Random Puzzles 

Workings

Hint
Start on any square, and see how far you can get.

Answer
Start from the 3U on the 5^th row down and the 6^th column across.

Workings

Hint
This is quite a tricky puzzle, and knowledge of algebra would certainly help.

Answer
The children tickets were £14, and the adult tickets were £18.

Reasoning
There are a number of methods for solving this problem, including:

Using a spreadsheet. Using a computer program. Using the intersection of lines on a graph. Using an online equation solver. Solving simultaneous equations using algebra. Solving simultaneous equations using inverse matrices.
Here is my solution using simultaneous equations and algebra.

First construct two algebraic equations, where 'c' is the number of children, and 'a' is the number of adults:

[1]   4296c + 2143a = 98718
[2]   5146c + 2807a = 122570

To make the number in front of 'c' the same on both, we multiply [1] by 5146 and [2] by 4296 to give:

[3]   22107216c + 11027878a = 508002828
[4]   22107216c + 12058872a = 526560720

Now we can do [4] − [3] to give:

   1030994a = 18557892

Divide throughout by 1030994 so that:

   a = 18

Substituting a = 18 in [1] will give:

   4296c + 2143 x 18 = 98718
   4296c + 38574     = 98718
   4296c             = 60144
       c             = 14

Double-Checking
c = 14 and a = 18

4,296 x 14 + 2,143 x 18 = 98,718

and

5,146 x 14 + 2,807 x 18 = 122,570

Workings

Hint
The first letter is M.

Answer
Mouse.

Reasoning
My first is in camel, and in hamster = AEM
My second is in otter, but not in ferret = O
My third is in mustang, but not in horse = AGMNTU
My fourth is in snake, and in asp = AS
My last is in tiger, and in panther = ERT

Workings

Answer
23.

Reasoning
By likely, we mean greater than 50% chance.

With one person there is a 0 percent chance that you'll have two people with the same birthday.

With two people the probability that they won't share a birthday is 364 ÷ 365. The probability that they will share a birthday is therefore 1 − (364 ÷ 365).

With three people the probability that they won't share a birthday is the same as for two people, times 363 ÷ 365. So the probability that three people will share a birthday is 1 − (364 ÷ 365) x (363 ÷ 365).

Notice that with each additional person added, the probability that they share a birthday with one of the previous persons goes up, because there are fewer "free" days remaining.

We keep adding people until the percentage is greater than 50%.

When we have 23 people the percentage is 50.729%.