While visiting a small town in India, I lost my overcoat in a bus. When I reported the matter to the bus company I was asked the number of the bus. Though I did not remember the exact number I did remember that the bus number had a peculiarity about it. The number plate showed the bus number was a perfect square and also if the plate were turned upside down, the number would still be a perfect square.
I came to know from the bus company they had only five hundred buses numbered from 1 to 500. From this I was able to deduce the bus number. Can you tell what was the number?
Solution
The bus number is 196, which is 14 squared.
961 is 196 upside down and is 31 squared.
The other fancy answers are 1 or assuming all leading zeros 001, upside down is 100 which is 10 squared. Since 1 is easy to remember and would not have put the guy into such trouble, it is assumed that 196 is the correct answer.
But credit is given to people who came up with these answers.
The correct responses were sent by:
Asyn, Jose Javier, P.E. Fugro Consultants, Inc,
Christen N. Specht, E.I.T. TxDOT
Dwayne E. Culp, P.E., CFM Jacobs Engineering Group
Joonho Hwang, Ph.D., P.E. Fugro Consultants, Inc,
Matthew Zeve, P.E., CFM AECOM
Manuel Ochoa, EIT Fugro Consultants, Inc,
Michael Kane, P.E. AECOM
Kenneth W. Bryant, P.E. H2B, Inc.
April Problem
You have 24 marbles. Twenty-three of these marbles have the same weight, and one is heavier. You have a scale balance, which will compare the weight of any two sets of marbles. How many minimum numbers of weightings are required to identify the heavier marble?
•
del.icio.us
digg
facebook
