Results and prizes: 2015-2016 academic year

The results are in for the Emmanuel College Math Department's Puzzle of the Week contest for the 2015-2016 academic year! Congratulations to the individuals listed below for their outstanding performances with the variety of puzzles that I've posted over the last two semesters! Here are the standings, in order:

1. Darren Parke 
2. Paul Bleau
3. Pawthorne (?)
4. Rachel Gammal
5. Madison Daigle
6. Allison Mostowy
7. Connor Higgins

(Important note: I have no idea who Pawthorne is. Are you an Emmanuel student? Are you a group of people? What is your real name(s)? How can I contact you? I'm hoping you'll confirm your identity and claim a prize!)

Prizes were to be given out at our ceremony earlier today (which also saw the induction of three Emmanuel students into the Pi Mu Epsilon honor society) but not everyone was present. So, if you are in the top 5 listed above and have not yet claimed your prize, please find me in my office (Library G08-C) to pick up a fun math book from the list below. (These were all donated by Emmanuel Math Dept. faculty, so they are highly recommended, of course!)

• The New Ambidextrous Universe by Martin Gardner [already claimed by Darren] 
• The Artist and the Mathematician by Amir Aczel 
• Proofiness by Charles Seife
• Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz by Edward Burger and Michael Starbird

I found it interesting that each of these books also has a substitle. So, to conclude the year with a fun "puzzle", try to match the book titles above with their subtitles below: 

• Making Light of Weighty Ideas
• How You're Being Fooled By The Numbers
• Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings
• The Story of Nicholas Bourbaki, the Genius Mathematician Who Never Existed

Spring 2016 POTW #5: Check (Your Work), Please!

Solutions due by Sunday, April 24, 2016.

This is the final POTW of the year! We will be awarding prizes for yearlong standings at an Emmanuel Math Department event at 4:30 pm on Thursday, April 28, 2016 (which is also Senior Distinction Day). At the same time, we will be inducting members of the graduating class into the mathematics honor society Pi Mu Epsilon. Emmanuel folks, please join us in celebrating the outstanding achievements of our seniors and you, the puzzlers!

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The 6 members of the Emmanuel Math Department recently went out to a celebratory dinner. When it came time to pay the bill, they discovered a few curiosities:

• Everyone except Brendan owed exactly the same amount for their meal.
• Brendan was an extravagant spender: His meal cost $10 more than twice the average of everyone's cost.
• Meanwhile, each other person's meal cost $10 more than half the average of everyone's cost.

What was the total bill for everyone, and how much did Brendan's meal cost?

Solution to Spring 2016 POTW #4 (Bow Do You Do?)

See here for the original post of the puzzle.

Let's say x is the number of administrators, so the number of faculty members is 2x.
Then, we can careful count all the bows that took place:

• Every administrator (x) bows to each other administrator (x-1): total x(x-1)
• Every administrator (x) bows to each faculty member (2x): total x(2x)
• Every administrator (x) bows to Sr. Janet (1): total x
• Every faculty member (2x) bows to each other faculty member (2x-1): total 2x(2x-1)
• Every faculty member (2x) bows to each administrator (x): total 2x(x)
• Every faculty member (2x) bows to Sr. Janet (1): total 2x

Total number of bows: x²-x+2x²+x+4x²-2x+2x²+2x=9x²
Therefore, 900=9x², so x=10.

This means there were 10 administrators, 20 faculty, and Sr. Janet in attendance, for a total of 31 people.

Spring 2016 POTW #4: Bow Do You Do?

Submissions due by midnight on Sunday, April 10, 2016.

At a recent college meeting, there were several faculty members, several administrators, as well as the President, Sister Janet. There were twice as many faculty members as there were administrators.

In addition, this was a rather formal academic meeting, so there were many bows that occurred: Every administrator made a bow to every other administrator, to each faculty member, and to Sr. Janet; also, every faculty member made a bow to every other faculty member, to each administrator, and to Sr. Janet. Overall, exactly 900 bows took place.

How many people were in attendance at this formal academic meeting?

(Use the submission box below to submit your answer. No need to explain: a correct answer will suffice for 10 points. However, feel free to explain your answer if you want a chance at some partial credit, in the event that your answer is incorrect.)

Solution to Fall 2015 POTW #6 (Ehhh, The Horror!) and #7 (Emmanuel Fay Cult)

See here for the original post for Fall 2015 POTW #6: Ehhh, The Horror!
Solution:

1. "The Silence of the Limbs"
2. "The Bards"
3. "2001: A Spice Odyssey"
4. "The Amen"

See here for the original post for Fall 2015 POTW #7: Emmanuel Fay Cult

Solution:

1. Yulia DEMENTIEVA (MEDIA EVENT)
2. Aren GERDON (GO NERD)
3. Christine LEIGHTON (HOTEL GIN)
4. Lenore MARTIN (TIN ARM)

Fall 2015 POTW #7: Emmanuel Fay Cult

Solutions due by midnight on Sunday, November 22, 2015.

Last week, the World Scrabble Championships happened in Australia. It just so happens that a few of my friends participated in the event and did very well! Specifically, congrats to Evan, John, Jesse, Dave, and Chris. They all placed in the Top 40 and deserve recognition; congratulations, all of you!

I used to play in Scrabble tournaments myself. The folks I met in that world have gone on to achieve marvelous things; in honor of them, this week's puzzle is based on anagrams.

Specifically, each answer here is the last name of a professor/lecturer at Emmanuel College. The names are clued by revealing a specific two word phrase which you must then anagram into someone's name. To help you, I have included the department in which the professor/lecturer works at EC, and I have tried to make the phrasal clues as transparent as possible (without being so revealing as to be uninteresting).

You may use the following website, which lists faculty at Emmanuel College, as a resource: http://www.emmanuel.edu/academics/our-faculty.html . Of course, you may use any other resource you wish, as well; part of the point of this puzzle is to get you to think and do some research. (Don't necessarily feel like you should be able to answer these questions off the top of your head!)

Keep in mind: Each clue reveals a two word phrase which then anagrams to the last name of someone on the list in the website link above; your answer should be the last name of the professor/lecturer clued.

For example, if the clue were, "This history professor has 2000 pounds of evergreens", the answer would be FORTIN since TON FIR anagrams to FORTIN.

I will award 2.5 points for each correct answer.

What is your name (or team name)?
(Please use the same name every week so that I can properly record your scores!)

(1) This math professor has caused TV and radio to report on a specific happening.


(2) This chemistry professor's rally cry might be translated as, "Huzzah, geek!"


(3) This education professor drinks a juniper liquor from a place where you pay for a nightly stay.


(4) This political science professor has a limb made from the element with atomic number 50.