Scribd
Upload
249 views1 page

14 Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles

The document summarizes a section from the Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles. It describes puzzles and riddles credited to Metrodorus that are contained in Book XIV of the Greek Anthology. This includes not only mathematical puzzles, but early word puzzles like beheadings. It provides an example of one such word puzzle involving putting the Greek symbol for 100 in the middle of the Greek word for fire to reveal its meaning.

Uploaded by

cezar_s5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
249 views1 page

14 Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles

The document summarizes a section from the Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles. It describes puzzles and riddles credited to Metrodorus that are contained in Book XIV of the Greek Anthology. This includes not only mathematical puzzles, but early word puzzles like beheadings. It provides an example of one such word puzzle involving putting the Greek symbol for 100 in the middle of the Greek word for fire to reveal its meaning.

Uploaded by

cezar_s5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

14 Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles

31. This frame is composed of four rods that ar'e hinged to each other
at their ends. When will the area enclosed by the frame be a maximum?

32. This figure shows the corner of a room with a screen, composed
of two identical halves hinged together, placed to cut off a portion of
the corner of the room. How should the screen be placed to enclose
as large an area as possible?

33. An isosceles triangle has two equal sides of length 10, hinged
together. What is the maximum area of the triangle?

Metrodorus and the Greek Anthology


The Greek Anthology is a collection of literary verses and epigrams.
Surprisingly, Book XIV comprises a large number of riddles, enigmas
and puzzles, credited to Metrodorus (c. 500 AD).
These include not only arithmetical puzzles, but very early word
puzzles, including beheadings, in which a word loses letter after letter
from its front end but always remains a proper word, and this puzzle:
If you put one hundred in the middle of a burning fire, you will
find the son and a slayer of a virgin.
The answer is to put the Greek symbol for 100, rho, into the word
for fire, pyros, to get Pyrrhos, the son of Deidamia and the slayer of
Polyxena.

You might also like