IMPOSSIPUZZLES

“There’s about three pounds here,” said Bob, counting the money from their money box. “I’m taking a third myself. You get a third of what’s left, Betty, and then Jane gets a third of what you leave.”

“It’s not fair,” Jane grumbled when she received her portion. “You’ve got much more than me.”

Bob grinned. “But now we’ll all three share what remains equally. There’ll be one penny over, so you can have it.” How much was there altogether?

With menace, ranks in perfect square formation, they advanced but came no nearer. A square within a square, they marched. The inner square all red, the outer green. There I stood, and as I watched, the scene changed. The many legged green horrors now formed the inner square, the reds the outer. And in that change I knew the truth. Six hundred, forty and four more reds were there than greens. My screams wakened me! How many monsters had I seen?

A bathroom has half the floor area of a bedroom, which in turn has half the floor area of a living room. The total volume of the three rooms, which are all the same height, is 4620 cubic feet. If the bathroom floor measures 6 ft by 10 ft, how high are the rooms?

“Your hall looks different today,” said Gwen. “What did you do?”

Tim laughed. “You are observant,” he replied. “That old bell cord used to hang down the wall and just reach the floor 165 cm from the corner. I’ve pulled its end tight over to the corner, and that brought it up just 33 cm from the floor.”

How long was the cord?