Mind Matters News is pleased to offer a new series, “Monday Micro Softies,” from our director, Robert J. Marks — a series of puzzles that illustrate the ways of thinking needed in the computer industry today. – Eds.

The solution to last week’s Micro Softy turns on baseball (did you guess?). That answer is below but first, here’s a new baseball Micro Softy:

Baseball player Babe had a batting average of 800 in April and 300 in May. Mickey’s batting average was lower in both months, namely 500 in April and 200 in May. These results are summarized in the table:

Babe performed better than Mickey in both April and May. Do these results mean that Babe is a better player than Mickey for the combined months of April and May?  The answer is: not always.  

The batting average is the ratio of hits divided by the number of at-bats. See if you can give detailed example statistics to show why it might not be clear.  Watch for more on this here next Monday.

Solution to Micro Softy 6: Bad Adding?

Last Monday, we saw that Claude’s son Clay had added three numbers:

2.2 + 4.1 + 2.0 = 9.0.

At first Clay thought the boy’s answer must be wrong but when his son put on a baseball cap, he realized that it was a baseball problem and the figures were likely correct.

Each number represents “innings pitched” (IP).  There are three outs in an inning, so 4.1 means there were four and one third innings pitched. Then, for example, 2.2 + 4.1 = 7 full three out innings. This is standard notation in baseball statistics.

A subtle hint is that the number after the equals sign is 9, equal to the number of innings in a baseball game.

Here are the Micro Softies from earlier Mondays, to date. The answer to one Monday’s puzzle is always given the next Monday:

Monday Micro Softy 1: Microsoft: What did you need to work there in the early days? They asked questions that were not about the details of computer technology. The questions made you think. Hard. For example, they would ask questions like, why are manhole covers round? Also, here’s the Round Trip puzzle.

Monday Micro Softy 2: The Dead Presidents’ Club The answer to Monday Micro Softy 1: The Round Trip puzzle is here too. Today’s puzzle: How would a girl who knew nothing of American history immediately know the name of at least one of three early Presidents who died on July 4?

Monday Micro Softy 3: The Wolverton Mountain Puzzle Here’s the answer to Dead President’s Club as well — and smart STEM people often DON’T get that one right. Today’s brain teaser is in honor of Claude King, Clifton Clowers, and Wolverton Mountain. It’s not high tech but it will surely test your thinking abilities.

Monday Micro Softy 4: Claude King bests Clifton Clowers Clowers offers Claude two slips of paper to choose from on a blind choice: marriage or death… Claude’s sweetheart Chloe warns him that, in reality, both slips say “death.” He says never mind. So how did he escape death and marry her?

Monday Micro Softy 5: The puzzle of Claude and Chloe’s two kids Puzzle: We learn that one of Claude and Chloe’s two children is a boy. With a 50–50 ratio, what chance is there that the other child is a boy too? Also, here’s the answer to the puzzle of how, twelve years earlier, Claude escaped the trap Clifton Clowers set for him, so he could marry Chloe.

Monday Micro Softy 6: Bad Adding? It looked to Claude like young Clay’s numbers didn’t add up but the boy seemed confident. What did he know that his father at first didn’t? And here’s the answer to the probability question: What are the chances that Claude and Chloe’s younger child is also a boy?