Book:Journal/The Ladies' Diary

The Ladies' Diary, or Woman's Almanac

Publisher: John Tipper

Dates

Started publication: $1704$

Ended publication: $1841$

Featured Articles

$1707$: Money Counting Problem

In how long a time would a million of millions of money be in counting,

supposing one hundred pounds to be counted every minute without intermission,

and the year to consist of $365$ days, $5$ hours, $45$ minutes?

Ratios of Ages of Groom to Bride

A person remarked that upon his wedding day the proportion of his own age to that of his bride was $3$ to $1$,

but $15$ years afterwards the proportion of their ages was $2$ to $1$.

What were their ages upon the day of their marriage?

Age Problem

If to my age there added be,

One half, one third, and three times three,

Six score and ten the sum you'll see,

Pray find out what my age will be.

Ratios of Ages of Groom to Bride

A person remarked that upon his wedding day the proportion of his own age to that of his bride was $3$ to $1$,

but $15$ years afterwards the proportion of their ages was $2$ to $1$.

What were their ages upon the day of their marriage?

Largest Cylinder from given Cone

From a given (right circular) cone to cut the greatest cylinder possible.

Lowest Common Multiple of 1 to 9

What is the least number which will divide by the nine digits without leaving a remainder?

Dutchmen's Three Wives

There came $3$ dutchmen of my acquaintance to see me, being lately married;

they brought their wives with them.

The men's names were Hendrick, Claas, and Cornelius;

the women's Geertrick, Catriin, and Anna;

but I forget the name of each man's wife.

They told me that they had been at market, to buy hogs;

each person bought as many hogs as they gave shillings for each hog;

Hendrick bought $23$ hogs more than Catriin,

and Claas bought $11$ more than Geertrick;

likewise, each man laid out $3$ guineas more than his wife.

I desire to know the name of each man's wife.

Hour and Minute Hand in Straight Line

"Being at so large a distance from the dial-plate of a great clock, that I could not distinguish the figures;

but as the hour and minute hands were very bright and glaring,"

the correspondent noted that they were in a straight line and pointing upwards to the right.

It was evening.

What was the time?

Historical Note

Started life as a women's interest magazine, but evolved into a magazine of riddles, puzzles and mathematical questions.

In its later years, many of the questions published therein were difficult, and attracted the attention of high-profile mathematicians of the time.

Many questions it published were ancient. For example:

Question $42$ was a variant of Chiu Chang Suann Jing: Example 8.

Question $51$ was taken from Diophantus of Alexandria: Arithmetica Book $\text {V}$.

It was also frequently the case where the questions were taken directly from published sources, sometimes even mathematics textbooks.

Sources

• 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): The Ladies' Diary or Woman's Almanac, $\text {1704}$ – $\text {1841}$