Benford’s Law is really quite amazing, at least at first glance: for a wide variety of kinds of data, about 30% of the numbers will begin with a 1, 17% with a 2, on down to just 5% beginning with a 9. Can you spot the fake list of populations of...

  This is the solution to Morris: Trial/Trual/Whatever.  Please look there before reading the solution. It turns out the right word is truel, first coined in 1954 by Martin Shubik. Jeff suggested that they might all choose not to shoot at each other...

I’m overdue to post a puzzle, but I’m momentarily tapped out. Here’s a curiosity in the meantime: You can provide a very good estimate of a conversion from miles to kilometers by choosing sequential Fibonacci numbers.  The conversion rate is 1.609344...

Mrs Smith has two children.  The eldest is a boy.  What is the chance that both are boys? Mrs Jones has two children.  One is a boy.  What is the chance that both are boys? Mrs Brown has two children.  One is a boy born on a Tuesday.  What is the...

When two men get up ridiculously early to fire pistols at each other we call it a duel. Personally I prefer to lie in. But what is the right term when three men skip breakfast to fire pistols at each other?   In a cold, misty field near the...