Let’s begin today’s challenges with a problem about horses, followed by an excellent pattern recognition puzzle that was recently doing the rounds on social media.
1. Neigh bother
A stud owner specialises in breeding purebred Lipizzaners, Thoroughbreds and Shire horses. The breeder is asked by a client for a foal which is one third Lipizzaner, one third Thoroughbred and one third Shire. How can she breed one?
***UPDATE***: As many of you have noticed, BTL and in emails to me, this question has no solution! Apologies. I have updated the solution page with an explanation of why, although you can discover why also in the comments below.
2. Grey matter
Show this to your students. Ask them to guess what is behind the grey square? Most will be shocked by the answer:) If you know--don't spoil it! pic.twitter.com/cXZFt8YkZX
— Sunil Singh (@Mathgarden) September 12, 2022
I’ll be back with the answers at 5pm UK. PLEASE NO SPOILERS!
Thanks to Gilad Benjamini for the first puzzle and Sunil Singh for the second. Sunil is an author, speaker and math storyteller from Toronto.
I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
I give school talks about maths and puzzles (online and in person). If your school is interested please get in touch.
I’m also the co-author of the Football School book series, aimed at primary school children, which opens the curriculum through football. Since this week sees the start of a large, quadrennial global football tournament, I thought it worth a quick plug!
