Saturday, November 10, 2001 M I N D G A M E S
Henry's Nobel
Aditya Rishi K NOWING that Titanic sank on its maiden voyage; mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney boards the train named Titanic with a sinking heart. His heart will go on, but the train's heart, its engine, slows down, an hour after starting from Anglechester and going towards Clinkerton. Henry finds that he is travelling with an engineer and an astronomer, besides Nobel laureates - physicist Einstein and chemist Fritz Haber. The speed of the train induces sleep and they retire to their adjoining cabins. First the engineer's coffee maker catches fire. He smells the smoke, wakes up, unplugs the coffee maker, throws it out of the window, and goes back to sleep. Later, Haber the chemist smells smoke too. He wakes up and sees that a cigarette butt has set the trashcan on fire. He says to himself, "Hmm
how does one put out a fire? One can reduce the temperature of the fuel below the flash point and isolate the burning material from oxygen, or both. This could be accomplished by applying water." He picks up the trashcan, puts it in the shower stall, turns on the water, and, when the fire is out, goes back to sleep.
Nobel pastime When Nobel laureates have to pass time, they try to find out where in pi their birthdays first occur. If anyone of them was born February 11, 1949, he or she would search for the string '21149' in the digits of pi. Everyone's birthday is hidden in the digits of pi. Is your birthday there? If you can complete Henry's final answer, mail me at adityarishi99@yahoo.co.in. | |
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