19 February 2013

Ten digit number

It is only Tuesday and I am already flying back home! I asked two of my colleagues who are traveling with me to give me a puzzle for my FB friends – they were of no help!! So, here goes one from me…

Form a ten digit number comprising of two 4’s, two 3’s, two 2’s, two 1’s and two 0’s such that the two 4’s are separated by 4 digits, the two 3’s are separated by 3 digits, the two 2’s are separated by 2 digits, the two 1’s are separated by 1 digit and the two 0’s are separated by 0 digits.
(as always send me a personal message when you crack it)

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14 February 2013

Valentine’s day. Did you know?

Feb 14th is Valentine’s day. No doubt you know that. But if you are not from India, you may not know that Nov 14th is celebrated as Children’s Day in India. This is to celebrate India’s first prime minister Nehru’s birthday who was a great friend of children.
The discerning amongst you no doubt have realized that there is exactly 9 months between Valentine’s Day and Children’s Day in India! 🙂

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14 February 2013

Rope puzzle…..

Today Linda Michelson Sandler reported that her husband – who is not a FB friend of mine – but should be – has been wondering why I have not posted any more puzzles. You know you have created a problem when people are asking around why you are not posting puzzles 🙂

I had to quickly think of this one. If you know it send me PM.

You are given a bunch of ropes and a few match sticks. What you know about the ropes is that they all burn at very different rates at different segments but each one of them burns off completely in exactly 1 hour (60 minutes).

How can you measure 45 minutes? What is the minimum number of ropes and match sticks you need and how would you do it?

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10 February 2013

Se ki UP!!

First 5K run after the flu. With Sunday morning Bengali group. Seemed to have survived it so far.
Today, we changed up our route a little. At one point, we were looking up a steep hill in front of us. As we all took a deep breath before charging up the hill, Samaresh captured our collective thoughts in a few words
“Se ki UP
Baapre baap” 🙂

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5 February 2013

We are the lions!

I actually saw this on Facebook a few days back… I cannot locate it anymore (one of those friend-likes-funny-group posts). So I recreated the cartoon myself – but the credit goes to somebody else who I do not know!

That said, here is to all my Detroit friends!!!

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1 February 2013

Easier one…

Puzzle time: The last puzzle given by my brother in law – I am still trying to decipher the answer from three of my friends – one of whom is the brainy-types and has changed his mind thrice….

But today is Thursday and I should be flying home…. so here is one that is easier …

How do you get 100 using one “1” and four “7”s. You can use plus, minus, multiple, divide symbols and parentheses.

e.g. 177-77

Now give me another answer…

If you have cracked it, send me PM. I will recognize you publicly…

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31 January 2013

Engineering Skills

Unintentional 7.5K run in Chateau Élan. The story is to “die for” 🙂 Originally, the idea was to run through the neighborhood behind the winery for 5K. Somewhere in the hills in the dark, I took a wrong turn and found myself on a State Highway and by now 5K away from where I needed to be. It was a single lane highway with no median and barely any shoulder to run on.
Throwing caution to the wind, I just ran on the highway (on the left side so I could see oncoming traffic). A ferocious looking dog that had greeted me about a mile back might have something to do with the decision 🙂 Judging by the reaction of the drivers, they are not used to seeing runners on that highway 🙂
At one point, after running downhill, I faced a long bridge with absolutely no side space to run on. So, I had to clear the bridge before any oncoming car could enter the bridge.
I summoned all my engineering skills – estimated the length of the bridge, knew my speed, estimated the vehicle’s speed, adjusted for the fact they will accelerate as they hurtled downhill on the other side of the bridge and estimated the point on the road other side of the bridge which was the cut off point (I had to make sure no car had crossed that point). Finally found an opportunity where the next car was beyond that point and I ran like the wind…
And met the car about half way into the bridge 🙂
She was kind enough to move over to the wrong side lane. And I ran the rest of the distance mumbling to myself “One minute is 60 seconds; not 100. One minute is 60 seconds…” 🙂

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