[6.] In stables five, can you contrive to put in horses twenty— In each stable an odd horse, and not a stable empty?
“THREE THREES ARE TEN.”
This little trick often puzzles many:—
Place three matches, coins, or other articles on the table, and by picking each one up and placing it back three times, counting each time to finish with number 10, instead of 9. Pick up the first match and return it to the table saying 1; the same with the second and third, saying 2 and 3; repeat this counting 4; but the fifth match must be held in the hand, saying at the time it is picked up, 5; the other two are also picked up and held in hand, making 6 and 7; the three matches are then returned to the table as 8, 9, and 10. If done quickly few are able to see through it.
[7.] A man bought a colt for a certain sum and sold him 2 years afterwards for £50 14s., gaining thereby as much per cent. per annum compound interest as it had cost him. What was the original price?
Do Figures Lie?
“Figures cannot lie,” is a very old saying. Nevertheless, we can all be deceived by them. Perhaps one of the best instances of them leading us astray is the following:—