Misapplied Mathematics

The conditions prevailing in the arithmetical problems of our schooldays, with their aircraft 1 train speeds, their men digging trenches, and hens laying an egg and a half in a day and a half, contrast vividly with those of the present-day world. Competitors were invited to set an arithmetical problein (or problems) taking full account of the facts

of 1955 life.

BOTH in quantity and quality, this was one of the most rewarding competitions in my experience. Strikes and H-bombs, with their 'awful arithmetic,' provided the commonest single subjects. On the whole 1 favoured entries with a 'What was the colour of the Locomotive Engineer's beard?' type of lunacy, though Pibwob's fantasy-1f it takes 3 supertaxes of Mau Mau to televise the sound barrier of 151 displaced per- sons . . .' proved a little too much for me.

Dorothy Bushell (£3) and H. A. C. Evans (£2) are Top Girl and Top Boy respectively, narrowly beating R. L. Sturch, R. J. Hirst and Joyce • Johnson. Also commended are Violetta, Leonard Cooper, Nan Wis- hart, Granville Garley, L. B. W., Towan- bucket, Dorothy H. A. Johnston, Valerie Ranzetta, R. Kennard Davis, H. Goldson Taylor, Ha Li-sheng, Nancy Gunter, and many others.

PRIZES

(DOROTHY BUSHELL) 1. Finnwarbling is a process carried out by a group of three Finsters and two Warblers. If a piece of work would normally be com- pleted in one forty-hour week, how many weeks will it take if :

The Finsters strike (officially) for union recognition; Half the Warblers strike (unofficially but successfully) for a thirty-nine-hour week;

The next Test Match is played at Finn- warbleston?

2. Differentiate between Answer (1) and Infinity.

3. A television programme reads:

8. 0 p.m.-Visit to Finnwarbleston. 8.30 p.m.-Consequences (Parlour game).

9. 0 p.m.-Varidte Parisienne.

Express in percentages the periods during 1.

which a pertinacious viewer will have been : (a) entertained; (b) improved; (c) corrupted; (d) bored stiff.

4. You have two shillings; a spaceman super- atomic pistol costs three shillings. Your standard of living doubles; how much money will you have and what will a space- man pistol cost?

What makes you think so?

(H. A. C. EVANS)

I. If an ASLEF engine -driver drives his engine between London and Oxford in two hours, non-stop, how soon will he reach Coventry?

2. If the mean distance between earth and moon is. 240,000 miles, how long will a mean government take to send a man to the moon?

3. 'A' is a bald-headed rocketship engineer. The ship, is launched into space at accelera• tion 5g effective, attains Mach 24 and reaches zero-g in one hour. Draw a graph showing the loss of weight in grammes, per second, of 'A's' free wig, from zero feet to free fall.

4. Assuming that the price of building materials rises in geometrical progression, how high is a ceiling?

5. A man crosses the road at 8.73 m.p.h. in front of a motor-car approaching at 69.99 m.p.h. Find the value of a split second.

6. If the answer is E=mc', what is (a) the question; (b) the man's name?

COMMENDED

(a. L. STURCH)

Four Ministers Meet at a conference; each arrives with seven demands. Each day Minister 'A' makes three new demands, and two concessions, Minister 'B' two demands and four concessions, Minister 'C'

one demand and two concessions, and Mini- ster 'D' two demands and three concessions.

(a) How long will the conference last? (b) How long will it last if `C,' instead of making concessions, merely withdraws demands?

2. Five workers, named Docker, Railwayman, Electrician, Miner and Engineer are by pro• fession a docker, a railwayman, an elec- trician, a miner and an engineer; and they come out on strike in sympathy with one another, None follows the profession indi- cated by his name, or comes out in sympathy with it. Mr, Docker is a Communist; Mr. Miner recently left the T.G.W.U.; the engineer has stood for Parliament in the last three elections, without losing his deposit; the railwayman dislikes all engineers on principle; and Mr. Electrician is engaged to the sister of the man whose profession is the namesake of the docker. Who follows what trade, and who struck in sympathy with whom?

(R. J. HIRST)

Four footplate men, 'A,"B,"C' and 'D, working all out for 5 days a week and going slow on Saturdays, can serve the traffic on 31 miles of double-track railway. Each week they consume 53 packets of cigarettes, 72 pints of bitter and the produce of 21 miners work- ing without stint at the coal-face on alternate Tuesdays and Thursdays. 'A' is a teetotaller, 'B' is a non-smoker, 'C' is unmarried and 'D' has no television set. All the men belong to different unions. Ascertain by differential calculus : (1) the excess of the two drivers' pay over that of the two firemen; (2) the strike potential, in terms of atomic energy, of each of the four men; (3) calculate, to the nearest month, the Loco Superintendent's expectation of sanity. Give reasons, if any.