E4

To get into the right mood for the problem that appears in the paragraph after this one you might have to hit up the Internet first. Once there, look up “Connection between the death of Lincoln and Kennedy” and be prepared to instantly identify with all things that go bump in the dark and give up all your pet theories about rationality. It’s guaranteed in fact to make you a believer overnight and start thinking thoughts of life after death and, who knows, maybe even death before life.

So now that you’ve been bewared, here’s a real problem that has nothing to do with fakey astrology, eerie coincidences or even US presidents per se, for that matter. It requires instead, brains, observation and logic. The following is a complete list of the last names of all 44 US presidents to date: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama.

The psychic mafia may see in this some sort of a mysterious bond between presidents. That’s because somehow, each and every president shares something with one president who remains constant. What is this link? And which president serves as the reference point?

DEAR MS

(The problem was: “You have two containers filled with the same amount of liquid. One contains water and the other, milk. Now transfer a cup of water from the water-container to the milk-container; and then a cup of this mixture back to the water-container. Is there more milk in the water-container or water in the milk-container?” — MS)

The-Milky-Way-Dept:

If numbers are used it can be found that it is in fact equal amounts of milk and water in each container. For example: a 500ml glass of water and a 500ml glass of milk. Transfer 100ml of water so that the water-glass now has 400ml and the milk-glass has 600ml. Transfer back 100ml so both glasses hold 500ml. If the transfer of 100ml contained 80ml milk and 20ml water, then the water-glass now contains 420ml of water and 80ml of milk. And the milk-glass contains 420ml of milk and 80ml of water. However, if you divide the 100ml the result is the same. There is as much water in the milk-glass as there is milk in the water-glass. (That is if you completely ignore the fact that a large part of milk is water and so however you look at it there is more water overall!)

• Farsi Vakil, learningfarsi101@gmail.com

(The other problem was: “How come there are no meteorites found in meteor craters? Like if they’ve survived burning up in the atmosphere like most meteors do and then impacted with Earth, shouldn’t there be some sizeable chunk left?” — MS)

Deeper-Impact-Dept

Meteorites disintegrate after impact as it is of the magnitude of several megatons. That should break up the meteorites, leaving only tiny bits and not sizeable chunks.

• Dr Shyam, orthoshyam@gmail.com

Meteorites strike the earth with an impact velocity of 12 to 20 km/s. It is estimated that about half of the meteorite’s bulk (mass) is vaporised during its des-cent. The impact energy has been estimated to be about 10 megatons. As a result, the meteorite is mostly vaporised upon impact leaving little or almost no mass in the crater.

• Dr K N Murty, k_n_murty@yahoo.com

ENDGAME(S)

1. A sphere with a radius of one metre has been rolled into the corner of a room so that it is tangent to two walls and the floor. What would be the radius of a smaller sphere that is tangent to the same two walls and floor and touches the large sphere as well?

2. What is the next number in the series: 1, 1 1, 2 1, 1 2 1 1, 1 1 1 2 2 1, ? (This is a tough one so here’s a hint: you don’t require any math to solve it — MS)

(To get in touch, email Mukul at mukul.mindsport@gmail.com)