ERJ Brainteaser Results 2018  

The ERJ Brainiac of the Year Awards 2018 have been decided using a formula in which points were awarded for each correct answer, special mention and helpful and/or amusing email sent in during the year, with extra bonus points going to our Brainiac of the Month winners.

Based on this highly complicated (and only slightly arbitrary) system, our regional champions – which exclude the overall winner – are:

Americas region

Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada

Asia and RoW region

Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan.

Europe region

Joint winners John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; and David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France.

Huge congratulations to all above and to our overall Brainiac Champion:

Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany – the first ever ERJ Brainiac of the Year.

DECEMBER 2018

Question 3: Full tank

Answer: A few readers got stuck on this one but most correctly worked the answer out at 4 hours 43 minutes and 17 seconds – as nicely shown in Jose Padron’s table below.

Well done in order of reply to: David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK; Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada,

Question 2: Famous four.. (plus)

What do the following have in common?

Frédéric Chopin (composer and pianist); Guglielmo Marconi (radio communications pioneer); John Paul II (pope); Cristiano Ronaldo (footballer). Then during the week, we added: John Lennon (pop star); Marco Polo (explorer)... ‘but not Bill and Hilary Clinton’.

Bonus question: This posed fewer problems - the binary code 11111111 in hexadecimal code is FF.

Congratulations to this week’s high-flyers: John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, US; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan.

Question 1: Pet puzzle

Alan was 1 year old when his pet dog Spot was born. When Alan was 8, he was twice as old as his little sister Bernie. Their second dog Timmy was born when Bernie was 2 years old. Bernie is now two thirds the age of Alan, and Timmy is three times as old as the family cat Felix. Can you work out how old the children, dogs, and cat are now?

Answer: Well done in order of correct reply to: David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; and new entrant Mehmet Koral who did not supply details but did offer this tidy reply:

NOVEMBER

Great answering to some quite tricky questions this month but there can only be one winner. For immediately spotting the answer to Question 1 – which nobody else managed to work out – it is big congratulations to:

                            Andrew Beasley of Hankook Tyre UK, our new Brainiac of the Month.

Question 5: Bargain balloons

Answer: November ends not quite with a bang, as relatively few readers were able to resolve this binomial distribution question in which the probability of none of the balloons bursting was 0.358485922; and that exactly two balloons burst was 0.188676801.

So extra well done to: Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan.

As Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld this time explained: Imagine a situation where an "experiment" is repeated a fixed number (n) of times and where the probability (p) of a "success" remains constant. Then number of times (X) a "success" occurs has a Binomial distribution. To calculate: X ~ B(n, p):

Question 4: Tricky truck

A truck is twice as old as its engine was when the truck was as old as the engine is now. Adding the age of the truck and engine gives a total of 21 years. How old is the engine, and how old is the truck?

Well done to: John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany.

Question 3: Generation X

Much more like it this week with lots of replies. Special mentions to: Bharat B Sharma for his clever table (below); David Mann for recognising how the correct solution 71/81 gave the neat number 0.876543; and John Droogan, who concisely explained: 'There are 81 possible combinations of random numbers generated. Only 10 of those combinations fulfill the requirement of producing 5 or more when Y is subtracted from X ( 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 7-1,7-2, 6-1), therefore all other combinations will result in an answer below 5.'

Well done, so, in order of answer-arrival to: David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; Michele Girardi, quality manager, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK.

Question 2: Sports sequence

Can you complete this tricky sports sequence:?

France 4; Germany 1;  _;  _;  _. (Each day during the week we added correct countries/numbers to the sequence).

Answer: A nice easy one to start off the week – or so we thought. Amazingly, there was only one correct reply to this Brainteaser, and that came in first thing on Monday morning. Extra well done to Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK, who recognised straight away that this was a sequence of countries to win the last five football World Cups, and the number of goals they scored in the final.

France 4; Germany 1; Spain 1; Italy 1 (5); Brazil 2;

Come on other Brainiacs: you got to get out more!

Question 1: Chess challenge

A major rubber parts manufacturer recently held a company-wide chess competition, for which 60 employees entered. In the first round, every entrant played 6 matches each, each match with a different player. However, this meant that not everyone got to compete. What was the minimum number of people that had to back out if all participants played 6 matches only, and how many matches were played in the first phase?

Answer: The number of players that needed to back out was 4 and the number of matches was 168 – as per Bharat B Sharma’s tidy table below. Well done in order of answer-arrival to Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan, and everyone else who had a go.

OCTOBER

As so often before, the award could have gone to a number of top performers. But with competition so close, our judges opted to use tricky Question 1 as the tie-breaker.  Many congratulations, therefore, go to:

Bharat B Sharma of Reliance Industries and Paul Knutson of Timken Belts, the new joint winners of our Brainiac of the Month title.

Question 4: Table turn-up

To celebrate his birthday, office manager Steve takes four colleagues to a local restaurant for lunch. As they sat down at a round table for five, PA Jane observed that everyone had taken their seat around the table in age order. What was the probability of that happening?

Answer: A range of nice replies in for this one: the trick was to factor in that they were seated at a round table, not in a straight line - as concisely shown by Yuichi (Joe) Sano: 1/4*1/3*1/2*2 = 1/12. Well done in order of reply to: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK;  Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany.

Question 3: Duck-deal dilemma

Answer: Trickier than it seemed, perhaps, as quite a few ducked out of this one. ‘Alan’ was the odd one out, as correctly answered by: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK (see reply below);  Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany. Well done to all.

Solution from John Bowen:

For Alan, [1] 7R + 5Y = 6O

For Brian [2] 4R + 9O = 5Y

For Charles [3] 6O + 3Y = 4R

Sustitution of 1 in 3 and 2 in 1 leads to negative [impossible] values but 3 in 2 gives positive results, so Brian and Charles are truthful, whereas Alan is not.

Question 2: Boiler alert

The janitor of a block flats, notices that the boiler pressure is rising, and will shortly explode. He phones two of the residents, tells them the news, asks them to do the same and phone just two more people, and then get out of the building. Assume that each of the residents is in, and answers the phone immediately. If each phone call takes 30 seconds, and it takes each person 90 seconds to get out of the building, how long will it take to empty all 375 flats?

Answer: 7 minutes. There are 11 period of calls. 11 calls = 5 minutes 30 sec plus 1 minute 30 sec for the last people to leave the building. Well done to Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc., Canada; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Brainteaser

Question 1: Water-jet

Our regulator technician is, this week, tasked with testing out a new rubber garden hose. The trajectory of the water-jet from the hose is shown in the diagram. From the information provided, can you work out the speed of the water-jet and the range R.

Answer: V = 14 m/s and R = 17m (see below). Well done to everyone who had a go at this really tricky question, and especially to Bharat B Sharma, Sr VP product development & technical service (elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd, Gujarat, India; and Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA, who were spot-on with their answers. Also close, or on the right track, were: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH; and Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan.

SEPTEMBER

This has been the toughest ever selection process, with some great answering from readers around the world, over the last four weeks. But most particularly for the clever way he tackled Question 2, our judges have chosen Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld of PHP Fibers as our new Brainiac of the Month award. Congratulations to a very worthy winner, and everyone one else who came close to the top award.

Question 4: Bikes or trikes?

A technician fits 74 tires on to a total of 32 bicycles and tricycles. How many of them are bicycles and how many are tricycles?

Bonus question: Digital dilemma

X9543Y represents a six-digit number in which X and Y are digits different from each other. The number can be divided by both 8 and 11. What digit does A represent?

Answer: No flies on our readers this week, as our Brainiacs - both new and established - worked out that the tires were fitted on 22 bicycles and 10 tricycles, while for the bonus question B is 2 and A is 7.

Question 3: Counting sheep

On a visit to a sheep farm, a school group all entered a shed where there were 20 more children than sheep as well as an ants display, with exactly 10 times as many ants as children. In total, including the teacher, the children, the sheep and the ants there were 1,440 legs in the shed. How many children were in the group.

Well done to everyone who had a go, but leading in our international flock with the correct answer – 23 children – were: David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd (see table below), UK; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc., Canada; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany; Michael Easton, sales and marketing director, Globus Group.

Question 2: Tricky total

Using only addition, subtraction, multiplication and/or division, how close can you get to making 952 from the numbers 100, 75, 50, 25, 6 and 3? You can only use each of these numbers once.

Answer: Well done to everyone who had a go, especially those who got very close to the target total. But top marks to the following readers for working out that 952 could actually be reached, as per Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld's table below: Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada SA, Spain; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan. Bharat B Sharma, senior VP, product development & technical service (Elastomers), Reliance Industries Ltd,Vadodara, Gujarat, India.

Question 1: May the fours be with you

Using four 4's in each case, can you form all the numbers from 1 to 10 via addition, subtraction, multiplication and/or division? Parentheses can be used and the 4’s combined to make numbers such as 44 or 444.

Answer: Lots of great replies. We havn’t space to show them all, so let’s go with the answers (below) from Michele Girardi and Ralf Ortmayr - even though Ralf takes a bit of mathematical-licence by also using square-root and factorial functions.  A big well-done, in order of reply to: Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group,  Béthune, France; Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada SA, Spain;  Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno; Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc., Canada; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany.

Michele Girardi:

1             4/4*4/4

2             4*4/(4+4)

3             (4*4-4)/4

4             4+4*(4-4)

5             (4+4*4)/4

6             4+(4+4)/4

7             4+4-4/4

8             4*4/4+4

9             4+4+4/4

10           (44-4)/4

Ralf Ortmayr:

0  =  4 ÷ 4 × 4 ? 4  =   44 ? 44

1  =  4 ÷ 4 + 4 ? 4  =   44 ÷ 44

2  =  4 ?(4 + 4)÷ 4  =  (44 + 4) ÷ 4!

3  = (4 × 4 ? 4)÷ 4  =  (4 + 4 + 4) ÷ 4

4  =  4 + 4 ×(4 ? 4) =  ?44 + 4! + 4!

5  = (4 × 4 + 4)÷ 4  =  (44 ? 4!) ÷ 4

6  = (4 + 4)÷ 4 + 4  =   4.4 + 4  ×.4

7  =  4 + 4 ? 4 ÷ 4  =   44 ÷ 4  ? 4

8  =  4 ÷ 4 × 4 + 4  =   4.4 ? .4  + 4

9  =  4 ÷ 4 + 4 + 4  =   44 ÷ 4  ? ?4

10  =  4 ÷?4 + 4 ×?4  =  (44 ? 4) ÷ 4

AUGUST

Well done to everyone who battled through all of our our questions in August, especially as there were points of debate with a couple of them. But for their fine efforts in tackling challenging Question 3, the joint winners this month's Brainiac of the Month award are: Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc.; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, PHP Fibers GmbH; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International; and Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd

Questions 5 (and 4): Missing number

What number is missing from the following series?

37, 10, 82

29, 11, 47

96,  ?   87

42,  6, 15

Bonus question (Question 4): Out of step

To keep fit, Frank liked to dash up the big circular staircase to his office on the third floor of the building. He goes up the steps 2, and sometimes 3, at a time but always finds 1 step left over when he gets to his landing. Indeed, Frank works out that no matter how many steps he is able to take at a time, there is always 1 step left over. How many steps are there on the stairs to Frank's office, and what is the maximum number of steps Frank can take at a time.

Answers: Readers, it seemed, had little problem identifying 15 as the answer to the Missing Number question. However, the Out of Step teaser continued to generate alternative replies: but our judging panel’s ‘official’ answer is 61 steps and six at a time.

Let’s just move on and say a big well done to each of the following readers: Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada SA, Spain; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc Canada; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group,  Béthune, France; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; Karl-Erik Lember, Motoral Eesti AS, Estonia; Henza Öz?ahin, deputy general manager, Öz?ahin, ?stanbul, Turkey;.

Question 3: House numbers

Walking along the street where he lives, Simon notices that the sum of the house numbers up to his own house, but excluding it, equals the sum of the numbers of his house to the end of the road. If the houses are numbered consecutively, starting from 1, what are the possible numbers of Simon’s house? (There are less than 1000 houses on the road.)

Answer: As Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld neatly explained: With  3 houses, Simon has house # 3; With 20 houses, Simon has house # 15; With 119 houses, Simon has house # 85; and With 696 houses, Simon has house # 492

Quite a challenging teaser, so extremely well done to Jose Padron, materials development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada (see also his table below); and Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany. A special mention also – for getting most of the way along the street – to Andrew Knox of Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands and Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan.

Question 2: Matching marbles

There are two identical bags. One bag has three green marbles and one white marble. The other has three white marbles and one green marble. After choosing a bag you draw one marble out at random. You notice it is green. You then put it back and draw another marble out of the same bag at random. What is the probability that the second marble drawn is green?

Answer: Near wipe-out this week as, among all the replies to roll in, only three were correct. The probability is 5/8, as per the equation Prob(X|Y)=Prob(X and Y)/Prob(Y). Exceptionally well done, so, to: Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; and Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; and Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany.

But a bit like the VAR in football, Andrew Knox of Rubbond International has asked us to review our answer. He makes the valid point that "the question is complicated by the wording "after chosing one bag". Taken literally, there is no longer a chance you could chose the other bag, so strictly speaking there are two seperate probabilities remaining, namely 1/16 (being 1/4x1/4) and 9/16 (being 3/4x3/4), depending upon which bag you chose."

Question 1: Lighter batch

Factory technician Ian has 10 batches of tires, all of which, but one, have tires weighing 100kg. One batch has tires weighing 90kg. Ian is allowed to use the scales only once. How can he spot the odd batch out?

 Answer: Click here to see special page carrying all answers to this weighty teaser, and very well done to: Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; Vilen Kancerov, export department director, SIA Latakko, Riga, Latvia; V Srinivasan, partner, 6T Services, India.

JULY 

From time to time, our judging panel is impressed by the contribution of particular countries to our global competition. This month, so, our congratulations and félicitations go to; France Veillette of Bridgestone, Thierry Montcalm, Soucy Techno and Jose Padron, Waterville TG of Canada – the new joint winners of our Brainiac of the Month title.

Question 4: Missing country

Answer: As correctly noted by Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, the missing country was Bangladesh, the largest population behind China, India and the US.

Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada S.A, Spain; Pedro Martinez- Zubieta, Sales Ops & Pricing Mgr Motorcycle EMEA, Goodyear Dunlop, Belgium; Fatima Bhatti, Polymer Access (Pvt) Ltd; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK; Ian Brooker, HB Chemical Corp., Twinsburg, Ohio, USA; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Hyogo, Japan. Jury Sokolov, export department, Latakko, Latvia; and Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium.

Question 3: Rubber tappers

Two rubber tappers can each harvest the latex from a 3-acre section of plantation in 4 hours. How long will take them both to collect the rubber from a similar 5-acre section, if they work together and are joined by a trainee working at half their speed?

Well done in order of correct-answer arrival to: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group Béthune, France; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc. Canada; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno and Jose Padron, Waterville TG Inc.c Canada; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands.

Question 2: In the can

A metal rod, shown as AB, rests inside a cylindrical can. The can is on a horizontal table. AC is a diameter of the base of the can. B is on the top edge of the can. BC is vertical. The radius of the base of the can is 5 cm. The volume of the can is 1178 cm3. What is the angle between the rod and the base of the can?

Answer: Readers had a ‘can-do’ attitude to this one, coming up with the answer, 56.3 degrees, in double-quick time. Well done in order of arrival to: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Bharat B Sharma, Relflex Elastomers, India; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group Béthune, France; Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada S.A, Spain; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Jose Padron, spécialiste en développement de materiaux, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc., Canada; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands.

Question 1: Party puzzle

Some time ago one of our contestants phoned to say that he was planning a big party to celebrate winning the Brainiac of the Month award, asking: "Can you work out how many bottles of champagne I have in my fridge?" He then gave three clues: If the number of bottles of champagne I have: 1, is a multiple of 5, it is a number between 1 and 19; 2, is not a multiple of 8, it is a number between 20 and 29; 3, is not a multiple of 10, it is a number between 30 and 39. How many bottles of champagne did our exuberant reader have in his fridge?

Answer: As David Mann correctly explained the only number that meets the combination of conditions is 32 bottles of champagne (or maybe two Balthazars).

Correct answers flowed in, in the following order, from: Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK: Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group Béthune, France; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc., Canada; Well done to all and everyone else who had a go!

JUNE 

With some smart, new players joining our Brainteaser competition this month, no-one – not even our uber-Brainiacs – can rest on their laurels (or any other living organism). And, for his excellent answer to our Football Fever question, congratulations to

                                       Jose Padron of Waterville TG, now a two-in-a-row Brainiac of the Month

Question 4: Blue is the colour

There are 5 red counters and x blue counters in a bag. If 2 counters are taken out at random, the probability that both are red is 5/33. How many blue counters are in the bag?

Answer, as neatly shown by Stephen Fulton: 5/y * 4/(y-1) = 5/33 where y = total of balls in the bag.  Total = 12 and so the number of blue balls = 7

Correct replies arrived in, in the following order, from: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology,SI Group, Béthune, France; Michele Girardi, Scame Mastaf Spa, Suisio, Italy; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Andrew Knox, Rubbond International, Ohé en Laak, The Netherlands; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager Soucy Techno, Canada. Well done to all.

Question 3: Ten tire teaser

Answer: Okay, the answer was straightforward – the first factory produces 500 tires – but readers came up with so many amazing ways of working this out. Well done to: Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada S.A, Spain; David Mann, manager rubber technology, Béthune, France; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, UK; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany; Paul Knutson, textile engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Jose Padron, spécialiste en développement de materiaux, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Japan; Randa Tharwat, import manager, Nacita, Cairo. Egypt; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge, Belgium; France Veillette, chef environnement, usine de Joliette, Bridgestone Canada Inc., Canada; Ian Brooker, HB Chemical Corp., Twinsburg, Ohio, USA.

The fanciest (most complicated) solution, though, came in from Andrew Beasley, product analyst, Hankook Tyre UK Ltd, UK:

 First, we can put the question into a table “as is” to see what’s going on.

*We can ignore Factory Ten completely. Working backwards we can calculate that a=2x and b=4x

Next we can simplify all of the equations so that they relate to x

We can then simplify this further and then reverse it to solve for x, where y = the total tires produced by all factories.

y=23x+200 Therefore; x=(y-200)/23  In the case of this question: x=(11,700-200)/23 So x= 11,500/23 ie 500 - Well done!

Question 2: Football fever

Bonus question: How many of the countries that got through to the World Cup 2018 football finals have blue as a prominent colour on their official flags?

Answers:  Some great replies to our first question but nobody could match the quality of the detailed answer provided by Jose Padron (see below). Unfortunately, no one spotted the trick element to our Bonus Question: blue is a prominent (okay ‘dominant’) colour on the Russian flag, but as host country it qualified automatically and so did not actually ‘get through’ to the World Cup finals. That left 13 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Iceland, Panama, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Sweden, Uruguay.

So well done to: Fatima Bhatti, Polymer Access (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, Pakistan; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Paul Knutson, textile, engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Ian Brooker, HB Chemical Corp., Twinsburg, Ohio, USA; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany.

But our clear winner is rising star Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada for this top-notch answer:

There are seven (7) animals on the official flags: goat, leopard, marten sable, eagle, lion, serpent and vicuña (vicugna)There are eight (8) plants or trees: Oyster plant leaves, Lily flowers (fleur-de-lys), Cactus (Pear Cactus), Southern Live Oak leaves, Bay leaves (Laurel), Palm branch, Holm Oak leaves, Chinchona tree (Quinquina)

There are six countries with living things Croatia, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Serbia.

Detailed description:

Question 1: Awkward angle

The diagram shows a quadrilateral JKLM. What is the size of angle KLM?

Answer: Angle KLM is 33.6954°, or as explained neatly by John Bowen: length MK = Sq Rt[4.5*4.5] + [7*7] =8.32, so Sin KLM =8.32/14 =0.55478 so KLM = 34deg [approx]. Well done to: David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK; Paul Knutson, textile, engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge Belgium.

MAY

There were a number of readers who dealt really well with the  tricky questions in our latest Brainteaser series. But, for their speed and accuracy, our judging team decided that our top award should go to:

John Bowen,  Paul Knutson and Jose Padron the new joint holders of the Brainiac of the Month title.

Question 4: Shape shifter

White shapes and black shapes are used in a game: some are circles, the rest squares.

The ratio of the number of white shapes to the number of black shapes is 3:7

The ratio of the number of white circles to the number of white squares is 4:5

The ratio of the number of black circles to the number of black squares is 2:5

What fraction of all the shapes are circles?

Answer: A third of the shapes were circles. Well done to: Michele Girarde, Scame Mastaf SpA, Suisio, Italy; John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK; Paul Knutson, textile, engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Ian Brooker, HB Chemical Corp., Twinsburg, Ohio, USA;

Question 3: Sands of time

Sarah is on an organised walking tour across the Sahara dessert. On the first day, she only travels 7km. On the final day, she travels 51km increasing her journey by 4km each day. How many days does she travel and how far?

Question 2: Rectangular riddle

Find the length and width of a rectangle, where: The length of the rectangle is the same as the length of each side of a square. The length of the rectangle is 4cm more than 3 times the width of the rectangle. The area of the square is 66 cm2 more than the area of the rectangle.

Question 1: Ducks Vs Rabbits

Answer: Can’t wait for the second half. The Rabbits got four 1-pointers, four 2-pointers and four 3-pointers, while the Ducks scored five1-point, two 2-point and five 3-point scores. Well done to: John Bowen, consultant, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK; John Droogan, advanced polymers and composites, MegaChem (UK) Ltd, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, UK; Amparo Botella, Ismael Quesada SA, Spain; Hans-Bernd Lüchtefeld, market research & communication manager, PHP Fibers GmbH, Obernburg, Germany; Paul Knutson, textile, engineer, Timken Belts, Springfield, Missouri, USA; Thierry Montcalm, R&D and innovation manager, Soucy Techno, Canada; David Mann, manager rubber technology, SI Group, Béthune, France; Jose Padron, material development specialist, Waterville TG Inc., Waterville, Québec, Canada; Ralf Ortmayr, senior pricing analyst, Toyo Tire Europe GmbH, Willich, Germany; Stephen Fulton, R&D technology development manager, Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV, Brugge Belgium; Yuichi (Joe) Sano, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, Itami, Hyogo, Japan; Ian Brooker, HB Chemical Corp., Twinsburg, Ohio, USA.

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