Blog Post #22: Loved Ones

Dear Readers,

Of all the things that I know, the most important by far is shown on the following postcard.

I received the lovely card several months ago while walking with my wife and son through Perth, Scotland, where a dedicated group of people were freely offering time on a sunny summer’s day to help to bring God’s Good News to as many people as possible. Who are the Loved Ones…?…we all are, you and me included!

YOU’LL LOVE 1 MATH FUN!!

Imagine that the red heart is your favourite loved number; any number except 1
The orange heart will be 1 more than the red heart
The yellow heart will be 1 less than the red heart
The green heart will be the orange heart divided by the yellow heart (calculators are allowed!!)
The light blue heart will be 1 more than the green heart
The dark blue heart will be 1 less than the green heart
The purple heart will be the light blue heart divided by the dark blue heart.

In this short life now, there will be some ups and downs, but the final result can be perfect for U!!

ONLY ONE IS NEEDED

The a-file has temporarily vanished on the left of the picture! Your fun challenge is to imagine exactly where a certain white piece should be located on the a-file so that White can deliver checkmate in one move, right now!

FOR ISABELLE, WHOSE FAVOURITE NUMBER IS 8

A student named Isabelle (with 8 letters in her first name) told me that 8 is her favourite number because her date of birth was 8.8.2008. Isabelle’s capital letter I has horizontal and vertical line symmetry.

Which one earlier capital letter of the English alphabet also has horizontal and vertical line symmetry?

A FUNNY ONE-LINER!

Who had the first tablet that could connect to the cloud…?

Moses!

PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

ONLY ONE IS NEEDED

White has an invisible bishop (or another queen!) on a3, and can deliver an immediate checkmate with 1 Qf6#, as the black e7-pawn is pinned!

FOR ISABELLE, WHOSE FAVOURITE NUMBER IS 8

As H is the 8th letter of the English alphabet, and Isabelle’s I is the 9th, let me say “HI!” and wish you all a very happy upcoming 9-letter HALLOWEEN!

As for the dates on the photos…that is another mystery and story for another time…

As it’s less than 9 weeks until Christmas, I’ll finish with this thought, picture & link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doVvr8txnRo Please enjoy a beautiful song via the link, 6mins 24secs.

Author: Paul A. Motwani

My name is Paul Motwani, but my colleagues, my students and their parents mostly call me "Mr. Mo"! My middle initial, A, stands for Anthony, because I was born on the official feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of miracles and of lost souls. I love teaching Mathematics and Chess, and giving fun-packed talks and shows in schools and clubs. The popular ingredients of Math, Chess, Mystery and Magic are my "Fantastic Four", and I give prizes too! I am an International Chess Grandmaster, and (loooooong ago!) I was the World Under-17 Champion. I am the author of five published chess books and hundreds of newspaper articles. I live with my wonderful wife and son in Belgium. I also love music, movies and puzzles. I blog at paulmotwani.com. My e-mail address is pmotwani141@gmail.com. You can find me on Facebook, too. View all posts by Paul A. Motwani