A genie who lived in a large shiny golden oil lamp served his master by performing miraculous tasks. Before the genie would carry out a request he asked his master a question that had to be answered correctly. One day the genie posed this problem: “This lamp can hold enough oil to fill granid silver bottles. Each bottle can hold enough to fill ozvik golden goblets and each goblet can hold enough to fill vaswik crystal spoons. Each day a spoonful was used to perfume the bath of a beautiful princess. For how many days did the whole jar last?” The genie’s master replied: “Five hundred and ninety five days.” Immediately after the answer was given the genie flew off to do his master’s bidding. What three numbers do the genie’s words “granid”, “ozvik” and “vaswik’ stand for?

There are many other puzzles available on the NRICH website www.nrich.maths.org The NRICH Maths Project provides a free monthly magazine containing articles, problems, puzzles, games and challenges suitable for all ages. It provides resources for maths clubs, home users and teachers.

Solution on page 30