_To write the answer of an addition sum, when only one line has been
written._
73468
52174 } pair
47825 }
69341 } pair
30658 }
------
273466
======
Tell a person to write down a row of figures. Now, this row will
constitute the main body of the answer. Tell him to write another
row beneath it; you now write a row also, matching his second row in
pairs of 9’s he writes one more row, and you again supply another in
the same manner. Your addition sum will now consist of five lines,
four of which are paired; the first line, or _key_ line, being the
answer to the sum.
From the unit figure in the _key_ line deduct the number of pairs of
9’s--in this instance two--and place the remainder, 6, as the unit
figure of the answer, then write in order the rest of the figures
in the _key_ line, annexing the 2 to the extreme left; this will
constitute the complete answer.
It, of course, is not necessary to adhere to two pairs of 9’s; there
may be three, four, or even more; but the total number of lines,
including the _key_ line, must be _odd_, and the number of pairs must
be deducted from the unit figure of the _key_ line, and this same
number be written down at the extreme left. The number of figures in
each line should always be the same. As the location of the _key_
line may be changed if necessary, the artifice could not easily be
detected.
Punctuation was first used in literature in the year 1520. Before that
time wordsandsentenceswereputtogetherlikethis.
13. Smith and Brown meet a dairymaid with a pail containing milk.
Smith maintains that it is exactly half full; Brown that it is not.
The result is a wager. They have no instrument of any kind, nor can
they procure one by means of which to decide the wager; nevertheless
they manage to find out accurately, and without assistance, whether
the pail is half-full or not. How is it done?--It should be added
that the pail is true in every direction.
[Illustration]