Arithmetic

Arithmetic is the fundamental branch of mathematics dealing with numbers and the basic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Questions involve performing these operations, understanding number properties (like integers, fractions, decimals), and solving related word problems.

Fractions Percentages Division with Remainder

  • Sheep and Camels

    Shmuel has a flock of 9 sheep and 5 camels. He wants to divide the flock between his two sons, Yossi and Danny, so that each of them receives an equal share of the value.
    It is known that 7 sheep cost as much as 3 camels. How can Shmuel divide the flock between his two sons equally, without selling any animals?

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  • Numbers on the Board

    The following numbers are written on the board:`1/3,1/2,1,2,3`. In each step, you are allowed to choose any two numbers written on the board and replace each of them with their product.
    Can you reach a quintet of numbers in this way whose sum is `4 1/4`?

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  • Magic Fractions

    Let's call a fraction magic if both its numerator and denominator are less than 10. For example, the fraction `1/9` is considered magic, the fraction `6/8` is also magic, but the fraction `3/14` is not magic.
    How many magic fractions are there that are greater than one-half and less than 1?

    Note: For the purpose of this question, `2/3` and `4/6` are considered different fractions.

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  • Children's Clubs

    In a kindergarten, there are three clubs: Judo, Agriculture, and Mathematics. Each child participates in exactly one club, and each club has at least one participant. The total number of children in the kindergarten is 32. On Friday, the kindergarten teacher gathered 6 children to tidy up the classroom. The teacher counted and found that exactly half of the Judo club members, a quarter of the Agriculture club members, and an eighth of the Mathematics club members volunteered for the task. How many students are in each club?

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  • CHINESE MONEY

    The Chinese are a curious people, and have strange inverted ways of doing things. It is said that they use a saw with an upward pressure instead of a downward one, that they plane a deal board by pulling the tool toward them instead of pushing it, and that in building a house they first construct the roof and, having raised that into position, proceed to work downwards. In money the currency of the country consists of taels of fluctuating value. The tael became thinner and thinner until `2,000` of them piled together made less than three inches in height. The common cash consists of brass coins of varying thicknesses, with a round, square, or triangular hole in the centre, as in our illustration. These are strung on wires like buttons. Supposing that eleven coins with round holes are worth fifteen ching-changs, that eleven with square holes are worth sixteen ching-changs, and that eleven with triangular holes are worth seventeen ching-changs, how can a Chinaman give me change for half a crown, using no coins other than the three mentioned? A ching-chang is worth exactly twopence and four-fifteenths of a ching-chang. Sources:

  • THE BROKEN COINS

    A man had three coins鈥攁 sovereign, a shilling, and a penny鈥攁nd he found that exactly the same fraction of each coin had been broken away. Now, assuming that the original intrinsic value of these coins was the same as their nominal value鈥攖hat is, that the sovereign was worth a pound, the shilling worth a shilling, and the penny worth a penny鈥攚hat proportion of each coin has been lost if the value of the three remaining fragments is exactly one pound? Sources:

  • DOMESTIC ECONOMY

    Young Mrs. Perkins, of Putney, writes to me as follows: "I should be very glad if you could give me the answer to a little sum that has been worrying me a good deal lately. Here it is: We have only been married a short time, and now, at the end of two years from the time when we set up housekeeping, my husband tells me that he finds we have spent a third of his yearly income in rent, rates, and taxes, one-half in domestic expenses, and one-ninth in other ways. He has a balance of £`190` remaining in the bank. I know this last, because he accidentally left out his pass-book the other day, and I peeped into it. Don't you think that a husband ought to give his wife his entire confidence in his money matters? Well, I do; and—will you believe it?—he has never told me what his income really is, and I want, very naturally, to find out. Can you tell me what it is from the figures I have given you?"

    Yes; the answer can certainly be given from the figures contained in Mrs. Perkins's letter. And my readers, if not warned, will be practically unanimous in declaring the income to be—something absurdly in excess of the correct answer!

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  • BUYING CHESTNUTS

    Though the following little puzzle deals with the purchase of chestnuts, it is not itself of the "chestnut" type. It is quite new. At first sight it has certainly the appearance of being of the "nonsense puzzle" character, but it is all right when properly considered.

    A man went to a shop to buy chestnuts. He said he wanted a pennyworth, and was given five chestnuts. "It is not enough; I ought to have a sixth," he remarked! "But if I give you one chestnut more." the shopman replied, "you will have five too many." Now, strange to say, they were both right. How many chestnuts should the buyer receive for half a crown?

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  • THE BAG OF NUTS

    Three boys were given a bag of nuts as a Christmas present, and it was agreed that they should be divided in proportion to their ages, which together amounted to `17 1/2` years. Now the bag contained `770` nuts, and as often as Herbert took four Robert took three, and as often as Herbert took six Christopher took seven. The puzzle is to find out how many nuts each had, and what were the boys' respective ages.

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  • A PUZZLING WATCH

    A friend pulled out his watch and said, "This watch of mine does not keep perfect time; I must have it seen to. I have noticed that the minute hand and the hour hand are exactly together every sixty-five minutes." Does that watch gain or lose, and how much per hour? Sources: