Maths Puzzles 1

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Handshakes         

At a business meeting each person shook hands with every other person exactly once.  If there were fifteen handshakes, can you tell how many people attended the meeting?

Worm Trip      

A worm crawls only along the edges of a box measuring 2 by 2 by 3 cm. What is the longest distance the worm can travel without retracing any of its steps?

Grid Puzzle   

Can you arrange the numbers 1 to 9 into a 3 by 3 grid, so that each row, column and diagonal add up to the same number?

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Birthday Candles

On every birthday since I was born, I have had a cake decorated with the appropriate number of candles. I have blown out 210 candles so far, how old am I?   

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Wine Division

There are fourteen wine glasses on a table; seven are full, seven are half full. Without changing the amount of wine in any glass, can you divide the glasses into three groups so that each has the same total amount of wine?

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Gallons of Water

A farmer having a 7 gallon measure and a 4 gallon measure and no other container of any description goes to a well to get exactly 5 gallons of water. How does he do it?

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Digging the Ditch

Bob can dig a ditch in 3 days. Bill can dig the same ditch in 6 days. How long will it take them working together to dig the ditch?

Liquid Measures

Which of the following liquid measures represents the smallest volume?

2 gallons            9 quarts            17 pints  

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Compass Points

Going clockwise, how many degrees are there between SSW and NE?

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Tea and Coffees

1 tea and 2 coffees cost £3.90; 3 teas and 4 coffees cost £8.70.  What is the cost of a tea and coffee?