Thursday, December 27, 2012

Watermelons and New Years' Parties (Puzzle)


Here’s a fun math puzzle involving percents.  The solution is not terribly difficult – but it is surprising how many people end up getting the answer wrong.  Why not give it a try:

The owner of a farm stand puts a bunch of watermelons on display at the beginning of the day.  The watermelons have a mass of 200 kg.  99% of the watermelons’ mass is water.  It is hot, and during the day water evaporates from the melons.  At the end of the day, 98% of the watermelons’ mass is water.  Assuming that no watermelons were sold during the day, what is the mass of the watermelons at the end of the day?

If you’d like to check your answer, the correct solution is below.

 

If you’re having a hard time, consider this puzzle.  The math involved the same as the watermelon problem, but the way in which the puzzle is presented tends to make the solution easier to find.

Some guys planned a New Years’ party and invited only women.  At the party, there were a total of 200 people, 99% of whom were women.  A lot of the women thought that the party was lame, so they left.  After one hour, 98% of the people left at the party were women.  How many total people were at the party after one hour?

This puzzle is slightly easier to grasp because it explicitly states that there are men and women.  (And, it states that only women leave the party.)
 
See below for the solutions.
 
 


 
Solution: New Years’ party puzzle

It’s not very hard to determine how many men and women there were at the beginning of the party:

Women:  99% of 200 = 198           Men:  1% of 200 = 2

Since only women left the party, there are still two men after one hour.  However, these two men now comprise 2% of the total party crowd.  2 is 2% of 100… therefore, there are 100 people at the party after one hour.

 

Solution: Watermelon puzzle

The watermelon puzzle is a little trickier simply because the problem doesn’t explicitly state that the watermelon is made up of water and solids.  Therefore, many people get hung up focusing on the water.

If 99% of the watermelon mass is water, then 1% is made up of solids.  1% of 200kg is 2 kg – so there are 2 kg of solids.  Solids do not evaporate, so at the end of the day, there are still 2 kg of solids.  This now comprises 2% of the total watermelon mass.  2 kg is 2% of 100 kg.  Therefore, there are 100 kg of watermelons left at the end of the day.

Happy New Years’, Everyone!
 
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For Math Tutorials and Silly Math Songs, visit   www.onlinemathpro.com
 
 
 

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