September Puzzlers
Water and Wine: You have two glasses, one of which contains 10 ounces of water, the other 10 ounces of wine. Pour one ounce of water into the wine, mix thoroughly, then pour one ounce of the wine-water mixture into the water. Is there now more water in the wine or wine in the water?
Tennis Tourney: The local tennis club had 125 entrants for its annual singles elimination tournament. In the first round, 62 games were played to eliminate about half the contestants (the odd man had a bye); in the second round a further quarter were eliminated, and so on until the winner emerged. How many matches were played?
Barry Evans (barryevans9@yahoo.com) is puzzling about what to write for next week’s column. The collection of his first 80 Field Notes columns is available directly from him or from Eureka Books.
HINTS
Four Triangles: Think “dimensions.” Chess Board: Think “parity.” How many of each black and white squares need to be covered? And what color will the ant end on? Chain Reaction: Suppose instead the task was to create a 12-link chain out of three chains of three links each plus three loose links? Hole in the Sphere: If you do trust me, then there must be a unique answer, no matter what the size of the hole. So why not make life easy and assume the hole’s diameter is zero? Largest Number: (1) Three 9’s might be a good place to start. (2) You can do better than 9 x 9 x 9: don’t forget powers, e.g. 9^9 (9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9). (3) Which is larger, 99^9 or 9^99? Water and Wine: Imagine instead you have two equal piles of marbles, one containing ten red marbles, the other ten black. Mix them up and divide again so you’ve now got two mixed piles of ten marbles each. Suppose three black marbles have “contaminated” the red pile, how many red marbles are now in the black pile? Tennis Tourney: How many players were eliminated?
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Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
Organic Gardening Seminar
garden / 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Shafer's Ace Hardware and Garden Center, 2760 E St., Eureka. Free lecture by Duncan McNeill on how to create a healthy environment and healthy soils for your plant’s roots. E-mail shafers@sbcglobal.net. 442-5734.
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