am and arrives at the bottom again at 3pm going by exactly the same route in reverse. Here is the problem I’d like you to solve:
What is the probability that at some time of the day on his way down he’ll be at exactly the same spot as he was at that same time on the way up the previous day?
Revelation:
Imagine the walker had a twin that decided to walk up the hill on Tuesday starting at 9am and arriving at 3pm. Somewhere the two twins would meet. They have to meet. Obviously when they meet it must be the same time and same place. It doesn’t matter if the twin runs and arrives at 2pm or has a snooze part way and arrives at 6pm the twins still have to meet somewhere.
I like these ‘obvious when you know’ puzzles. They remind us that many problems become a lot clearer when looked at in the right way.
Railway mania – What if?
In 1856 plans for the Tilbury, Maldon & Colchester railway1 were drawn up. The southern section would have gone from Tilbury, through what is now Basildon, S.Woodham Ferrers, Purleigh then into Maldon via what is now the Promenade park and the Hythe. A branch was to leave the main line at Purleigh to head East via Althorne and Southminster to terminate at a pier in Burnham-on-crouch. The northern section carries on from the Hythe, along the Downs, under Market Hill where it joins Cromwell hill, curving right to cross the river, climbing to cross the new Witham to Maldon railway2, then right again for a long straight NW stretch through Broad Green, Little Totham, through what is now Abberton reservour then turning almost due North through Maypole Green into Colchester, Butt lane a bit to the North of the junction with Layer Rd., crossing London Road roughly where Rawston Rd. is today and carrying on to join the Eastern Counties Railway a bit to the east of what is today ‘North’ station via Sheepen Meadow and the “Station Way” bit of Westway. From where the line crossed Butt Lane a branch struck West towards Bourne mill, finishing at the Hythe.
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