ABSTRACT
This is a fun chapter involving equations and moving coins, but that is not to say that such problems are easy. In fact, many of the solutions are almost like jokes and the answers can make people laugh out loud. Most solutions are quite lateral, for example using tricks like turning the number II into a + sign. There is no limit to the ingenuity that can be used – Roman numerals, spelling out numbers and many other tricks. These problems and puzzles make excellent party games and sometimes the youngest person present can come up with a devastatingly lateral solution.
Care needs to be taken with matches of course and spent ones are the best, but cocktail sticks can also be used as a substitute.
Problems with moving coins can also be used as party games and here it is advisable to use real coins of the same size which can afterwards be given as prizes to successful solvers. This is very tactile mathematics, actually touching the mathematical objects being considered. And of course these problems are very suitable for experimentation – MIAES!
