thnik again!

- Sometimes I wonder.
- Me too!
- Just wonder. Are there intelligent lives on other planets?
- Are there intelligent lives on this planet?
- Why do we live?
- Why do people wonder why we live?
- Are you mocking me?
- I wonder what gave you that idea.
- Cut the crap!
- OK. Here is what I am really wondering about.
- Let’s hear it.
- Do squares with one million digits of which half are even exist?
- Now, that is interesting!
- Because it has a precise answer?
- Someone told me once that questions without answers are more frequent.
- I wonder what the ratio is.

Problems source:  The Emissary Newsletter’s Puzzle section by Elwyn Berlekamp and Joe P Buhler.

- How was the movie?
- It was OK. But I had seen it before.
- ‘Stand and Deliver’ wasn’t it?
- Yes, about Jaime Escalante’s unbelievable success with his maths students.
- I must see it.
- Yes, you must. But something that happened before the movie began was equally interesting.
- How come?
- I went with my girlfriend Tara and we were supposed to meet her friend Hugo at the cinema.
- Hugo, the plumber.
- He is an apprentice plumber, yes.
- I have always wanted to be a plumber.
- We didn’t find him, so we were searching the rows and files for him. I searched the rows with my eyes from left to right starting at the first row and then the second from left to right, and so on.
- I could never be that systematic.
- Tara did the same thing, but with the files.
- Did any of you find him.
- Yes.
- I am wondering which method is best. Searching by rows or by files?
- We were wondering about the very same thing after the movie!
- Were there more files than rows?
- Yes.
- What did you and Tara find out?
- Not a lot, but Hugo solved the puzzle in no time.
- I have always wanted to work with water.

Problems source:  The Emissary Newsletter’s Puzzle section by Elwyn Berlekamp and Joe P Buhler.

I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam. – Charles Babbage

Magnus Carlsen, the no 1 ranked chess player, challenges you here. Solve three puzzles in record time and be no 1 on his list.

By the way, the world’s no 1 is now playing in the Tata Steel tournament. Read about it in his blog, or follow it on the official web site or watch the games commented at chessbomb.

Oh, I almost forgot, how did you do in the challenge? Me?! Number 354 on the list with no improvement in sight.

There are no deep theorems — only theorems that we have not understood very well. – Nicholas P Goodman

Thomas Egense, mathematician and artist, created the above. You can see more of his Fractal Flames here.

Two amateurs reached this position in Vienna in 1931. It is Black’s turn. Can he escape a loss?

Spoiler: Leontxo, chess jorunalist, explains how in this video  (in Spanish).

Can playing chess prevent Alzheimer’s? Here is a video that suggests the obvious: any mental challenges may be good for you.

- Nice to see you home again!
- Thank you.
- It must have been quite an ordeal!
- The food was good.
- OK. But you were arrested unlawfully?
- It made me think.
- I am glad you see the positive in every situation.
- I mean, I had to think hard to be released.
- How come?
- Just after my arrest I was given 100 coins and I was asked to divide them into two piles with 25 magic coins in each.
- Magic coins?
- I was told 50 of the coins were magic, but I could not see which.
- So how could you do the task?
- I found a way that guaranteed success in 50 or less tries.
- Amazing!
- I agree.
- Now that you are a free woman again, what are your plans?
- I am building prisons.
- What?
- My plan is to arrest politicians and release them when they have demonstrated some thinking skills.
- Interesting! Which skills do you have in mind?
- Any.

Problems source:  The Emissary Newsletter’s Puzzle section by Elwyn Berlekamp and Joe P Buhler.

Basic research is what I am doing when I don’t known what I am doing. – Werner von Braun