NOTE: Newest BTs in red, Bonuses in blue, comments in green, updates in purple.
- Two is company and three is a crowd. 🙂 What are four and five?
- a) Find the smallest integer that is the product of 3 primes. b) Same question for three different primes?
- The sum of two numbers is 12 and their difference is 3. What is the difference of the squares of the two numbers?
- There are roughly 2 lbs of muscle for every 5 lbs of body weight. At that rate how much would the muscle of a 180 man weigh?
- See the problem in the figure below. Finding the answer seems frustrating and logic-defying at first (at least it was for me! Some are getting it immediately.), but when you see it, it’s like “DUH! How’d I miss that?” Indeed, non ‘math types’ probably get it quicker. 🙂 (Hint 1: You could drive into this very section of the parking lot in the ‘real world’ and not think a thing about it. Hint 2: Walk to the other side of the parking lot.)
See the picture at right. –> In order to gain access here, what’s the minimum number of locks that need to be unlocked? [Two answers accepted here, depending on interpretation of what is seen (or not) in the pic. 🙂 ]- Each side of a cube is increased by 10%. By what percent is the volume of the cube increased?
- A ‘message’ consists of a sequence of 3 dashes and 2 dots in some order. How many different (distinguishable) ‘messages’ are there?
- When, if ever, is 1/x > x? [Reminder: The symbol is ‘greater than’.]
- When, if ever, is | x | = – x? [Reminder: Symbol is ‘absolute value’.]
- What can be seen once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?
- (#12 – #15 are re-shared.) It was bright and sunny at 12 noon today. What’s the probability it will be sunny again (in the same location) 60 hours from now?
- Ralph drives 60 miles at an average speed of 30 mph, then returns over the same route at an average speed of 60 miles an hour. What was his average speed for the round trip?
- Find all the integers whose absolute value is less than 8, but more than 2.
A tennis can is exactly the right size to hold three tennis balls stacked atop each other. Which is bigger, the can’s height (not counting lid) or its circumference (distance around)? Why? - These last additions were added in the Mailing of Aug 24, 2020 (8/24/20). How is that date related/connected to Feb 6, 2010? (Multiple answers possible?)
BONUS 1: See #3 above. The problem can be done directly without a lot of elbow grease.(trial/error, minor algebra, etc). But, the problem is also somewhat of a ‘practical joke for math types’, as it has a fun, quick ‘mathy’ shortcut if you notice it. (You don’t even have to know what the numbers are!) Can you tell what it is?
BONUS 2: The image at the right has been cropped from a larger cartoon 
about math majors as sporting fans. If you’re a semi-serious math type, you may be slightly troubled. Why?
BONUS 3: In the July 13 Mailing, in the May/June BT Solutions (& Solvers), I made a careless typo-like mistake listing an answer. Can you find it? (Hints: Answers are in red font, the mistake is NON-mathematical, and the number of the problem is a multiple of 3.) (As usual, a simple yes/no answer does not get full credit. 🙂 ).
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