Few people know that in the Malaysian National Math Olympiad (OMK 2002), for the highest individual ‘Sulong’ category, two individuals only (in the whole country) scored “full marks” (perfect scores for each question). However, one was given the No.1 place while the other had to take the No.2 position because they “cannot” have two...
Finally: An Analogy (that works) I’ve often found it hard to explain what is Olympiad type Maths to people. Not anymore; I think the analogy below explains it well: Olympiad Maths can be likened to Magic. Its questions are like magical tricks. And, solving it is like decoding a magician’s trick. For example, a...
—————————————>> A more thorough Explanation Firstly, here’s a possible answer which follows this “pattern”: There are ‘two patterns’ here, one for the “odd” positioned triangles (1 & 3 or a & c) and the other for “even” positioned triangles (2 & 4 or b & d)...
Here’s a possible solution: Note the pattern: (no. on the left) x (sum of both numbers) = Answer. That is, (a) For 1 + 2, we have 1 x (1 + 2) = 1 x 3 = 3 (b) For 3 + 4, we have 3...
Several people have queried me on this and thus here’s a detailed explanation. This is actually an ancient Math logic problem (with many versions). The idea to solve it “logically” is like this: (1) A person only “doesn’t know” if there are at...
Comments Off on 20 Jokes that only intellectuals will understand – Explanations!
Well, this is a really tough one. (Most, if not all the names mentioned in these jokes are ‘Geniuses’ in their respective fields). Let’s try (the explanations below may be wrong; I’m just stating what I understand as the joke ‘means’): 1) Joke: 1.Ones, three friends decided to play hide and...
What’s so special about the number 441? (Regarding a brief discussion we had – last night) Note these two facts below: 21 x 21 = 441 12 x 12 = 144 That is, Reading “backwards” (from ‘right to left’), the equation “21 x 21 = 441” yields “144 = 12 x 12” which is...
Question: “Liam’s house has a staircase with 12 steps. He can go down the steps one at a time or two at a time. For example, he could go down 1 step, then 2 steps, then 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. In how many different ways can Liam go down the 12...
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