One day Santa was bored and so decided to entertain himself by racing some of his reindeer. The first 100 meter race was between Dasher and Dancer, and Dasher won by 10m. The next 100 meter race was between Dancer and Prancer, and Dancer won by 10m. Finally, Dasher ran against Prancer in another 100m race. By how many meters did Dasher win?
Oh, and the answer is not 20m.
As ever, please do NOT post your answer but feel free to say if you think you have solved it and how long it took.
Solution on Monday. Have a good break!
Oh, and if you want to be the life and soul of the party over the next few days, you might find this video useful….
Advertisement
December 24, 2010 at 5:52 am |
Yes I got this one in about a minute. Have a cool Yule Richard!
December 24, 2010 at 5:59 am |
Took me about five minutes to write down the names…lol…too many …. ‘hers and ‘cers ….and once cleared my head of the similar sounding names I had my ahh mmm ooh yeahhh I got it… I think…lol…
December 24, 2010 at 6:23 am |
I have it answered – assuming the reindeer run consistently at the same speed. Not 100% sure, but confident in my method.
December 24, 2010 at 6:36 am |
Needed pen and paper and took about two minutes. Also enjoyed the quiz here after so many weeks.
December 24, 2010 at 6:44 am |
Got it in less than a minute.
Merry Christmas, by the way.
December 24, 2010 at 7:16 am |
Got it in less than one minute, using excel.
nice puzzle.
Merry Christmas
December 24, 2010 at 7:20 am |
Think I’ve got it. Isn’t Excel marvellous
December 24, 2010 at 7:34 am |
I got it in 3 minutes … and really not 20m. Nice puzzle!
December 24, 2010 at 7:35 am |
I had to use a calculator but got it in under a minute. Nice puzzle!
December 24, 2010 at 8:03 am |
Omg I think I may have actually solved this one! It’s always been hard for me to figure out how to interpret problems like these and find the operations to perform, so if I actually did this right, I would be so excited. If I have the right answer, it took me about 4-5 minutes.
December 24, 2010 at 8:18 am |
What sort of METERS are they? Gas, Electricity, Water?
Maybe Richard means METRES – The SI Unit of measure. This is the International ‘Metric’ unit and has a standardised spelling. I suspect that some countries spell it Meter, but if they do, then it is through blind ignorance.
I do not think Richard is an Ignoramus, however he appears to have been lax this week in not proof-reading the puzzle (obviously sourced with the mis-spelling intact) before posting it.
As it stands, with the glaring error of asking by how many measuring devices a race is won, there cannot be any real answer, so maybe we are looking for a surreal answer. My answer in that event would be that Dasher beat Prancer by ‘A Fish’.
Happy Christmas one and all!
December 24, 2010 at 10:23 am
You self-righteous little twerp.
December 24, 2010 at 10:32 am
Nice to see someone is lacking a sense of humour!
December 24, 2010 at 10:45 am
I suspect that some countries spell it Meter, but if they do, then it is through blind ignorance.
BS tiny twerp, Mètre is a unit of measure not of language.
Richard may have it wrong in English, but almost all other languages spells it differently.
December 24, 2010 at 8:24 am |
Too busy thinking about elf jockeys to do the maths.
December 24, 2010 at 8:28 am |
Not sure if I used the right method, but I’ve arrived at an answer after about a minute of using paper, pen + calculator!
December 24, 2010 at 8:29 am |
You know… I’m going to have to wait for Monday.
I don’t think you can answer this with the information given.
December 25, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Yes you can. Keep trying (some maths involved!)
December 24, 2010 at 8:50 am |
I’ve got it- sorted between patients in my Christmas Eve GP surgery
December 24, 2010 at 9:49 am |
Done with thumbs and forefingers in about 15 seconds!
December 24, 2010 at 10:00 am |
Excel? Calculator?
The only reason I needed a pen and paper was the confusingly similar names.
December 24, 2010 at 10:53 am |
Got it! Pen and paper, some recurring digits but they shouldn’t affect the approximate answer too much.
Merry Christmas one and all!
December 24, 2010 at 10:53 am
Oh, about 3 mins.
December 24, 2010 at 10:56 am |
I think I got it, using fractions and the like. In about 2 minutes
December 24, 2010 at 11:00 am |
1-2 minutes, did the math.
December 24, 2010 at 11:43 am |
Merry Christmas !
Thanx for all those puzzles.
December 24, 2010 at 11:49 am |
After replicating the experiment with three genuine reindeers, an atomic clock and a lazer and a quadratic equation, I have ascertained that the answer is indeed not 20 metres.
December 24, 2010 at 12:17 pm |
It depends if they’re being ridden or chasing some spring-loaded lichen! Let’s face it-anyone being forced to carry Santa is at a disadvantage compared to being ridden by Mary Christmas (if she’s good enough for the Catholics >;OP) or any of the elven helpers.
That said ~ I still keep getting 20m. I think I need to use paper and different sounding names.
Merry Christmas one and all, and thank you Richard for your dedication to the Friday puzzles and for usually being up at 5am to post them. X
December 24, 2010 at 1:47 pm |
~ 3 min with pen and paper. Happy Holidays!
December 24, 2010 at 2:14 pm |
About 1 minute to work out what the question was actually saying, and a minute to do the maths.
December 24, 2010 at 3:35 pm |
Of course it is not 20m that is what i figured out in about 20sec (most of the time verifying the odrder of the names. Than i spent 5 minutes to develop the math to verify what method could be used in excel. And than i put the math in some braincellsto verify my first result (which was based on similarity and therefore more logic than calculation). And yes, it was the same.
Wow i am always astonished how the brain can work in so many different ways.
Merry Christmas – let the feast begin!
December 24, 2010 at 4:28 pm |
Well.. assuming that reindeer accelerate to full speed instantaneously, and that Dasher was not fatigued from his earlier race…
December 24, 2010 at 5:56 pm |
Oh yeah, don’t forget to account for the 10 pounds each reindeer had to carry to prevent them from becoming airborne during the last 10m of the race!
Merry Chrismas, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings! From all of mine to all of yours!
December 24, 2010 at 6:34 pm |
Under a minute. Too algebraic/formulaic. No real insight required.
December 25, 2010 at 5:16 am |
i got its answer in a minute and i think it to be right. it just required a pen and a calculator.
December 25, 2010 at 1:05 pm |
Short answer in one minute (new best highscore for me). Then about five minutes to check its correct.
December 25, 2010 at 1:08 pm |
Curious, because normally its won by xx seconds(time) and not won by xx meters (distance)
December 25, 2010 at 7:17 pm |
took me few minutes, i was surprised it was not 20 at first but the calculation showed its not 20
December 26, 2010 at 3:22 pm |
Got it after a few minutes of being confused. I think in future I should just go straight to the pen and paper to save time, it always helps me think more clearly.
Merry Boxing day everyone!
December 26, 2010 at 4:03 pm |
Good Puzzle. Perhaps 30 seconds, counting with time to get the right number by head.
Almost forgot to check these puzzles since the last ones didn’t deserved the name of puzzles. That, and the ongoing Christmas.
Merry Christmas and happy good year!!!
December 26, 2010 at 7:36 pm |
[...] It’s the Christmas Friday Puzzle! [...]
December 26, 2010 at 8:44 pm |
In a collaborative effort we believe we have the right answer within 2 min but then re thought the matter again and now we two of have two different answers ..
curiouser and curiouser !
December 27, 2010 at 1:24 am |
Nice puzzle. Got the answer in about a min.
January 6, 2011 at 8:57 am |
… I recognize these from when I was very young! I think they were in the books “Bet you can’t!” (http://www.amazon.com/Bet-You-Cant-Vicki-Cobb/dp/0380545020) and “Bet you can!” (http://www.amazon.com/Bet-You-Can-Science-Possibilities/).
Thanks for taking me back!