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LITTON’S PROBLEMATICAL RECREATIONS

Problem 16 Problem 25
In a fast Major League baseball game, pitcher Hi N. Outside managed to get The passengers on an excursion bus consisted of 14 married couples, 8 of
by with the minimum number of pitches possible. He played the entire game, whom brought no children, and 6 of whom brought 3 children a piece.
which was not called prior to completion. How many pitches did he make? Counting the driver, the bus had 31 occupants. How is this possible?
Ans: 25 pitches Ans: 18 children, 8 couples

Problem 17 Problem 26
Determine the next three terms of a sequence 12, 1, 1, 1,….. Very few people are aware of the growth pattern of Jack’s beanstalk. On the
Ans: 2, 1, 3 first day it increased its height by ½, on the second day by 1/3, on the third
day by ¼, and so on. How long did it take to achieve its maximum height
(100 times its original height)?
Problem 18
Ans: 198 days
What is the least number of links that must be disengaged from a 23-link
chain so that any number of links from 1 to 23 can be obtained by taking one
or more of the pieces? Problem 27
Ans: 2 the 4th and 11th Tom, Dick, and Harry played a round of golf, each ending with a total of 72
strokes. Each pair competed against each other in match plat (most holes
won). Tom beat Dick, and Dick beat Harry. Does it follow that Tom beat
Problem 19 Harry?
The set A contains the integers 0, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19,…. The set B
contains 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18….. Place 20 and 21 in their proper Ans: No
sets.
Ans: A – 20, B – 21 Problem 28
Six boys on a hockey team pick a captain by forming a circle and counting
out until only one remains. Joe is given the option of deciding what number
Problem 20 to count by. If he is second in the original counting order what number should
State University won their first football game of the season 17 to 0. Though he choose?
they scored no safeties, they managed to score more points each quarter
than they had scored in the previous quarter. What were State’s quarter Ans: 10
scores?
Ans: 0, 3, 6, 8 Problem 29
Show, with a simple example, that an irrational number raised to an irrational
power need not be irrational.
Problem 21
A chemist has three large test tubes and a beaker with 54 c.c. of elixir. Using
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the test tubes and ingenuity only, how can he retain 50 c.c. in the beaker? Ans: Let A = 2 . If A is rational, it is the desired example.
Ans: 50 On the other hand, if A is irrational, A 2 = 2 is the desired

Problem 22 Problem 30
=6•3I Depicted above are the 22 cities of Puevigi and their road connections. Can
Using only the above symbols three valid equations are possible. Give you devise a continuous tour which visits each city exactly once?
yourself full credit if you get one. Ans: No
Ans: 6 = 3!, w6 = 1., w9 = 1. where w is the standard notation for
one of the complex cube roots of one. Problem 31
A jig-saw puzzle contains 100 pieces. A “move” consists of connecting two
Problem 23 clusters (including “clusters” of just one piece.) What is the minimum number
How many colors are necessary for the squares of a chessboard in order to of moves required to complete the puzzle?
assure that a bishop cannot move from one square to another of the same
color? Ans: 99
Ans: 8 colors
Problem 32
There are three errers in the statement of this problem. You must detect all
Problem 24
of them to recieve full credit
A neat computer programmer wears a clean shirt every day. If he drops off
his laundry and picks up the previous week’s load every Monday night, how Ans: The misspelling of errors and receive are, of course, the
many shirts must he own to keep him going? first two errors. The third error is simply that there are only
Ans: 15 two errors in all.