100 Pirates: a puzzle

Here's a puzzle posed by a student to a colleague of mine. If you can solve it, then please email me:
A certain number of pirates are one-legged. Of the remainder, half never wear shoes. If there are 100 pirates in total, how many shoes will they need?I look forward to your submissions.
Elias.

Technorati tags: Technorati tags:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baalbek (City of the Sun)

We have just returned from a day in Baalbek. Internet access is down, so I am writing this to debrief myself. I have always wanted to go to Baalbek as it is an iconic place in Lebanon. I didn't know much about what was there, except for the fact that I would find a well preserved Roman temple. It was a very Lebanese experience! The army had come in and shut down the whole place in preparation for a visit to the Baalbek festival by the President, the Prime Minister and several other dignitaries. We found ourselves pleading our case with those in charge. We then gained the concession of being allowed to join a group of French tourists who were being looked after by a well-connected guide. The guide was very knowledgeable. He conducted the tour entirely in French. The temples I learned that the first temple was built by the Phoenecians. It was dedicated to Baal. Bek came from the name of the location, the Bekaa valley. The Romans then transformed it into the largest temple dedicated t
Read more

Book Review: The Math(s) Fix - Part 1 of 2

Image
The Math(s) Fix is Conrad Wolfram's case for teaching mathematics with the assumption that computers exist! To be clear from the beginning, Wolfram is not advocating that we solve the same problems but with a greater reliance on computers and calculators. He wants us to recognise that computers have revolutionised the discipline of mathematics and that we need to reflect this change in our curricula. In the following lines, I will present a summary of Wolfram's thesis, as I understand it. My aim is to give you enough of an idea so you can decide whether you want to read the book for yourself. This part will concentrate on the case that the book builds for a radical change of the maths curriculum. Part 2 will explain the alternative in more detail.
Read more