So you've taken combinatorics? Well, let's see if you can count.
Most pop songs have 4 beats to the measure. You can count "1, 2, 3, 4" and stay on the beat. Try it on Beck's "E-Pro":
Some tunes have 3 beats per measure, like Shostakovich's "Waltz #2":
Then there are the oddballs, like Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" (the count is in the title):
Your challenge for today is to count some unusual rhythms. Some of these are alternating meters, meaning not all measures are the same length. For example, 3+2 would be alternating measures of 3 beats and 2 beats, in which case I would accept 3+2 or 5 as an answer. Happy counting!
(Nice and slow)
(You can do it)
(Uh oh)
(Help!)
(uhhhhhh)
(😱)
Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution
I pass this restaurant every time I walk over the Park Street Bridge from Alameda to Oakland. I've never eaten there, but I can tell what kind of food they serve from the sign. Can you? (In case you have trouble reading the text, it's "Dragon Rouge".)
Solution
Dragon Rouge is a Vietnamese restaurant. The shape making up the curve of the "D" on their sign is an outline of Viet Nam.
Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Trent, Maddy, Zach Z., Inca, Charlie, Yana, Dr. Hill, Kate, and Mr. Gregg. Thanks to everybody who made a guess!
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.
I pass this restaurant every time I walk over the Park Street Bridge from Alameda to Oakland. I've never eaten there, but I can tell what kind of food they serve from the sign. Can you? (In case you have trouble reading the text, it's "Dragon Rouge".)