Kabir Firaque

Journalist, puzzle setter, science writer | Puzzles Editor @htTweets | Recreational mathematics | Cinema | অসমীয়া I Assam Engineering College, batch of 1988-89

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Articles

Problematics | Home addresses

1 week ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

There are puzzles with unique solutions and puzzles that lead to multiple possible combinations. We had one of the latter kind only last week, and you solvers showed that only one of six given people could be assigned his profession with certainty. This week’s main puzzle is similar in the sense that you may not get the full combination of solutions, but some part of it can definitely be established. The puzzle also includes a truthful/liar element, which makes it additionally interesting.
Problematics | Who is the postman?

2 weeks ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

One of the most enduring puzzles from the English pioneer Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857-1930) involves six persons sharing three names. That is to say, two persons each share the same name. Clues are given about their profession, address etc, and the solver tries to establish the identity of one or more of the individuals. Later generations of puzzlers have used Dudeney’s template to create newer logic puzzles in the same mould.
Problematics | Chicken and egg - and duck too

3 weeks ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

Here at Problematics we usually aim for puzzles that are not the kind you would find in a textbook, but there are exceptions. Some puzzles that can be solved with textbook methods are still interesting because of the way they are packaged or because of their pedigree, with illustrious minds having dwelt on them at some point in history. A prime example of puzzles that are delightful because of both packaging and pedigree are the problems in Bhaskara’s Lilavati.
Problematics | Cat food

1 month ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

In the old days, any image of a cat lapping up milk from a saucer would mean a very happy image. But with the times doing what Bob Dylan says they are, we are told today that milk is generally not good for cats as most adults among them are lactose intolerant. In another departure from the old days when cats would share whatever humans themselves ate, we now have a thriving industry in pet food, much of it prepared exclusively for cats. Cans and cans of them.
HT Syndication: Problematics | Science meets art

1 month ago | htsyndication.com | Kabir Firaque

India, May 19 -- Albert Einstein played the violin. You probably knew that, but did you also know that Richard Feynman played bongo drums and Alexander Fleming was an artist who experimented with 'germ painting' using pigmented bacteria? Then there were polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin. It is common for ordinary folk, too, to pursue courses in the sciences and simultaneously showcase their talents in the arts.
Problematics | Science meets art

1 month ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

Albert Einstein played the violin. You probably knew that, but did you also know that Richard Feynman played bongo drums and Alexander Fleming was an artist who experimented with ‘germ painting’ using pigmented bacteria? Then there were polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin. It is common for ordinary folk, too, to pursue courses in the sciences and simultaneously showcase their talents in the arts.
How aircraft toilets work, and why they often clog together

1 month ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

Clogged lavatories have disrupted two of Air India’s international flights in the span of two months, drawing attention to how aircraft toilets operate. All but one of the toilets on a Boeing 777 (B777) from Chicago to Delhi became unusable in March, forcing the aircraft to return, and at least five toilets clogged on a B777 from Toronto to Delhi this month, forcing a diversion to Frankfurt. A B777 typically has 12 toilets, but why should so many clog simultaneously?
Problematics | World Cups with and before Virat Kohli

1 month ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

Those of us who have lived through both of India’s ODI World Cup victories will remember the joy of younger cricket fans who hadn’t been born yet in 1983 but were old enough to celebrate the victory in 2011. Some of us bragged to our younger colleagues that we had watched both triumphs live, even though that only meant television for most of us. But there are others who lived through both victories and showed no reaction, because sport does not enthuse them the way it enthuses others.
Problematics | Play the magician

1 month ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

Exactly 20 episodes ago, readers solved a card puzzle that I had found, as I mentioned at the time, among the works of the English puzzler Henry Dudeney. I felt it necessary to mention that just in case this week’s card puzzle sounds familiar. Indeed, there are similarities. In this puzzle, as in the last one, you are asked to count to 10 while you place a series of new cards on an exposed card. On both occasions, you count the court cards as 10.
Problematics | Wage hikes

2 months ago | hindustantimes.com | Kabir Firaque

In an age when social media influencers are seemingly earning loads of money, you will occasionally come across individuals who invested in education and are now wondering if they made the right choice. If that startled you, let me assure readers: Problematics is not venturing into career advice or any scholarly comparison between the relative merits of studying and influencing. The only reason for bringing this up is that such misgivings have a context in this week’s puzzle.