H E L L O
my name is
Dr. Shapiro's Puzzle of the Day

Today's Puzzle

Wednesday, January 20
What data are represented in this dotplot? Each dot represents a single occurrence, and the dataset is complete (to date).

BONUS: Identify the people associated with the smallest and largest values (which are 31 and 4452).

   


     Note: Clicking "Submit" will send your response to Dr. Shapiro.

Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution

Can you name the 11 pictured items by using every letter of the alphabet exactly once? Each name has 2 or 3 letters.

Solution From top to bottom: CD, FM, sí, QR, LG, key, PB/J, Han, Oz, tux, VW.

Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Charlie, Ena, Peter V., Jacob C., Maddy, Yana, Hazel, Dr. Yetman, and the Greggs. Thanks to everybody who made a guess!

About This Site

Though he now teaches mathematics, Dr. (né Mr.) Shapiro's first job in a K–12 school was as a lunch monitor in Davis, CA. It was there that he originated the Puzzle of the Day, even rewarding correct answers with tickets in denominations like "15 points" (though without a clear idea of how he'd ultimately redeem these). Dr. Shapiro's favorite puzzle from this pre-professional era was "Tell me the location of the beehive on this campus."

Ten years later, Dr. Shapiro revived Puzzle of the Day at Proof School, writing each day's puzzle on a name tag. After 600 puzzles or so, he was just starting to feel normal about students reading his chest all the time when campus closed and the puzzle, like the rest of our lives, moved online. New puzzles are posted daily on school days.

Want to catch up on old PotDs? There's an archive currently containing puzzles from March to December 2020.