Re: Puzzler of the week

[David L. Gomez]

POSSIBLY THE SPEED GOVERNOR OUT OF ADJUSTMENT. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jo & John MacLean To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 12:03 PM Subject: Re: Puzzler of the week One thing I forgot to add was  the diesel engine would start but would not rev up very fast. At 10:57 AM 05/16/2002, Scott MacLean wrote: It had run out of diesel fuel? At 09:48 AM 5/16/2002, Jo & John MacLean wrote: Here is another puzzle. A hospital uses a diesel generator as emergency back up electrical power in case of a power failure. The generator stopped providing enough electricity to energize the bus bar. The mechanic arrived, changed the generator and it still did not work. He then suspected the diesel engine. He changed all the fuel filters, the air intake filters, and the fuel injectors. The problem persisted. He removed the exhaust manifold and found only a slight amount of carbon. Finally an old time mechanic who had worked on diesels for years told him what the problem was and he was able to fix it. What was the problem? At 08:48 PM 05/07/2002, Don & Tonie wrote: NO WONDER I NEVER GOT BEYOND  GRADE 11.  HEH. Don...  Nice answer Dave...... ----- Original Message ----- From: Jo & John MacLean To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 2:48 PM Subject: Re: Puzzler of the week Dave, that is easy for you to say, Ha. John At 03:14 PM 05/07/2002, David L. Gomez wrote: Easy as pie (Pi?) The first step has already been done, which is to draw a chord on the outer circle that is also tangent to the inner circle. Draw a similar chord on the opposite side of the inner circle, that is also tangent to the inner circle, and exactly parallel to the first chord. (In case the dosey banana doesn t know how to draw the two chords parallel to each other, he need only make sure that the two end points of one chord are equidistant from the corresponding end points of the other chord). Measure the perpendicular distance between the two chords. (Give the dosey banana another dope slap upside the head if he doesn t know how to be sure he s measuring the perpendicular distance). This distance "d" will be the diameter of the inner circle. Measure the shortest distance "h" from a point on the inner circle to a point on the outer circle. This would inevitably lie on a radius line that is common to the two concentric circles (otherwise it would not be the shortest distance -- another dope slap). From the measurements obtained above, the diameter "D" of the outer circle is determined to be equal to 2 x h + d. Finally, the area "A" of the annulus can be calculated from the formula: A = �/4 x (D2 d2)         ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott MacLean To: MacLean List ; Georgetown Crew Mailing List Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 10:34 PM Subject: Puzzler of the week This week's puzzler: This puzzler is from the wonderful world of mathematics. Ed and his two sons, Biff and Skip, have been hired to paint the floor of a merry-go-round. They want to make sure they measure the floor area exactly, because they don't want to buy any extra paint. The carousel, of course, is a circle. Here's the catch: In the middle of the carousel is a smaller circle, which contains all the machinery for the carousel. An annulus, in other words. Ed tells Biff, "We need to know the area of the carousel, including the area of the big outer circle that we're going to paint and the area of the inner circle where there's nothing but the machinery. "Once we have the areas of both circles we can subtract the inner circle from the other circle and we'll know how much paint we need." Biff goes to the carousel and says to himself, "I can't do this. All the machinery is in the middle. I can't get to the center to measure the diameter." He thinks, "I'll cheat. The old man will never know!" Biff measures a straight line from one edge of the carousel to the other edge, not going through the center.  In other words he's going to make what's called a chord of the big circle. Any line that goes from one edge of the circle to the other that isn't a diameter is a chord. As luck would have it, the tape measure touches the inner circle, or in geometric terms, is tangent to the inner circle at one point. Biff returns to his dad and says, "I couldn't do what you wanted me to do. I got this measurement and it's 70 feet." The old man administers a swift dope slap. He says, "How the heck are we going to figure this out. We don't know either diameter." The other brother Skip says "I think I can figure it out. " Can he or can't he? Last week's puzzler: I was on a holiday recently and my car was in need of petrol. I was on a secondary road, and I turned into a self-service gas station. I pulled up to one of the minipumps, and absentmindedly reached for the nozzle. I was just about to fill up my tank, when I happened to notice that the gasoline was a little expensive. In fact, it was $4.59 a gallon. I said, "Whoa. What kind of vehicle uses this stuff?" I looked around. There was a vehicle on the lift and I knew immediately why this gasoline was $4.59 a gallon. Here's the question: What did I see? The answer: What I saw on the lift was a car that had numbers on it... a racecar. Its doors were welded shut, and it had no glass. It was in fact a racecar. And this guy must have been the local gas station where all the racecar drivers -- there must have been a track nearby -- came to get their gas. This gas was 110 octane. _______________________ Scott MacLean [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 9184011 http://www.nerosoft.com --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.351 / Virus Database: 197 - Release Date: 19-04-02 _______________________ Scott MacLean [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 9184011 http://www.nerosoft.com