Click the cover to order your copy!
Illustrated by Philip Reeve

Easy Questions Evil Answers

Suitable for ages 9 upwards

Have you got a question bothering you that seems nice and easy, and yet nobody will give you an answer? It's probably because even though the question might look easy, the answer is EVIL!

Don't worry. In this book Murderous Maths takes on the questions that nobody else dares to touch and we work out all the evil answers.

Along the way you'll...

  • join Blade Bocelli and the gangsters on Giant Spider Island
  • find out why Veronica Gumfloss has to hold her nose next to Pongo McWhiffy's hot air balloon
  • watch Riverboat Lil use birthdays to win money from Brett Shuffler
  • discover Earth's secret weapon for getting rid of unwanted aliens
  • hear about the mysterious and random February the 30th
  • ... and discover a number that's too big to fit in the universe!

Don't forget to click the EXTRA links for more details that we didn't have room for in the books!

CONTENTS and most of the questions!

The Suggestion Box

All the different Murderous Maths characters put their questions in a box, and the first one to be answered is Binkie Fogsworth's "How many different tunes can you play on a piano?" Even if you only have 4 different notes to choose from, and your tune is only 6 notes long, the answer is ... sixty four million!

Some Useful Stuff

These are the things you need to answer nearly every question in maths!

  • Arithmetricks
  • Formulas
  • p
  • Pytho Power
  • Devious Thinking
    The optional extra things you need to become a mathematician.
Plus there are a few optional extra things that will help you become a true utterly nutty pure mathematician!

Arithmetricks

Can I divide everybody in the world into football teams?
What is the easiest times table to learn?
Is there a times table that will multiply ANY two numbers?
What’s a square root?
How can you work out square roots without a calculator?

Formulas

What is p?

Pythagoras’ Theorem

What is it?
Why does it work?
How long is the slide on a helter skelter?

What is the smallest number of squares a big square can be divided into?

When does 9-11 = 10 ?

How far away is the horizon?

What is the horizon formula?
How do we work it out?
How far away is the horizon on the moon?

How fast does the moon move?

How often do we get a full moon?
How often is Once in a Blue moon?
Will we ever see a Green Moon? That depends on the Evil Gollarks!

The box would make flowers spring from the Great Rhun's footsteps and his shadow would glitter in the darkness - so why would he be foolish to buy it?
The Great Rhun and the Box of One Year’s Delight

Calendar Chaos!

When can I use my calendar again?
Why do we bother with leap years?
Was there ever a February 30th?
How often is there a 5th Sunday in February?
How often does Friday 13th occur?
Why do people think Friday 13th is unlucky?
How can I work out what weekday my birthday will be on this year?
How can I remember which months have 31 days?

What is the very smallest measurement…

… and what is the very biggest measurement?
How big is the universe?
How can I remember what a light year is?

How can you make a liar tell the truth?

How far does a water current make you drift off course?

What is the biggest shape you can put a fence around?

Oh no...look who can work your bath taps by remote control!
What area of circle can you make with 100m of fence?

How many snaps does it take to break up a chocolate bar?

How many chops do you need to divide a chocolate cube?
How many different nets of a cube are there?
What is the biggest hole you can cut in a cube?
How big is a 1 tonne dice made of solid gold?
How many ways can you mix up a Rubiks cube?

If you want to break either of these bars into 12 pieces, it takes exactly 11 snaps! That's because each snap produces one more piece. You start with one piece and after 11 snaps you've got 1 + 11 = 12. See more about it here:
EXTRA - The Age by Chocolate trick!

THE PRINTING ERROR!
Oops.... some of the early prints of this book have a mistake!

On page 107, the chances of throwing four dice, all different should be 60/216 = 27.7%.

Thanks to ROLAND KENSDALE for spotting this and telling us!

Did Dolly Diddle the Dodgy Diamonds?

Why can't you get a giant people-eating spider?

What's that nasty thing in the basement?
What is the smallest number of weights you need for a set of balance scales?
Will the bath overflow with both taps on and the plug out?

How many people in the world share your birthday?

Pongo shows there's more than one way
to blow up a hot air balloon.
What are the chances of sharing your bithday with your mum… …and your granny?
What are the chances that 365 strangers have different birthdays?
What’s easier - throwing dice to all land the same or all differently?

EXTRA - What are the chances of 366 strangers all having a different birthday?

The Shortest Link

How long is the diagonal of a square?
What is the shortest way to connect the corners of a square?
Is there a very strange way of proving this by using bubbles?

A lot of hot air

How many blows would it take to blow up a hot air balloon?
How long would it take?
How many pant rattlers does it take to blow up a hot air balloon?

How do you make a perfect kite shape quickly?

What is the biggest number?

How long does it really take to count to one million?
Is there an easy way to write down big numbers?
What does 2•3781 E9 on my calculator screen mean?
What are a billion, a trillion and a quadrillion like?
What’s after a quadrillion?
What is the most famous number to hold the World Record for being the biggest answer to a problem?
So what was the problem?

The Curry Burger Problem

How high is a kite?

Could one giant sneeze blast the Earth out of orbit?

The Mysterious Handcuffs

How can you link handcuffs without breaking them?
How can handcuffs pass through a solid mug handle?

Some unexpectedly evil football sums

What’s the best place to score a goal from the touchline?
How many matches does a knock-out competition need?
How many footballs can you fit in a swimming pool?
How do you work out the volume of a football?
How can you measure the volume of a football?

How much of Archimedes bathwater is in every litre you drink?

Goodbye!

EXTRA - A bit of CALCULUS!
It's the chapter we didn't have room for!

The Pure Mathematicians are about to drink about
10 million molecules of Archimedes bathwater!


Go THIS way Go THAT way

LINKS:

The Murderous Maths Bookshop

The Murderous Maths Books

Murderous Maths Main Index Page

And of course no Murderous Maths book would ever be complete without the Evil Gollarks from the Planet Zog!

See how they get on with raiding the moon Lunagoll and outwitting the Ploogs, wiring up a defence system, connecting a power supply, and finally deciding it's easier to attack Earth instead.

It's a shame they don't know about our secret weapon, which is not to be sniffed at!