Any Questions?
Fridays, 6:25 p.m. on Northeast Report Late Edition
- Hosted by Ian Pickus
- Local Host Mike Nothnagel and Ian Pickus
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty. Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
Last week's challenge: Start with a common chemical symbol. Add three letters and you can spell the namesake of a famous paradox. Drop the last letter from that name and add two new letters and you can spell the namesake of a famous principle. What are the words?
Answer: Fe, Fermi, Fermat.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: MORE MATH PROBLEMS
On-air questions: Last summer, you brought questions for which the answers could all be found in a particular word and then the following week I returned the favor by asking you similar questions but with a different word. Well, after what you put me through on last week’s show, I’ve decided to return the favor once again and bring five math problems for you to solve.
1. If you add the number of the catch in the title a Joseph Heller novel to the number of gables the house has in the title of a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, what number do you then have to add to get the number of days in the title of a novel by Jules Verne?
2. If you subtract Jackie Robinson’s most famous jersey number from Wayne Gretzky’s most famous jersey number, what number do you then have to subtract to get Michael Jordan’s most famous jersey number?
3. If you add the number of Great Lakes that New York borders to the number of Canadian provinces it borders, what number do you then have to add to get the number of U.S. states that it borders?
4. If you add the number of miles that the Byrds were high in their song to the age that Stevie Nicks was on the edge of in her song, what number do you need to multiply it by to get the number of ways to leave your lover according to Paul Simon in his song?
Extra credit1. If you multiply the number of samurai in the title of a 1954 film by the number of candles in the title of a 1984 film, what number do you then have to subtract to get the number of dalmatians in the title of a 1961 film?
2. If you subtract the number of dice you use to play Yahtzee from the number of cards each person is dealt in a hand of bridge, what number do you then need to add to get the number of pawns each player starts with in a game of chess?
This week's challenge: Start with the phrase NUMBER, PLEASE. Change one letter to an S and you can rearrange the result to spell a seven-letter word for something a cat often seeks out and a five-letter word for what they might do in it. What are the words?
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty.
Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
