[Phys-l] Dutch Puzzles

[brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

Here's a Dutch puzzle site

http://www.puzzle.dse.nl/math/index_us.html#traveling_toes

 ..which offers this as the first puzzle.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Puzzle 1:

A school bus travels from Veldhoven to Roosendaal. There are 4 children 
in the bus. And each child has 4 backpacks with him. There are 4 dogs 
sitting in each backpack. And every dog has 4 puppies with her. All 
these dogs have 4 legs, with 4 toes at each leg.

Answer 1:

The total number of toes is 5170.

The puppies: 4 children × 4 backpacks × 4 dogs × 4 puppies
 × 4 legs × 4 toes =    4096

Plus the dogs:           4 children × 4 backpacks × 4 dogs
 × 4 legs × 4 toes =    1024

Plus the children:                              4 children
 × 2 legs × 5 toes =      40

Plus the driver of the school bus:
   2 legs × 5 toes =      10

                                                                                ------- +

Which results in a total number of 
toes:                                          5170

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is this answer correct?

Hell no! The quantities are correct, but the units are in error.

Preferred Answer 1:

The total number of toes/bus is 5170.

The puppies: 4 children/bus × 4 backpacks/child × 4 dogs/backpack

      × 4 puppies/dog × 4 puppylegs/puppy × 4 puppytoes/puppyleg   =    
4096 puppytoes/bus

Plus the dogs:           4 children/bus × 4 backpacks/child

                    × 4 dogs/backpack × 4 legs/dog × 4 toes/dogleg =    
1024  dogtoes/bus

Plus the children:     4 children/bus × 2 childlegs/child

                                            × 5 childtoes/childleg =    
  40 childtoes/bus

Plus the driver of the school bus: 2 driverlegs/bus × 5 
drivertoes/driverleg

                                                                  
 =      10 drivertoes/bus

                                                                                ------- +

Which results in a total number of toes:                
                5170 [assorted] toes/bus

 [Thanks again to the 'unified treatment of units' enthusiast on the 
list, a year or two ago....

You've seen some of the other puzzles before, but you are sure to find 
one or two to your taste.

Brian W