THE CHINESE ARE wonderfully expert at figures, although in someway or other they seem to do everything backwards, just, as they do in their reading which always goes uphill. They seemingly do their multiplication by division, and addition by subtraction.
They are very clever at mental arithmetic and do some queer calculations by rules or tricks which they cannot or will not explain.
One of their professors showed me some exercises in addition, which in their own peculiar way he reversed so as to do it by subtraction and working backwards from the answer to get the figures which were added together.
He asked me to arrange the nine digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and a cipher in two rows, add them together and rub out the two rows and any two figures I liked from the sum, and he would restore them at once. It appeared to be a simple, but pretty feat, so I present it to our puzzlists and ask them to replace the ten missing digits, although the real puzzle is simply to tell what are the erased numbers taken from the answer.
As the digits add up 45, which in turn make 9, the sum must also equal 9, therefore we know that 8 is the required figure.
2. Missing-Word Anagram.
Here is a clever missing-word puzzle. Use a four-letter word, the same letters each time, in each of the blank spaces, and make good sense of the following rhyme:
A ________ old woman on ________ bent
Put on her ________ and away she went;
________ she cried, as she went on her way,
How are we going to ________ to-day?
Vile, evil, veil, Levi and live.
3.
Why is a glass-blower the most likely person to set the alphabet off at a gallop? Because he can make a D-canter.
What letter in the Dutch alphabet will name an English lady of title? A Dutch-S.
What Christian names besides Anna, reads the same both ways? Hannah or Eve.
When you stole my first, I lost my second, and you are the only person to give me my whole? Hearts-ease.
Why is a bridegroom often more expensive than a bride? Because the bride is given away, but the bridegroom is often sold.
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