Vincent V. M. Beede.
For Lovers of Figures.
Here are two ingenious problems, of French origin, which mathematically inclined members will enjoy:
1. Fifteen Christians and fifteen Turks were at sea in the same vessel when a dreadful storm came on which obliged them to throw all their merchandise overboard. This, however, not being sufficient to lighten the ship, the captain informed them there was no possibility of its being saved unless half the passengers were thrown overboard also. He therefore arranged the thirty in a row, and by counting from nine to nine, and throwing every ninth person into the sea, beginning again at the first of the row when it had been counted to the end, it was found that after fifteen persons had been thrown overboard, the fifteen Christians remained. How did the captain arrange these thirty persons so as to save the Christians?
Key.—The method may be deduced from this Latin sentence:
Populeam virgam mater regina ferebat. Or from this French couplet:
Mort, tu ne failliras pas,
En me livrant le trepas.
2. Three gentlemen and their valets desiring to cross a river find a boat without a boatman; the boat is so small that it can contain no more than two of them at once. None of the masters can endure the valets of the other two, and if any one of them were left with any of the other valets, he would infallibly cane them. How can these six persons cross the river, two and two, so that none of the valets shall be left in company with any of the masters except when his rightful master is present?
The answers to these problems will be given next week.