Transcribers note: Many of the puzzles in this book assume afamiliarity with the currency of Great Britain in the early 1900s. Asthis is likely not common knowledge for those outside Britain (and possiblymany within,) I am including a chart of relative values.
The most common units used were:
| the Penny, | abbreviated: d. (from the Roman penny, denarius) |
| the Shilling, | abbreviated: s. |
| the Pound, | abbreviated: £ |
There was 12 Pennies to a Shilling and 20 Shillings to a Pound, so therewas 240 Pennies in a Pound.
To further complicate things, there were many coins which were variousfractional values of Pennies, Shillings or Pounds.
| Farthing | ¼d. |
| Half-penny | ½d. |
| Penny | 1d. |
| Three-penny | 3d. |
| Sixpence (or tanner) | 6d. |
| Shilling (or bob) | 1s. |
| Florin or two shilling piece | 2s. |
| Half-crown (or half-dollar) | 2s. 6d. |
| Double-florin | 4s. |
| Crown (or dollar) | 5s. |
| Half-Sovereign | 10s. |
| Sovereign (or Pound) | £1 or 20s. |
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it should be adequate tosolve the puzzles in this book.
AMUSEMENTS IN MATHEMATICS
by
HENRY ERNEST DUDENEY
In Mathematicks he was greater Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater: For he, by geometrick scale, Could take the size of pots of ale; Resolve, by sines and tangents, straight, If bread or butter wanted weight; And wisely tell what hour o' th' day The clock does strike by algebra. BUTLER'S Hudibras. |
1917
PREFACE
In issuing this volume of my Mathematical Puzzles, of which some haveappeared in periodicals and others are given here for the first time,I must acknowledge the encouragement that I have received from manyunknown correspondents, at home and abroad, who have expressed adesire to have the problems in a collected form, with some of thesolutions given at greater length than is po