Dear Readers,
Today at Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium, there were wonderful, joyful celebrations in honour of one of the school’s co-founders, Leonid Kerbel, a world-class violinist who will turn 60 in a couple of days’ time on Sunday, 9 October.
As I am employed by Leonid and his wife, Hagit Hassid-Kerbel, as the school’s Mathematics teacher, I have enjoyed preparing some extra, fun surprises 😊
Start by writing down any proper three-digit whole number that you like (such as 134, for example).
Repeat your number to now get a six-digit number (e.g. 134134).
Divide by 7, the total number of letters in VIOLINS.
Next, divide by 11, the total number of letters in COMPOSITION.
Now divide by the three-digit number that you started with…
Your result should be Leonid’s personal favourite number, 13 😊
It’s also very fitting that 13 is the total number of letters in HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥
Here in Blog Post #134, the number 134 is calling out to say,
“(1+3) x (1+4) x three is nice to you from me!” ♥😊♥
What type of lovely little bird that loves to sing is hidden among the letters of LEONID KERBEL?
The one I’m thinking of is a ROBIN, also because the average length in centimetres of an adult European Robin is about 13, Leonid’s favourite number !
You can enjoy a short, delightful video of a robin singing via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrw9xPCFtYw
♥😊😊♥
Write down any two numbers which add up to Leonid’s favourite 13 (e.g. 6 & 7 or -1 & 14 or 1.5 & 11.5, for example).
Multiply your two numbers together, and we’ll call the result your Star Product *
Now look back to your two starting numbers (which added up to 13). Add on my favourite 3 to each of them (e.g. 6 & 7 or -1 & 14 or 1.5 & 11.5 will then become new numbers 9 & 10 or 2 & 17 or 4.5 & 14.5, for example).
Multiply your two new numbers together, and we’ll call the new result your Super Star Product **
From your Super Star Product **, subtract your earlier Star Product *
Now add on 52, the number of whole weeks in a year…
I’m hoping that your final result was a happy hundred, to wish Leonid & Hagit 100% joy throughout the whole year, and far beyond! ♥😊😊♥
Their first reactions to the unusual musical notes around the page border coming next might include shock, surprise, laughter,…,but they’re there for a happy reason, as you’ll discover in a few moments…
each of the rows, columns or main diagonals is exactly 60 for Leonid 😊.
The middle row is nice because, with just a wee extra touch of imagination,
we can see there 2018 and 2022 in honour of the year
when Musica Mundi School opened, and the current year that we’re still enjoying now ♥
The musical notes in the page border may seem to be the wrong way up,
but if we look again…they’re all like hands clapping and giving Leonid a standing ovation
for his daily jokes!! 😊
REEL LIKE BOND rearranges perfectly to give LEONID KERBEL !! 😊😊
Start with BELGIUM
Take away the Chinese name LIU
We now have BEGM
The positions of those letters within the English alphabet correspond to the numbers 2, 5, 7 and Leonid’s favourite 13 (for B, E, G & M, respectively)
Multiply together 2 x 5 x 7 x 13 and we get 910, nice for Leonid’s 9 October or 9/10 birthday! ♥😊♥
I am just a few months older than Leonid, but we were both born in the year 1962. Now I have a special brainteaser to offer about Leonid & myself, but I reckon that a very good number of my colleagues and students and other readers could well succeed in solving it. I’m always really pleased when people like to try the puzzles and send me in their best solutions. 😊
This puzzle is set many years into the future, but the thought is offered very happily with hope and faith. What age will Leonid be if I can say to him with both of us live at that future time, “The product of my age 13 years ago and my age 13 years from now, divided by your age now is equal to your age now”? (Note: the words “…your age now…” refer to Leonid’s age then, at the moment when I’m speaking to him.)
A remarkable detail about that brainteaser is that there’s actually only one unique, same solution no matter who’s speaking! In other words, I didn’t need to mention any birth year or specific people or relative ages of the people involved. That would certainly have made the brainteaser tougher, but the unique solution would not change at all!
Leonid & Hagit are happy that I run a Chess club in their school. So, let’s almost conclude this article with a neat chess puzzle ♥😊😊♥
In the meantime, I wish everyone lots of love, blessings and a very happy weekend ♥😊♥
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” James 1:17
Joke: What would Winnie the Pooh get by crossing Piglet with a violin?
Hamstrings!!
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions
In the birthday brainteaser, congratulations to Jens Van Steerteghem for finding the unique solution. The future conversation referred to in the puzzle would have to be occurring sometime between 13 June and 8 October in the year 2047, when I would be 85 years old, but Leonid would be 84; not turning 85 until 9 October 2047. (85 – 13) x (85 + 13) ÷ 84 = 84. That’s the only solution with positive whole numbers to the equation (y – 13)(y + 13) ÷ x = x.
Paul Motwani 