MT 007.02 / SL 266.01
Ideas in Mathematics: The Grammar of Numbers

Suppose that bells are tolled 9 times for a man, and 6 times for a woman.
1. Which numbers under 100 can occur as bell tolls?
2. Call a number ambiguous if it can be interpreted in two or more ways. The number 18 is ambiguous, because it can be interpreted as indicating the death of either 3 women or 2 men. Which numbers under 100 are ambiguous?

   Now suppose that bells are tolled 9 times for a man, and 7 times for a woman.

3. Which numbers under 100 can occur as bell tolls?
4. Can you show that every number above 100 can occur as some combination of male and female deaths?
5. Which numbers under 100 are ambiguous?