QUIZ


THE ADVENTURES OF
THE WILDLIFE BUFF





This is a collection of experiences, problems and solutions
from the journeys of the wildlife buff. Readers have greatly
contributed to the solutions of these problems.

Currently the wildlife buff is away for an indefinite time.
If you get news from one of his journeys please write us.





SOLUTION


The last Quiz:


THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff steadily paddles downstream for two days to reach a big lake.
On the lake he covers the same distance again to reach an island. There he
observes rare birds for four days. After he passed the river-mouth on his way
back he needs three days for the upstream passage.

How much time has he spent at the lake altogether ?


THE SOLUTION:

Altogether he has been on the lake for 8.8 days, 
these are 8 days 19 hours and 12 minutes.

To calculate the length of the river journey WITHOUT 
stream movement:

velocity = constant way / time

r = Days on river without stream movement (still)
a = Days downstream
b = Days upstream

Formula for mean value:
1/r = (1/a + 1/b) / 2

Examples of different river velocities:
Days     Days     Days
a        b        r
2        3        2.4      like in the question
2        2        2        river does not flow
2        5        2.85..   river flows stronger than in the question
2        100      3.92..   "       "   even stronger
2        1000     3.99..   "       "   raging (poor paddler)
2        forever  4        "       "   as fast as one paddles !
            (paddles until death on the same spot)

Line 2 and the last one are logically correct.
Therefore on the lake: 2.4 + 4(watching birds) +2.4 = 8.8 days

Thank you Hans-Jürgen Gräbner !



ARCHIVE


THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff walks along a mountain path in company of a woman
who wants to meet a relative. After a while he sees in the distance
a woman waving with a colourful parasol. "Is she your sister ?", he asks.
"No, I have no sister. But this woman's mother is my mother's daughter."

Is now more green liquid in the bowl than amber liquid in
the mug or is it the very opposite ?


THE SOLUTION:

The woman with the parasol is the daughter of the other woman.
Thank you Ian M. Standing !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff watches how a medicine man mixes a cure
against a bad stomach. The medicine man takes a spoon of
greenish liquid from a mug and put it in a little bowl
with amber liquid. He stirs thoroughly, takes a spoon
of the new mixture and carefully drips it back into the mug.

Is now more green liquid in the bowl than amber liquid in
the mug or is it the very opposite ?


THE SOLUTION:

There is as much green liquid in the bowl as amber liquid 
in the mug, because in the end in both is the same amount of 
liquid as in the beginning, and all green liquid missing 
in the mug has been replaced by amber liquid and vice versa!
Thank you Insa Fröhlich !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff stays for a few days in the house of a friend.
In the evening he watches his friend comparing small equal
looking gold coins one by one on a balance with two scales.
'What are you doing ?' he asks. 'Tomorrow I will buy some
ground for these 200 coins. But I suspect one of them is only
a gold covered lead coin which is heavier but worthless.
I have to find out which one to replace it.'
'I think you can shorten this work' replies the wildlife buff.

How often must he weigh to find the false coin ?


THE SOLUTION:

5 times should be enough.
On each turn on each scale pan is a third 
of the heavier third of the previous turn. 
When the scales balance each other 
the lead coin is in the pile not on the scale.
(variant in brackets)

Scale      Scale      not on scale
left     right
67         67         66
22         22         23(22)
8          8          7(6)
3(2)       3(2)       2(1)    When 3 left and 3 right are the same, the 1 
                              not on scale is the lead coin even on 4. turn ! 
1          1          1(0)    Otherwise: 5. turn

By the way 5 turns are enough up to 243 coins. That is 3^5.
Thank you Hans-Jürgen Gräbner !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff sees at a streettrader in a secluded village
a skilfully crafted wooden statue. He asks the trader: 'How much
does it weight?' After a short glance at the heavy back-pack of
the wildlife buff the traders answers: 'Oh, its much lighter than
it looks. Only 8 kilos plus half of its weight, to be precisely.'

How much does the statue weight ?


THE SOLUTION:
16 kilos is the weight of the statue because, 8+1/2w=w 8=1/2w 16=w

Thank you Richard Vanderlip !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff discovered on a plateau in the Andes a big circular
artificial place. After he marked its position on his map, he began
to measure the place. He entered the circle, took his compass and
went straight to the West while counting his steps.
After 400 steps he reached the edge of the circle. There he turned
to the South and reached the edge of the circle again after 700 steps.

What is the diameter of the place ?


THE SOLUTION:
I believe that the pythagoream theorem gives me the answer in this problem.
Square root of (400^2 + 700^2) = 806.232
Therefore, the answer would be 806 1/4 steps.

Thank you Richard !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff found by chance some stones in an area famous for
precious stones. The stones of one color are very even and have all the same
size. He improvised a simple balance with two scale pans and put one blue and
two yellow stones on one side and a red stone on the other side. The side
with the red stone was lighter and goes up.
Then he put two blue and one yellow stone on one side and a green stone at
the other. The side with the green stone goes down. At last he put one blue and
one red stone on one side and on the other side one green and one yellow stone.

Which side of the balance goes down, blue/red or green/yellow ?


THE SOLUTION:
The answer is green/yellow side will go down,
because b + r < 2y + 2b and g + y > 2y + 2b.

Thank you Billy !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff was looking at a horse market for some trusty horses for a tour. By an arabian trader he saw three wonderful horses. He asked the trader how old the horses are. The trader said 'The black one and the brown one are together 16 years old. If you prefer the black one together with the spotted one, together they are 18 years old. If you want to ride on the spotted one and take the brown one for the baggage, they are together only 12 years old.'

How old is each of the horses ?


THE SOLUTION:
The black horse is 11 yrs old
The brown horse is 5 yrs old
The spotted horse is 7 yrs old

Thank you Michael !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff was visiting an old indian palace in the evening with a big tourist group. Towards the end of the tour he said to the guide 'Very much traffic for such a remote place.' - 'Yes, I have had 12 tours today and in every new group there have been two people more than in the previous group. There were 1008 people altogether.' - 'Well, in that case some people from our group have got lost'.

How many people were in the last group ?


THE SOLUTION:
There were 95 men and woman in the last group.

Thank you Jean !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff is sitting with an eskimo family in a big igloo
and they are eating fish for dinner.
One of the eskimo is telling how they have catched the fish.
Two fathers and two sons sat the whole afternoon around an ice hole
but they have catched only three big fish. But each of them
goes home with a whole fish.

Is this possible ?


THE SOLUTION:
Grandfather, father, son.

Thank you Christoph !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff and an arabian astronomer are standing in the coolness of the night
on the top of a desert dune. They are watching star constellations in the clear night sky
and are talking about the distances to the stars.
The astronomer says 'Some of the closest stars are in the Alpha Centauri group,
around 4.3 light years away. But there is another star much closer'.

What is the name of the nearest star?


THE SOLUTION:
The sun is the closest star.

Thank you Ruth !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff and a group of 29 persons visit a mountain range
with many caves.
Before a gigantic cave they share among them 100 new batteries
for their flashlights. The big flashlights need 4 batteries and
the small ones 3. First everyone with a big flashlight get
4 batteries, then the remaining batteries are shared among
the people with small flashlights.

How many people have a big flashlight?


THE SOLUTION:
.. 10 persons have big flashlights, ...

Thank you Francesca C. !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff passed a fruit tree. He gathered half of the fruit plus one. Then he continued his journey. Afterwards two boys collected half of the rest plus one. After that came a monkey who ate half of the remaining fruit plus one. A flock of birds landed on the tree and ate half of the rest plus one. When they flew away there were no fruit left on the tree.

How many fruits have been on the tree?


THE SOLUTION:
There would be thirty pieces at the begining.

Thank you Leon B. !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff tries to read an old egyptean papyrusi. There is a passage about family relationships wherein a girl said: I have twice as many brothers as sisters. Her brother completes: I have as many brothers as sisters.

How many boys and girls are in the family?


THE SOLUTION:
There are four boys and three girls in the family.

Thank you Karen H. !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff wants to use a packet of water purifying powder. The packet is suitable to purify 3 litres of water. He has two plastic containers to get water from a nearby lake, one container has a capacity of 9 litres and the other of 4 litres.

How does he get precisely 3 litres of water?


THE SOLUTION:
Using three times the 4 litre can. Filling each time the 4 litres into the 9 litre can. When he does it the third time, there is just enough space for one litre, so there are three litres left in the 4 litre can.

Thank you Cyrano !   : )



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff is guest of honour at a family with 7 persons. To celebrate his visit they serve a big round cake. One of the sons draw a machete and says: "I need only 4 cuts!" The wildlife buff says: "I can do it with 3."

How can he cut the cake with 3 cuts in 8 equal sized pieces?


THE SOLUTION:
Two cuts cross the cake in an 'X' and the third cut divides it into top and bottom layers.

Thank you Savanna King !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff crossed an exhausting desert area with three bearers. After some time he realized that they had lost a water container. He asked the bearers who has lost the water: The long bearer said: "It was the little one." The one without any hair said: "It was not me who lost the water". The little bearer said: "The long one lies." The wildlife buff has heard at his departure that two of the bearers lie and one of them always says the truth.

Who has lost the water?


THE SOLUTION:
Let us assume that the one without hair says the truth. The one without hair says he has not lost the water, thus one of the two others must have lost the water. Because only one of the three says the truth and two of them lye, the long one and little one must lye.

Then accordingly to our assumption, it must be a lye when the long one says it was the little one. Therefore the long one has lost the water himself. But under the assumption that the one without hair says the truth, the little one is lying too. The little one says the long one lies. If this is a lye, the long one must say the truth. But this is a contradiction to the statement that the long one lies and only the one without hair says the truth. Consequently the one without hair could not say the truth and it was him who has lost the water.
(And who has said the truth?) : )



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff was on a tour through northern Siberia. He has three sled dogs with him. One dog was brown, one was white and one was black. When he is with the dogs everything is all right, but when he leaves the three alone the brown one attacks the black one and the black one attacks the white one. The white dog is peaceable. At a ravine he had to carry the dogs one by one to the other side.

How did he prevent that the dogs left behind attack each other?


THE SOLUTION:
First he'll take the black dog over the ravine. Next he'll go back and take the white dog over. Then he'll need to get the brown dog, but since he can't leave the white dog with the black dog, he'll take the black one with him over on the other side of the ravine again. Then he'll take the brown one over, leaving it with the white one. Finally he'll go over and get the black one again.

Thank you Jennifer P. !



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff was on a journey through India. He wanted to visit a cottage where the inhabitants train elephants. On the path to the cottage he met a dweller. "How many are you in the cottage ?" he asked. "42 heads and 100 legs" was the reply. "Oh, I see!" said the wildlife buff.

How many people and elephants live in the cottage?


THE SOLUTION:
After doing a discreet calculation with his solar powered pocket calculator he gets 34 Indians (=68 legs) and 8 elephants (=32 legs).



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff met a friend on a way from a south american market. His friend carried an ornate box full of herbs. He asked him: "How much did you pay for that?" His friend answered: " 390,- for both. Box cost 300.- more than the herbs." "That is a pretty good bargain", said the wildlife buff and hurried to the market.

What has been the price for the herbs? And the box?


THE SOLUTION:
After trying first to get the box for 300.- he bought the box for 345.- and the herbs for 45.-
With some of the herbs he seasoned a delicate pizza.



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff found a temple in the jungle. At the portal he sees the following symbol:

Picture with squares in a square

It looked important to him in some way. He tried to find out what it could mean and began to count the squares in the symbol.

How many squares are there?


THE SOLUTION:
Short answer: 4 squared



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff and his friend came back from a trip in the jungle.
They went on a ship to sail home. While the ship was leaving the harbor
they stood at the rail, one of them looking to the west and the other one
looking to the east. Without turning around the wildlife buff said to his friend:
"Hey, watch out! There is a big spider on your shoulder."

How did he know?


THE SOLUTION:
Well, imagine the ship navigates north. One of them stood at the left rail and looked to the east, the other one stood at the right rail and looked to the west - so, they were not looking at the sea, they were looking at each other! - No big trick to see a big spider then!



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff climbs on an icy mountain which is 6000 meters high.
Every day he climbs 900 meters forward and slides 600 meters back in the night.
Finally he reaches the peak."

How many days has he climbed to the top?


THE SOLUTION:
The wrong route ---> 1.) 900-600=300 meter per day 2.) 6000/300=20 days.
The right route ---> first day 300 meter done .....
... seventeenth day 4800 meter + 900 meter = 5700 meter and slides back 600 meter at night, 5700 - 600 = 5100 meter done .....
.... eighteenth day 5100 meter + 900 meter = 6000 meter and .. Oh, I have done it, I have reached the peak. Great, what a view and only in 18 days, I thought it will take twenty.. : )



THE QUESTION:
A wildlife buff slept in his tent. Suddenly he was disturbed by a curious bear. He screamed and the bear ran away.
Later he told his friends: "Naturally the bear runs south..."

What colour was the bear?


THE SOLUTION:
The only place on Earth where a bear has to run south in every case is at the North Pole. The tent from our wildlife buff stood on the North Pole (yes, it must be cold there). The bears who live in the Artic are usually white and that's the answer - white.




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