Since it takes six man-days to dig a hole, it should take one man three days to dig half a hole, but you might object that you can't dig "half a hole", because that would still be a hole. However, a man can dig half a hole, it all depends on someone else digging the other half of the hole. And since you stipulated one man, he'll have to come back and do the other half himself. So it turns out it takes six days after all. First three days for the half he is digging, and then another three days to make the first half, well, a half.

Hole in the ground...deep subject!

or half a whole

Three of those men are shovel leaners, and the 4th does about 90% of the digging. Unfortunately one of the shovel leaners is the man that got assigned to dig alone, and while he is digging harder than usual, it's still never going to get done because he finds an excuse to do something else.

City employees, eh? ;)

No, Bank of America executives.

In order to dig half a hole, he first has to dig a quarter of a hole.
In order to dig a quarter of a hole, he first has to dig an eighth of a hole.
In order to dig eighth of a hole, he first has to dig 1/16 of a hole.
.
.
In order to dig 1/N of a hole, he first has to dig 1/2xN of a hole.

IOW, he can not even leave home, let alone find a shovel, or walk to the work site.

If he walks all the way around the hole, does he go around tha hole?

He goes around A Hole. Get it? A hole? ;)

Did we ever get correct answers for #36 and 37?

What if the hole digger was a shitman?

No, but you did get a correct answer to #21 though no one seemed to like it.
Also I am still waiting for an answer to the riddle
here are more answers:

I don't understand what the answer for #37 says. Is the answer 24 eggs?

Last weekend I bought a chemistry book like that - it's full of errors.

HLJ is correct. The book answer is in error.

I found a simple explanation elsewhere.

Given the initial statement:

3 hens can lay 3 eggs in 1.5 days
therefore
6 hens can lay 6 eggs in 1.5 days
and
6 hens can lay 4 eggs in 1 day
therefore
6 hens can lay 24 eggs in 6 days (already we see the error)
and
6 hens can lay 28 eggs in 7 days

A local college was looking for a way to help students decide between math and engineering majors. They headed the students to the large gym and lined up the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Then they told the students that they could walk half the distance to the other side every 15 seconds. When they reached their opposite number they could give them a kiss.

The mathematicians left knowing they would never reach the center. The engineers stayed knowing they would get close enough for practical purposes.

But wouldn't they reach each other after the first iteration (or were the girls chained to the wall)?

Oops, should have said half the distance to the center of the gym.

The 7th day is zero eggs, it is not until the half aste the 7th day are any eggs laid. Similar to the one where you don't count your wages until you've worked, you don't count your eggs until they are laid.

I don't buy it foot. It's cheating. It doesn't say "on the seventh day". It says "in seven days". Anyone reading that would clearly see it as a duration. Otherwise the original "in a day and a half" would have a different meaning.

Pfui.

That hen and a half thing ... I'm used to hearing that end "how long will it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick the seeds out of a dill pickle."

Mental Nuts == Argument Seeds?

Perhaps, but entertaining. Look at the number of posts in this thread. We're eating this stuff up.

Or an elephant with a wooden leg to bore a hole in a bar of soap.

I've taught them to my kids.

nom nom nom:

30

Is the wall above ground or underground, relative to the ground?

Does the frog go aground the well?

Assuming that every jump is a 3 foot jump.

It's obvious... the frog is losing a foot with each jump

After 4 jumps, the frog has no feet left.

28, just like the eggs.

:smack: D'oh! Of course.

Just like the eggs and four of their friends, yes. The frog escapes on his 28th jump and therefore does not slide back down the well.

The eggs? I'm not so sure about them. Maybe eggs were smaller in 1921.

If a hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many and a half that lay better by half will lay half a score and a half in a week and a half?

LOL

Frogs only have two feet. Those other things are arms.

...and you know two eggs are better than one...

27 jumps

Is that the answer to tomorrow's puzzle?

Mental Nuts WTF???
 

????????

How many trees were there? Were the slaves allowed to go around the trees? Was the guy below one of the slaves?

The worst part of that is that it was homework from a school.

It's absolutely shocking that a school would set that as a puzzle.

I mean, oranges are a countable noun, so the question should be "... how many..." not "...how much...".

:headshake

Oh and they spelled "Mexicans" wrong.

Re the slaves picking oranges.... Another 3rd grade homework on that test was:

"If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?"

The Principal is collecting the homework and destroying it, and looking for a teacher named Fred.

A high-school science teacher in Western Australia got in hot water a while back.

Use "problem-based" teaching, they had told him. Make it interesting, they had told him.

Apply for a new job, they told him...

Finish the sequences below

A E F H I K L M N T....

B C D G J O P Q R S...

two new nuts since I didn't post yesterday

#39 depends on whether James and William share their sandwiches with each other as well, i.e. form a pool of eight sangers shared among three eaters. I interpret this nut as NOT being like this.

I take it that stranger eats 2.5 of James' sangers, and 1.5 of William's sangers.

Assuming equal value of sandwiches, stranger should pay James 5 cents and William 3 cents.

Five and eight sandwiches! That must have been the beginning of the obesity epidemic. These problems don't show up until 50 or 60 years later.

The stranger shared equally (50 %) and so paid 4 cents to each.

It's the law of supply and demand.
It just happened that William's were just worth more per sandwich
Or, maybe William's sandwich had squirrel meat, which is harder to come by :rolleyes:

A E F H I K L M N T....VWXYZ

B C D G J O P Q R S...U

Yes? No?

I bet you're right.

I'm so proud of myself too. Must be a left brain/right brain thing. Except for the hunter/squirrel/tree one I've hardly gotten any of these puzzles. :)

Yes IM, very good !

Most people try working out an arithmetic code or something.
Very young kids usually get it right away, but they don't yet know anything about arithmetic.

Hey, now you wait a daggone minute, you. Are you saying I have the I have the brain of a very young kid? :mad:

(I don't mind. It's quite true.) :lol:

;)

Show your work. In other words, how the hell did you figure that out?

I looked at the letters. ;)

Here is the answer if you want it, hidden for those who don't:

I noticed right away that all the first letters could be made with straight lines.

I don't think like earthlings. You make everything so complicated. Like hunters/squirrels/trees. ;)

I have the heart of a small boy ... in a jar on my desk.

:)

First I was laughing really hard then I realized, through your quote of my post, that I put too many words in that sentence. Too late to edit. :blush:

OK, lets' try to keep things on track here:

Some answers and a new nut:

Note about #39 This is one of those things where there was a pool of 8 sangers that were split 3 ways (3/8 each) The guest only pays for his repast and he pays Jim and Bill back at a rate proportionally equal to their investments. I think.

I didn't have time to read the apple question so I hope the answer suits (most of) you