THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
chappie " (that is the nearest translation of the original Greek term
of familiarity), " when you can bring me the solution of this little
mystery of the three nines I shall be happy to listen to your treatise,
and, in fact, record it on my phonograph for the benefit of
posterity."
Plato then showed, in the manner depicted in our illustration,
that three nines may be arranged so as to represent the number
eleven, by putting them into the form of a fraction. The puzzle he
then propounded was, to so arrange the three nines that they will
represent the number twenty.
It is recorded of the old crank that, after working hard at the
problem for nine years, he one day, at nine o'clock on the morning of
the ninth day of the ninth month, fell down nine steps, knocked out
nine teeth, and expired in nine minutes. It will be remembered
that nine was his lucky number. It was evidently also Plato's.
In solving the above little puzzle, only the most elementary
arithmetical signs are necessary. Though the answer is absurdly
simple when you see it, many readers will have no little difficulty in
discovering it. Take your pencil and see if you can arrange the
three nines to represent twenty.
109.—
Noughts and Crosses.
Every child knows how. to play this game. You make a square
of nine cells, and each of the two players, playing alternately, puts
his mark (a nought or a cross, as the case may be) in a cell with the
object of getting three in a line. Whichever player first gets three
in a line wins with the exulting cry :—
" Tit, tat, toe,
My last go ;
Three jolly butcher boys
All in a row."
It is a very ancient game. But if the two players have a perfect
knowledge of it one of three things must always happen. (1) The
first player should win ; (2) the first player should lose ; or (3),
the game should always be drawn. Which is correct ?
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