Puzzles to boost your brain

CAMEL ADDITION

A RICH Arab dies and leaves his 17 camels to his three sons.

The camels are to be divided as follows:

Half to the first son, one-third to the second son and one-ninth to the third son.

The three sons can’t seem to work it out without chopping up some of the camels!

A wise old Arab happens by on his camel and solves the problem immediately — without cutting up any camels.

Do some mental exercise — try to work out how the wise old Arab did it.

ANSWER

THE wise old Arab adds his own camel to the 17, bringing the total number to 18. The camels are then divided as follows: Half of 18 = 9 for the first son; One third of 18 = 6 for the second son; One ninth of 18 = 2 for the third son.

After each son takes his allotted camels (9+6+2=17), the wise old Arab’s camel remains, so he remounts it and rides off . . .

ALL AT SIXES

A HOUSE painter has to paint numbers on the doorway of each of one hundred houses.

The numbers are to be consecutive from 1 to 100.

The question is, exactly how many 6s will he have painted when he’s completed the job?

Work mentally, not on paper. Counting on your fingers is OK.

ANSWER

TWENTY sixes. Most people answer 11 sixes, because they go through the numbers 1 to 99 — 6, 16, 26, 36, etc — remembering two for 66, but forgetting that each number in the 60s has a six.