A coin collector decides to divide his coin collection between his children.
The eldest gets 1/2 of the collection, the next gets 1/4 of the collection, the next gets 1/5 of the collection, and the youngest gets the remaining 49 coins.
Therefore, the 20/20 must equal 20 lots of 49 = 980.
Alternative Reasoning
Using percentages:
50% + 25% + 20% = 95%
The remaining 5% is 49 coins.
If 5% is 49 coins, 10% is 98 coins, 100% is 980 coins.
Double-Checking 1/2 of 980 is 490 1/4 of 980 is 245 1/5 of 980 is 196
and the remaining 49 coins.
And 490 + 245 + 196 + 49 = 980.
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Puzzle 198
If one small rabbit can dig a warren in nine hours, a medium rabbit can dig a warren in 6 hours, and a large rabbit can dig a warren in four and a half hours.
How long will it take one small, one medium, and one large rabbit, to dig a warren if they all work together?
Reasoning
A fathom is 6 feet, which is 1.8288 metres.
So there are 1000 ÷ 1.8288 ≈ 546.8 fathoms in a kilometre.
The shortest month has 28 x 24 hours = 672.
So even the shortest month has more hours than there are fathoms in a kilometre.
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Puzzle 200
The BrainBashers football world tour is well underway and Alex is planning the journey to each country.
Unfortunately, the BrainBashers atlas software is playing up again and has worked out the mileage incorrectly, as shown below.
China 3,500
Finland 6,000
Chile 3,700
Jamaica 3,800
Wales 6,000
According to the software, how many miles is it to Germany?
