THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
" Yet mark ye how right easy a thing it is to a man learned in the
lore of far Araby, who knoweth all the magic that is hid in the
philosophy of numbers ! "
The wizard simply placed the 3 next to the 4 on the shelf, and the
8 at the other end. It will be found that this gives the answer
quite correctly—3410968. Very curious, is it not? How many
other two-figure multipliers can you find that will produce the same
effect ? You may place just as many blocks as you like on the shelf,
bearing any figures you choose.
83.—
The Ribbon Problem.
If we take the ribbon by the ends and pull it out straight, we
have the number 0588235294117647. This number has the
peculiarity that, if we
multiply it by any one
of the numbers, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9,
we get exactly the
same number in the
circle, starting from a
different place. For
example, multiply by
4, and the product is
2352941176470588,
which starts from the
dart in the circle. So,
if we multiply by 3,
we get the same re-
sult starting from the
star. Now, the puzzle
is to place a different
arrangement of figures
on the ribbon that will produce similar results when so multiplied,
only the 0 and the 7 appearing at the ends of the ribbon must not
be removed.
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