Part 10 (2/2)

Your names are AIX-LES-BAINS, ALGERNON BRAY (thanks for a friendly remark, which comes with a heart-warmth that not even the Atlantic could chill), ARVON, BRADSHAW OF THE FUTURE, FIFEE, H. L. R., J. L. O., OMEGA, S. S. G., and WAITING FOR THE TRAIN. Several of these have put Clara, provisionally, into the easterly train: but they seem to have understood that the data do not decide that point.

CLa.s.s LIST.

I.

AIX-LES-BAINS.

ALGERNON BRAY.

BRADSHAW OF THE FUTURE.

FIFEE.

H. L. R.

OMEGA.

S. S. G.

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN.

II.

ARVON.

J. L. O.

III.

F. LEE.

G. S. C.

X. A. B.

ANSWERS TO KNOT IV.

_Problem._--”There are 5 sacks, of which Nos. 1, 2, weigh 12 lbs.; Nos.

2, 3, 13-1/2 lbs.; Nos. 3, 4, 11-1/2 lbs.; Nos. 4, 5, 8 lbs.; Nos. 1, 3, 5, 16 lbs. Required the weight of each sack.”

_Answer._--”5-1/2, 6-1/2, 7, 4-1/2, 3-1/2.”

The sum of all the weighings, 61 lbs., includes sack No. 3 _thrice_ and each other _twice_. Deducting twice the sum of the 1st and 4th weighings, we get 21 lbs. for _thrice_ No. 3, _i.e._, 7 lbs. for No. 3.

Hence, the 2nd and 3rd weighings give 6-1/2 lbs., 4-1/2 lbs. for Nos. 2, 4; and hence again, the 1st and 4th weighings give 5-1/2 lbs., 3-1/2 lbs., for Nos. 1, 5.

Ninety-seven answers have been received. Of these, 15 are beyond the reach of discussion, as they give no working. I can but enumerate their names, and I take this opportunity of saying that this is the last time I shall put on record the names of compet.i.tors who give no sort of clue to the process by which their answers were obtained. In guessing a conundrum, or in catching a flea, we do not expect the breathless victor to give us afterwards, in cold blood, a history of the mental or muscular efforts by which he achieved success; but a mathematical calculation is another thing. The names of this ”mute inglorious” band are COMMON SENSE, D. E. R., DOUGLAS, E. L., ELLEN, I. M. T., J. M. C., JOSEPH, KNOT I, LUCY, MEEK, M. F. C., PYRAMUS, SHAH, VERITAS.

Of the eighty-two answers with which the working, or some approach to it, is supplied, one is wrong: seventeen have given solutions which are (from one cause or another) practically valueless: the remaining sixty-four I shall try to arrange in a Cla.s.s-list, according to the varying degrees of shortness and neatness to which they seem to have attained.

The solitary wrong answer is from NELL. To be thus ”alone in the crowd”

is a distinction--a painful one, no doubt, but still a distinction. I am sorry for you, my dear young lady, and I seem to hear your tearful exclamation, when you read these lines, ”Ah! This is the knell of all my hopes!” Why, oh why, did you a.s.sume that the 4th and 5th bags weighed 4 lbs. each? And why did you not test your answers? However, please try again: and please don't change your _nom-de-plume_: let us have NELL in the First Cla.s.s next time!

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