I was reading a business magazine the other day and a comment in a story on recruitment caught my attention. While commenting on the demand for skilled workforce in the IT sector, the writers lamented that the shortage of trained professionals was so acute that companies were looking at mathematics graduates. The story went on to say that these graduates were not exactly the people who could do the job. The comment was an excellent example of knowledge (or lack of it) of mathematics that people have in this country. Little do the writers of this story or recruitment agencies know that the IT industry as a whole is built on achievements of mathematicians. While it is true that these people do not write thousands of lines of codes, they do know what are the underlying mathematical structures of the codes!

PUZZLE 1: Last Saturday, the mother of one of six sophomore friends mentioned that she had seen the girl’s history teacher, Mr Harthrob, and English instructor, Ms Luvlee, together at the movies. The teenager immediately used her cell phone to call one of her five friends, who then passed on the story to a third girl, etc. until the sixth heard the news that the two teachers were going around. Each of the six girls, including Erica, was doing something when the cell phone conversation(s) took place, with one just having finished a soccer practice at the high school. Given the records below, can you solve the Logic Puzzle of the order in which the girls heard it through the cell phone grapevine: each friend’s full name and where she was when she passed on and/or heard about the teachers?

Lisa called the South girl.

The girl who was at the Moonlight Skating Rink interrupted her lutzes and spins long enough to pass the news to Miss Nokia.

While Alicia listened to her cell phone call about the news, she could hear water splashing: the friend calling her was in the bathtub at the time.

Cerise’s grapevine call went to a girl who was trying on clothes at the Express store at Summerset Mall.

Three of the six friends are the Alexander girl, the girl who was at Pizza Hut, and the one who was riding through the Sparkle Car Wash.

The cell phone call the Graham girl made didn’t go to her friend Lisa.

Dawn relayed the tale of the teachers to Faith.

Miss Bell isn’t the one who was having her car washed at the time she was on the telephone.

Cerise and Miss South think Mr Harthrob is the best teacher at Summerset High.

Alicia wasn’t at either the Express store or the skating rink.

Faith didn’t call Lisa during the series of conversations.

Dawn and the Nokia girl have Sprint PCS wireless service.

The girl who was at the Express store called the Graham girl from one of the dressing rooms.

Lisa wasn’t in the tub when she made her cell phone call.

Neither Bell nor the Linesman girl is Alicia.

The Linesman girl didn’t call from the car wash or the Pizza Hut.

Please mail your entries to knowhow@abpmail.com within 10 days.

PUZZLE CRACKED

The response this week (July 10) was great. Sorry for not being able to carry the names.

Solution: The country rock band Fillmore Dirigible will be the opening act at five major concerts, each starring a different country music group. The solution is as follows: Mississippi Mudhowlers will be performing on August 3 at the Copa Club in Collegetown.

Blue Boys will be performing on August 10 at the Desert Amphitheatre in Ramona.

Ann Leigh Rhymes will be performing on August 17 at The Marquee in La Vista.

Alan Jefferson will be performing on August 24 Hard Hearted Hannah’s in Ocean City.

Gareth Rivers will be performing on August 31 at Independence Hall in Beechview.