Turn to the guy/gal next to you at the next party and say, "I'm going to write the words CARBON DIOXIDE on a piece of paper with CARBON in red and DIOXIDE in blue.
Published: Thu 7 Jan 2016, 11:00 PM
Last updated: Fri 8 Jan 2016, 11:36 AM
E4
Know why bats can't perch or sit upright and have to hang upside down? Not interested? Too bad, because here we go. It's the end result of an evolutionary process by means of which these mammals were ultimately able to fly. Bat bones tend to be light and slender and, as in birds, reduced in size - particularly the fibula in the hind limb, which does not articulate appropriately and is too thin to properly support weight. So how come birds that also fly can perch? The reason is because since gliding preceded true flying, it's thought that hanging in an upside-down position made it easier for bats to drop off and glide away as they didn't have functional wings at that time.
Still not interested? Try this then. Turn to the guy/gal next to you at the next party and say, "I'm going to write the words CARBON DIOXIDE on a piece of paper with CARBON in red and DIOXIDE in blue. (As if all of us carry multicoloured pens at the drop of a puzzle nowadays.) Then I'll put the paper close behind the stem of a glass (but not touching it) and look at the words through the stem (which I'll have rotated around till it's horizontal to make reading easy). And guess what? The red letters will have turned upside-down as with bats but the blue ones won't." Why do you think the glass affects the reflected red light differently than the blue?
DEAR MS
(The question was why a certain mathematical equation which went something like (12 + 144 +20) + (3 x sqrt4)/7 + (5 x 11) = 9 ^2 + 0 was actually a limerick? - MS)
By-The-Numbers Dept:
A Dozen, a Gross and a Score,/ Plus three times the square root of four,/ Divided by seven,/ Plus five times eleven,/ Equals nine squared and not a bit more.
elmathew@rediffmail.com
Leigh Mercer devised the mathematical equation, which can be read as a limerick.
saif_sfk@hotmail.com
(The other question was: "What goes front to back on one side of a ship and back to front on the other?" - MS)
Ship's-Shape Dept:
The blades on the ship's propeller move in opposite directions (front to back and back to front) on either sides of the ship. (Actually they just go clockwise or counter, as seen from the front or back - MS) Hope this answer sails through in print. (Yes, but barely limps into port - MS)
The ship's name goes front to back on one side and back to front on the other.
deepashivraj@gmail.com
(The third puzzle was: "What are the last two numbers in this sequence of seven numbers: 103, 504, 10, 62, 1013.?" - MS)
Roman-Holiday Dept:
The next two numbers are 27 and 34. The numbers represent the addition of the equivalent numbers in Roman numerals and their place in the English alphabet alphabetically. So, C + 3 = 103, D + 4 = 504... V + 22 = 27 and X + 24 = 34.
(The last problem was: "A farmer plants a tree in a square plot of land so that it is 100 and 140 metres away from the two opposite corners of the plot and 60 metres away from the third corner. What is the area of the plot?" - MS)
All-Squared-Up-Dept:
Assume the square to be defined by (0, 0), (s, 0), (s, s) and (0, s). We can now write and solve the following equations: a^2 + b^2 = 60^2, (a - s)^2 + b^2 = 140^2 and a^2 + (b - s)^2 = 100^2 which yields s = 152.315m and plot area s^2 = 23200sqm.
ENDGAME(S)
- Why does more steam come out of a bucket of hot water when cold water is poured into it from a height?
- Which number has three different primes as digits and at the same time is also a multiple of these three primes?
(To get in touch with Mukul, mail him at mukul.mindsport@gmail.com)
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