Problem of the Day Part X

It's been a while since I asked any questions. Before I give out new questions I have to give some answers to the last two problems.

Part VII

1. A notable doctor had no table and was therefore, not able to operate

2. My lighter is lighter than my wallet.

Carly G. got both for 9 points.

Part IX

I'll be honest, these were vague and pretty hard. You kind of had to know the answers as it would have been hard to figure them out.

1. Elijah Wood was first seen on the screen in Back to the Future II (playing a video game in the future) and later appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

2. Tim Robbins appeared in Top Gun after Goose (Anthony Edwards of ER) dies in an accident. He replaced Goose as Maverick's (Tom Cruise) flying navigator.

No one even attempted these. Guess they were too obscure.

There has been a lead change in the points race. It's not too late for anyone else to jump in the fray...

I'm going back to patterns this week. I'm hoping they are more difficult than the first ones I gave. Each one will be one point for each blank that I have and one point for the way you found it out:

1) 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, ___,___

2) 77, 49, 36, 18, ___

3) 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 3, ___, ___

That's 8 points in total up for grabs. Email pieceofdust@gmail.com with your answers.

Problem of the Day Part IX

So I have still not really caught up with the good posts. I promise a lot are coming really soon!

To start today's problem, let's take up the problems from last Thursday:

1. The letter M occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, but never in a thousand years?

2. The man does not get any hairs wet because he is completely bald.

3. All wise men, regardless of their religion or politics, agree that the word "AND" is between heaven and earth.

Alex G., Heather D. and Carly G. all get three points for their correct answers.

This installments questions are movie trivia, but the answers are not easily found (note actor could mean actress, I just used actor and assumed you realized it could be a male or a female):

1. What actor got his start playing an extremely minor role in one movie of a trilogy and then later went on to play a much bigger role in another trilogy? You get one point each for naming the actor, the first trilogy, which movie of the first trilogy and the second trilogy (4 points total).

2. This well-known actor played a lesser role in a well-known movie. The character replaced another character when the original character was unable to continue their duties. The original character also played a doctor on tv. For one point each, name: the movie, the two actors, and the tv show in which the actor played a doctor (4 points total).

As always, email your responses to pieceofdust@gmail.com with "Problem of the Day Part IX" as your subject line. I encourage those people who have yet to respond to give it a try as anything can happen...

Good luck!

Problem of the Day Part VIII

First off, lets get to the answers from last week:

1. Strengths is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel.

2. Words I accepted with no vowels and at least 6 letters: crypts, crwths, rhythm, rhythms, syzygy, trysts, and nymphs

3. A word with 9 "O"s and 6 "C"s: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. See here for a definition.

Carly G. earned 11 points and Heather D. earned 10 points with their efforts.

This week's problem is as follows:

Fill in a series of letters to finish the sentence. Each blank has the same letters in the same order, but the letters are broken up with different spaces each time. What is the completed sentence?

A ________ doctor had ________ and therefore, was ________ to operate.

If you get this difficult problem, you'll get 6 points.

Here's an easier one, worth 3 points. This one has the same word in each space. The word is exactly the same each time with no spaces.

My _______ is _______ than my wallet.

Good luck!

P.S. As a side note to get more people motivated to answer this, I've noticed my sister (Heather D.) has been bragging on her blog (I will talk about this more later once she's had a few more posts since her hiatus).

P.S.S. Don't forget there's still another set of questions to be answered. You have until Thursday to answer these ones!

Problem of the Day: Part VII

As promised, here is a second set of problems for this week (after the set I gave you on Tuesday - which are still open to anyone who wants to try). I have still yet to figure out a prize, but there will be many opportunities to get back in the game sooner rather than later. I may set it up so that getting a certain amount of points entitles you to a prize. That may get more people answering.

I have found a more reliable source of problems so I will be using those. Here are a few "riddles" today. As always, I have certain answers in mind, but other answers will be considered on a case by case basis.

1. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, but never in a thousand years?
2. A man is out for a walk when it began to rain. The man had no umbrella and no hat. His clothes were soaked, but not a single hair on his head got wet. How is this possible?
3. What is one thing that all wise men, regardless of their religion or politics, agree is between heaven and earth?

Each question is worth one point.

Good luck!

As always, send your answers to pieceofdust@gmail.com.

Problem of the Day Part VI

Ok, so I'll admit I forgot last week and then it got closer to today so I waited a while. But I have some new stuff for you today.

First, the answers from two weeks ago:

Arrive on Time
Tricycle
Robin Hood
Three Degrees Below Zero (no one got this one)
Hi Ho Silver

Both Heather D and Carly G got 4 out of 5 and their points have been updated.

This weeks problems are fairly difficult and require a knowledge of the English language:

1. What is the longest word in the English language that has only one vowel? 2 points
2. Give as many examples as you can of words that don't have any of the traditional vowels (a, e, i, o u). One catch: they have to have at least 6 letters in the words. 1 point for each word
3. What word in the English language has 9 o's and 6 c's? 3 points

Good luck in your search!

Please email your responses to pieceofdust@gmail.com! Answers are due Monday May 14th at 11:59pm.

Since I missed last week I plan on giving another set of questions on Thursday. Keep your eye open for them.

Problem of the Day Part V

I had three readers email me in the correct answers: Alex G, Carly G and Heather D. These are last weeks answers:

1. 29 Days in February in a Leap Year
2. 26 Letters in the Alphabet
3. 3 Blind Mice (See How They Run)
4. 7 Days in a Week
5. Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
6. 12 Signs of the Zodiac
7. 60 Minutes in an Hour
8. 1001 Arabian Nights
9. 200 Dollars for Passing Go in Monopoly

This weeks one is somewhat similar. You need to decode what the arrangement of words means. The formatting on this is a little messed up (every time I've tried to post it, there is a big space before the boxes.... I think that's Blogger just being weird!

Anyway, here are the problems:

Arrive Time

Cycle Cycle Cycle

HOROBOD

0 B.A. M.Sc. Ph.D.

Hi Ho Ag

Remember to email pieceofdust@gmail.com with your answers and "Problem of the Day Part V" in the subject line. Thanks and good luck!

Problem of the Day Part IV

I am making some changes to the problem of the day so that it is fair to all involved. Please do not post any of your responses on here. Instead I ask you to submit your responses to this email I have set up to deal with this blog: pieceofdust@gmail.com

This way anyone who wants to try the problems can try. Everyone who submits correct responses will be credited with a point. Unless otherwise noted, only one response per person will be accepted, so make sure you have the correct answer (unless I explain that there is more than on answer).

The answers for last week that I accepted:

1. 99+9/9 = 100

2. 55/5-5 = 6

3. ((7 + 7) * 7) + (7/7) + (7/7) = 100 OR 777/7 – 77/7 = 100

That's 3 points for Heather D. I know someone can catch her. I heard she was bragging about getting all of these.

This weeks is part of a larger group of problems. Each of these expressions are missing words. Lucky for you, the words are replaced by the first letter in the word. It is up to you to decipher these expressions or phrases. I will give you the answer to the first one as an example and then you're on your own. You can earn up to 9 points in this round, so do what you can. Entries are due by 11:59pm on Monday April 23^rd:

1. 12 M in a Y (12 Months in a Year)

2. 29 D in F in a L Y

3. 26 L in the A

4. 3 B M (S H T R)

5. 7 D in a W

6. S W and the 7 D

7. 12 S of the Z

8. 60 M in an H

9. 1001 A N

10. 200 D for P G in M

Good Luck!

Problem of the Day Part III

Answers for the last installment:

1. A Deck of Cards is cut, passed around the table, but not eaten (unless you eat cards)

2. The Three daughters are not triplets because they are three parts of quadruplets, quintuplets, etc. The father could also have been unfaithful or a sperm donor, though the first explanation is simpler.

3. Your breath is impossible to hold for an hour (as far as I know) and weighs virtually nothing.

Today's questions are math related:

1. Arrange four “9”'s to give you 100 (this isn't a trick, use the “9”'s with any mathematical symbols but the only digit you can use is “9”)

2. Arrange four “5”'s to give you 6

3. Arrange seven “7”'s to give you 100

There may be more than one way to do these, so every unique answer will get a point.

Good luck!

Problem of the Day: Part II

I got to thinking that once a week perhaps isn't the most interesting (especially considering how quickly the last problems were solved), so I thought I would slip a few more in this week. I may or may not make this a regular thing, but that will depend on how fast people answer. I also had some issues with getting my post for today written on time, so I'm posting this now to give me a bit more time to write today's post. I know these don't have anything to do with today's theme, but I might as well give them... Today's problems are riddles. I have specific answers in mind, but other answers will be evaluated on a case by case basis. If they make sense, I will give points for them. 1 point for each correct answer.

The riddles are:

1. What do you put on a table, cut and then pass around, but would never actually eat?
2. A father has three daughters who were all born on June 5^th, 1985. They are, however, not triplets. Explain.
3. What is impossible to hold for an hour, yet weights virtually nothing?

Good Luck!

The responses from the last problem were correct:

1. o, t, t, f, f, s, s, e (the first letter of the numbers 1-8)
2. j, f, m, a, m, j, j, a (the first letter of the months January - August)
3. 8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 3 or 10 (the numbers in alphabetical order 1-9 or 1-10)
   

Problem of the Day: Part I

Being a teacher, I have several “Problem of the Day” lists and I thought I could do some sort of contest on my blog. This is how it will work. Each Tuesday I will post a question on the blog. Anyone who thinks they know the answer can guess what the answer is. The first person to get the right answer each week will get one point (or one point for each question asked). I will keep a running total within the blog (I may even post it on the sidebar if you're lucky) and at the end of a few months I will give a prize to whomever is leading. You will need to mention your name when posting your responses. Since this will be a long running contest, I will have to think of a good prize. I will work on that, but I wanted to get the contest started this week. So here is the first problem:

We start with patterns. The following letters and numbers represent a logical sequence. It is your job to figure out what that sequence is and to give me the next two letters. I am giving three problems this week, so three points are up for grabs.

1. o, t, t, f, f, s, ____, ____

2. j, f, m, a, m, j, ____, ____

3. 8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, ____, ____

Please explain how you came up with the answers or you won't get the points.

Good luck!