Arrange the digits 0-9 into a 10-digit number such that the leftmost n digits comprise a number divisible by n. For example, if the number is ABCDEFGHIJ, the number ABC must be divisible by 3, ABCDE must be divisible by 5, and so on.
Search Results for: in a word
“A Match Puzzle”
This puzzle, by T.E. Maw of the Luton Public Library, appeared in the Strand in April 1911:
“Take fifteen matches and place them as shown in the diagram, then take away three, change the position of one, and the result will be the word showing what matches are made of.”
Podcast Episode 357: Scenes From an Earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is remembered for its destructive intensity and terrible death toll. But the scale of the disaster can mask some remarkable personal stories. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe the experiences of some of the survivors, which ranged from the horrific to the surreal.
We’ll also consider a multilingual pun and puzzle over a deadly reptile.
Coincidence
In the 1960s, linguist Robert M.W. Dixon met Albert Bennett, one of the last native speakers of Mbabaram, a vanishing Australian Aboriginal language of north Queensland. “You know what we call ‘dog’?” Bennett said to him. “We call it dog.”
“My heart sank,” Dixon wrote. “He’d pronounced it just like the English word, except that the final g was forcefully released.” He worried that Bennett’s decades of using English had tainted his understanding of Mbabaram.
But Bennett’s assertion was accurate: The Mbabaram word for dog is dúg, which is pronounced nearly identically to the English word, “a one in a million accidental similarity of form and meaning in two unrelated languages,” Dixon wrote.
“It was because this was such an interesting coincidence, that Albert Bennett had thought of it as the first word to give me.”
(Robert M.W. Dixon, Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker, 1984.)
The Billups Neon Crossing Signal
After numerous accidents where the Illinois Central Railroad crossed Highway 7 near Grenada, Mississippi, in the 1930s, inventor Alonzo Billups came up with a one-of-a-kind solution. When a train approached the crossing, motorists were confronted with a lighted skull and crossbones, the glowing words “Stop-DEATH-Stop,” flashing neon arrows indicating the train’s direction, and an air raid siren.
The video here is a simulation; the actual gantry was removed due to a scarcity of neon in the war years. But two photographs survive.
Packing Numbers
Leonard Gordon noted this interesting pattern in the May 1995 issue of Word Ways. The English names of the first eight positive integers (ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT) contain altogether 32 letters. The smallest rectangular grid into which they can all be packed, word-search fashion, is 5×5. Because some of the cells serve double duty, the 32 letters “fit” into 25 cells; the ratio of these values is 1.28. This ratio remains remarkably consistent as the list of numbers is extended — here are grids for the first 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 numbers:
E I G H T O N E E R H T E I G H T F E L E V E N S S E V E N O W T F O U R W S E V E N I N F X W O I F S O I E F I V E E R H T X I S O E I G H T W O N I N E O U G O I T N V O G X N E N I N S E V E N F O U R X I S S E V E N R H W U X V E E U H E V L E W T T H R E E T H R E E T H R E E E N R T N E V E L E 8 words 9 words 10 words 11 words 12 words 32 letters 36 letters 39 letters 45 letters 51 letters 25 cells 28 cells 30 cells 35 cells 40 cells (1.28) (1.29) (1.30) (1.29) (1.28)
Alas, the last one isn’t optimal, Gordon notes. The names ONE through TWELVE will fit into a more compact grid:
T W E L V E F N E X S L O F I V E E U S G N V V R T H R E E O W T E N N
… and that raises the ratio to 1.42 letters per cell.
(Leonard Gordon, “Packing the Cardinals,” Word Ways 28:2 [May 1995], 116.)
Podcast Episode 352: A Victorian Hippopotamus
In 1850, England received a distinguished guest: A baby hippopotamus arrived at the London Zoo. Obaysch was an instant celebrity, attracting throngs of visitors while confounding his inexperienced keepers. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe his long tenure at the zoo, more than 4,000 miles from his Egyptian home.
We’ll also remark on a disappearing signature and puzzle over a hazardous hand sign.
Podcast Episode 351: Notes and Queries
In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll explore some curiosities and unanswered questions from Greg’s research, including a novelist’s ashes, some bathing fairies, the mists of Dartmoor, and a ballooning leopard.
We’ll also revisit the Somerton man and puzzle over an armed traveler.
Enlightenment
You’re in a dark room. The only light comes from an old LED digital alarm clock with four seven-segment displays. The time is displayed in 24-hour format, HH:MM (no seconds), and the leading digit is blank if not used. How much time passes between the room’s darkest state and its lightest?
Podcast Episode 349: The National Hotel Disease
In 1857 guests at Washington D.C.’s National Hotel began to come down with a mysterious illness. One of them was James Buchanan, who was preparing to assume the presidency of the United States. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe the deadly outbreak and the many theories that were offered to explain it.
We’ll also contemplate timpani and puzzle over an Old West astronaut.