Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes/Problems/14 - De Bove
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Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes by Alcuin of York: Problem $14$
- De Bove
- An ox
- An ox ploughs a field all day.
- How many hoofprints does he leave in the last furrow?
Solution
None.
Proof
Trick question.
As the ox walks, he pulls behind him a plough.
A plough turns over the earth as it works, thus obliterating all the hoofprints made by the ox.
$\blacksquare$
Sources
- c. 800: Alcuin of York: Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes ... (previous) ... (next)
- 1992: John Hadley/2 and David Singmaster: Problems to Sharpen the Young (Math. Gazette Vol. 76, no. 475: pp. 102 – 126) www.jstor.org/stable/3620384
- 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): 'Propositions to Sharpen Up the Young': $76$