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Smith and Jones

Age 14 to 16
Challenge Level Yellow star
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Mr Smith and Mr Jones are two maths teachers, who meet up one day. Mr Smith lives in a house with a number between 13 and 1300. He informs Mr Jones of this fact, and challenges Mr Jones to work out the number by asking closed questions.

Mr Jones asks if the number is bigger than 500. Mr Smith answers, but he lies.

Mr Jones asks if the number is a perfect square. Mr Smith answers, but he lies.

Mr Jones asks if the number is a perfect cube. Mr Smith answers and (feeling a little guilty) tells the truth for once.

Mr Jones says he knows that the number is one of two possibilities, and if Mr Smith just tells him whether the second digit is 1, then he'll know the answer. Mr Smith tells him and Mr Jones says what he thinks the number is. He is, of course, wrong.

What is the number of Mr Smith's house?

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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