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Subj:.....Uncle
Sam's Fob Chain (S597)
From the book
"Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd"
Edited by Martin Gardner
From: Dover Publications in 1959
How many different
watch fob chains can be
made with the five
pieces?
I was shown a curious
fob chain the other day, patterned
after the old custom
of carrying a string of coins attached
to a watch.
This particular chain consisted of four coins
and the figure of
an eagle. The coins, as shown were
punched respectively
with five, four, three, and two holes,
so that the small
links which joined them together might
have been placed
differently, to furnish quite a variety
of patterns.
This feature of being
able to produce a series of fob
chains, each consisting
of a string of four coins connecting
the watch to the
pendant eagle, gives rise to quite a
discussion regarding
the number of possible arrangements
which can be made
from the five pieces without any two
being exactly similar.
What is your opinion? |
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