June 2020 – Paul Motwani

Dear Readers,

Today, my family has been busily and happily congratulating my son’s lovely girlfriend on turning 22. My personal message included the following sneaky fun surprise…

Pick any three-digit whole number which has three different digits from 1 to 9 (e.g. 236)
Write down all the two-digit whole numbers that can be made from your chosen three-digit number without repeating digits in the same number (e.g. 23, 26, 32, 36, 62, 63)
Add up all your two-digit numbers (e.g. 23+26+32+36+62+63=242)
Divide your total by the total of the digits in your chosen three-digit number (e.g. 242/(2+3+6)=242/11=22 for the birthday celebration today!)

Continue reading “Blog Post #70: Back to the 70’s!”

Dear Readers,

I consider myself to be a much more natural Maths teacher than chess player, and since I also believe that teaching is a more important part of my vocation, nowadays I invest a lot of time working to do the best job I can to help the Maths students at a beautiful music school where I have been for almost two years, so far. Still, it’s really nice to witness some of the students enjoying playing a bit of chess, during part of their lunch break for instance. One or two colleagues have been joining in the good fun, too, and hopefully more will follow soon! In the meantime, thanks to Christophe Gillain for the photo below with the giant pieces!

Continue reading “Blog Post #69: Enjoying Chess!”