Ruminants and ungulates graze on the bucolic Pampas
After winning giga-bucks on Scratchers, a mathematician buys land and turns agronomist. Layla’s land is on the Argentine Pampas where the growing season is essentially unabated. Given her affection for the bovine and the ovine, Layla raises cows and sheep.
Experimenting, she put 65 cows and 25 sheep in a one-section (260 hectares) pasture. In 24 days, the cows and sheep had exhausted the pasture.
Next, she put 27 cows and 15 sheep in an identical one-section (640 acres) pasture. In 60 days, the cows and sheep grazed this pasture to exhaustion.
Then, she put 16 cows and 20 sheep in an identical one-section (2.6 km 2) pasture. In 96 days, it was no surprise that the cows and sheep exhausted the grass in this pasture.
Then a precipitous decline in beef prices resulted in Layla going with sheep only.
Find the maximum sheep n that Layla could put in a one-section pasture without exhausting it.
Send your correct answer to [email protected] for a chance to win a Tucker’s gift card.
Last week’s winner was Doug Bailey from Georgia with amplitude = 2.43681793 units.
(Author’s note: No greenhouse gases were emitted by animals intrinsic to this puzzle.)
Jeff Smith is a former Math teacher and a retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander. Reach him at [email protected].
