Roman Sticks and Stuff

Time for the new puzzler.

This one is short. And it takes a little participation.

It is best to use matchsticks, but if you don't have those, you can use toothpicks. Or regular sticks, as long as your dog is okay with that.

Here we go.

So take your sticks and make a fraction with them. This fraction is going to be Roman numerals.

And the Roman numeral that's the numerator, is 23. So 23 in Roman numerals is XXIII.

So you're gonna have a bunch of sticks that make up the figure XXIII.

Then you'll take some sticks to make the line of the fraction.

Then the denominator of the fraction is going to be Roman numeral 7, which is VII.

Then, you're going to have an equals sign with sticks, of course.

And after the equals sign, you're going to have Roman numeral 2, which is II.

So to recap, you will have the following equation, all made out of sticks.

XXIII / VII = II

Which is 23 / 7 = 2.

Now, obviously this equation is wrong as it is written.

The puzzler question is a challenge. And that is to move one stick and make the equation correct.

Hint, inequalities are not allowed.

You have to move one stick and make the equation correct and true.

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Frozen Vermont

Okay, I know last week's puzzler was long. This one is also long. Consider yourself warned.

Here we go.

Many, many years ago, when I was 23 I was teaching science to seventh and eighth graders in the frozen state of Vermont. This was a lifetime ago.

Anyway, there I was one Saturday morning sitting in front of my TV watching some educational program. I think it was like Mighty Mouse or something, when the phone rang.

I knew who it was. It was one of my fellow teachers who happened to live across the street, who I knew was going to ask me to help move a cast iron stove into his house because he had asked me about it the day before.

So I picked up the phone. And he explained to me that he didn't have the stove right then, because he was going to pick it up at the factory. He'd be back in a few hours. And if I were available, could I help him when he got back.

And I said, "What about that no-good brother-in-law that lives with you? Can't he help you out?"

And he said, "No, he won't be back until late tonight. You're here, and he's not, so I am asking you."

I said, "Okay. Go get the stove, and I'll be waiting."

So I got dressed and made some coffee and busied myself around the house, annoyed about having to do this.

As I waited for him to return, I noticed a wonderful thing began to happen. The snow that was falling down changed to freezing rain. And I said to myself, "Oh, this could be good, because I can guess right now he's at the factory, and they're loading the stove into his Volkswagen bus. Except he's never going to be able to get up his steep driveway when he returns with all this ice. And I'll be off the hook. And maybe by tomorrow, when the ice melts, his brother-in-law will be home to help him, and I will be off the hook!"

So sure enough, there I was hiding behind the drapes and peeking out the window when he gets back. And I was right. He can't get up the driveway. He's slipping and sliding all over the place. Every time he lets the clutch out, the wheels just spin like crazy. And it is even worse because of the additional weight of the cast iron stove.

So there he is, he is slipping and sliding all over driveway on the ice. He gets out and throws some sand under the wheels. The sand doesn't help at all.

He gets out again, slams the door, opens the engine compartment door, which they had back then on the VWs. He does something which takes about a second or two, closes the engine compartment door, and the next thing I know, he's climbed his driveway.

Then he calls me and says, "Okay, I'm home. Come help me move this stove will ya?"

The puzzler question is this.

What did he do that literally took a second that enabled him to get up his driveway under the same conditions that had prevented him from doing this a minute earlier?