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Nabu's Knee-knockerNabu's Knee-knocker



These problems are in the form of poems from the book Fun With Figures by J. A. H. Hunter (1965, Dover Publishing).



The Spider and the Fly

"Come right into my parlour," said
     The spider to the fly,
"And answer one small question, please,
     Unless you want to die.
I've eaten scores of flies, of course,
     But tell me if you dare:
If females had two more, and males
     But half their present share,
How many flies like that, d'you think,
     I really would require,
To give me twenty-eight fly legs,
     The number I desire?"






Their Birthday

It's their birthday, you see,
The same for all three,
It's strange but it's perfectly true.

There's Bertie and Ben
Who differ by ten;
Eight years older than one there is Sue.

Double one brother,
Plus treble the other,
Plus Sue's age makes seventy-two.

From what's on this page
You can find the girl's age.
It's really quite easy to do.


You may want to print this page and do your
work in the blank space below.

Scroll down the page to find a hint and the
solution to this problem.




















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