The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-20
sWEETBRIER SOLVES 4 PROB.
 LRM.
IPeck,s Snn1

IPeck'S Sum-.
 Like the swarthy sons of Italy who 20 about vending plaster-of-paris images, Sweetbrier has great head for figures When not otherwise occupied, he had rather study over and endeavor to work out some intricate problem in mathe- matics than to see match game of polo, which plainly shows that this popular amusement has not yet get him in its clutches. He is also fairly clever at trans. lating rebuses, deciphering enigmas, find ing out hidden words" etc., and says positively that he once solved the cele- brated I5-I4 puzzle, but could never do it second time. Chess, checkers and cribbage are also favorite games with him as well as billiards.
 Sometimes he assists the children in their lessons, but not as often as he might "a failing very general among parents, owing to their being rusty" in the va rious branches of learning that once were SO familiar, and the time required to re- fresh the memory. The cares of life step in and crowd out many other things that should not be forgotten. One evening last week his boy called attention to a problem in mathematics, which, without stretching the truth, may be called an eggstraordidary one. It was as follows :
 " An old woman carrying eggs to mar ket, was met by an unruly fellow who broke them. When asked by a magis- trate to prove her loss, she could only re- member, that by counting her eggs into the basket by twos, threes, fours, 6ves, or sizes, there always remained one over, but by counting them by sevens none were left. How many did she have2"
 The boy was stuck, and asked his pa about it. Sweetbrier read it over care fully, and then said: "Oh, that can't be very difficult don't know now exactly what rule 10 work it out by, but it is evil dent to begin with that the number re- quired must be multiple of seven."
 " know that" said the boy, "and have tried every multiple of seven up to forty.two, and it don't come right"
 "Well, let's see," said Sweetbrier, "how's forty-nine2 Two's into forty nine twenty-four times and one over {; three and four both go o K :; 6ve's into forty-nine nine times and four over. Forty nine is n. g." Then he went on, taking in their order all multiples of seven above forty-nine which ended with an odd fig- ure, Gas, of course, those ending with even figures were divisible by tive, and many of them by four, without any re- mainder) until he got as high as one hundred and eighty-nine.
 Here he paused and scratched his head, saying: "Well, the darned thing isn't as simple as it looks, and don't believe want to sit up all night studying on it Guess there must be catch somehow"
 Supposing you take the least com mon multiple of all the numbers, from two to seven," said the boy, and then he hastily added: "But of course that wouldn't do, for there would be no re- mainder to any of them"
 That gives me an idea," said Sweet brier, and he again went to figuring. Three times two are six; four sixes twenty four; five twenty-fours one hun dred and twenty :; six times one hundred and twenty are sven hundred and twenty Now then, add one, and all the numbers up to six are provided for as to the odd egg, and if seven goes into seven hun we are all right. Seven's into seven OnSS, tutO SWO nO umeS, Into twenty one three times. Eurekal Domino! Seven hundred and twenty-one is the magic number. We'll, I've stumbled on to it, but it seems as though there ought to be smaller number. Here le'me read that again. There was something about basket in 1t. Yes, the old lady counted her eggs into basket. We'll, now, if seven hundred and twenty-one is right, wonder if it occurred to the man who got up that conundrum that sixty dozen eggs would make a pretty heavy load for an old woman to carry around, and would take laundering big basket"
 May be she carried the basket in a wagon," suggested the boy.
 Wagon nothing! That isn't suppos- able at all l; there's nothing said about a wagon-sinply an old woman carrying eggs to market. And then the idea of her having counted so many eggs over six times at least, and more for all we know. It's preposterous. How came she to accumulate so many eggs anyho~2 But that question is just about as sensible as good many others in text books. Some of these msthemaiicians ought to soak their heads. Let's have just one game of casino"