Quiz Winners 

Previous winners

Winner of the January 2003 Quiz: General knowledge Competition
Winner of the February 2003 Quiz: Logical reasoning skills Competition
Winner of the March 2003 Quiz: Mathematical & Logical reasoning skills Competition
Winner of the April 2003 Quiz: Observation skills Competition
Winner of the May 2003 Quiz: Vocabulary and mathematical skills. 
Winner of the June 2003 Quiz: Mathematical skills. 
Winner of the July 2003 Quiz: Language skills. 
Winner of the August 2003 Quiz: Mathematical and logical reasoning skills. 
Winner of the September 2003 Quiz: English language skills. 
Winner of the October 2003 Quiz: Science skills. 
Winner of the November 2003 Quiz: Mathematical skills.
Winner of the December 2003 & January 2004 Quiz: English language skills. 
Winner of the February 2004 Quiz: Creative thinking skills. 
Winner of the March - June 2004 Quiz: Creative thinking skills. 

January - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Arun Sivakumar) Reply 

The January quiz was about an inventor. 

Over the past centuries we’ve had many great inventors.  During the late 19th century many great scientists started to blossom and the world was met with spectacular inventions.  Alexander Graham Bell is still one of the most famous inventors to this date, and his inventions in the late 19th century had a great impact on society ever since.   

A pioneer in the field of telecommunications, Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He moved to Ontario, and then to the United States, settling in Boston, before beginning his career as an inventor.  Throughout his life, Bell had been interested in the education of deaf people.  This interest lead him to invent the microphone and, in 1876, his "electrical speech machine," which is now known as something else which we use commonly in our day to day life.  News of his invention quickly spread throughout the country, even throughout Europe. 

The question was: 

What is Bell’s “electric speech machine” which is used globally, now known as? 

The correct answer is “telephone”.

February - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (William Chen) Reply

An optical illusion is a visually perceived image that is deceptive or misleading.  Often optical illusions are created because there is more than one way of looking at the image.  It is an optical phenomenon that results in false visual impressions.  Below is an optical illusion.  Can you make out the image or images the artist has drawn?  Or will you be fooled by an optical illusion?

 William’s answer was “a head and a person”.

March - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Jamie Sun) Reply

This month’s quiz was about mathematics.  

Consider a road with two cars, at a distance of 100 kilometers, driving towards each other. The left car drives at a speed of forty kilometers per hour and the right car at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour. A bird starts at the same location as the right car and flies at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. When it reaches the left car it turns its direction, and when it reaches the right car it turns its direction again to the opposite, etc.  The bird flies at the same speed all the time.

What is the total distance that the bird has traveled at the moment that the two cars have reached each other? 

Jamie Sun’s reply was 80km.  You can see that two cars meet after 1 hour.  Therefore, the bird travels 80km in hour.

April - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Erin Xu’s) Reply

 This month’s quiz was about observations. 

 How many black dots can you find in this image? You probably noticed some black dots appearing - at the location where white bars cross - when your eyes scanned the image.

Erin Xu’s reply was  “There are no black dots - it's an optical illusion”.  

May Quiz and 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Evan Tran’s) Reply

Check whether you can identify the location and the orientation of the words described by the following phrases in the above word puzzle. 

1.       One of the continents

2.       One of the organs in the body which is responsible for circulation of blood

3.       Institution for educating children

4.       A person who gives medical treatment

5.       A device that plays instrumental accompaniments for a selection of songs to which one can sings along

 The location of the word can be described by giving the reference to the first letter in the 8 x 8 square grid.  For example, answer to the item 5 is “karaoke”.  Its first letter is “K”.  You give the location of the first letter as “4 squares horizontal and 2 squares vertical”.  The direction of the word can be described as “North” because it goes vertically up ward.  This is represented as (4,2,N).  Using this convention give the answers for the location and the direction of the words described in the above word puzzle.  The directions can be North (N), South (S), West (W), East (E), North-East (NE), South-East (SE), South-West (SW) or North-West (NW).  

Evan Tran’s reply was: 

 June - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Kevin Lin’s) Reply

June Quiz:

Rebuild the correct mathematical equations in this challenging math puzzle by placing the incorrectly placed numbers into their correct positions.  You must use all the numbers appear in the boxes. 

Hint:  You may leave the numbers in green colour at the same locations.

 What are the values of A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H?

Kevin Lin’s reply was: 

July - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Stephanie Lee) Reply

The July quiz was about proverbs.  The completed proverbs by Stephanie are given below.

 1.  A bad penny always turns up.

2.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

3.  A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

4.  A fool and his money are soon parted.

5.  A friend in need is a friend indeed.

6.  A man is known by his friends.

7.  A rolling stone gathers no moss.

8.  A stitch in time saves nine.

9.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

10.  Actions speak louder than words.   

August - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Jeremy Joe's) Reply

 The August quiz was on mathematics. 

The task was to crack the mystery code to discover the missing letter in the following Number Puzzle.

Hints: 

• The letters A to Z are valued 1 to 26 respectively.
• Draw each set again with alphabetical letters replaced by the corresponding numbers.
• Try to establish the relationship between numbers in each set

The task was to find the missing letter. 

The letters A to Z are valued 1 to 26 respectively.  In each set, the sum of the top two numbers divided by the difference between the bottom two numbers equals the value of the middle letter.

So the mystery letter is K (11). 

September - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Ashwini Thirukumaran's) Reply 

The September quiz was on idioms.

The English language is full of idioms. Idioms are phrases, which are a key part of the language of daily life.

"To stick your neck out" is to say or do something that is bold and a bit dangerous. A similar idiom that is used for slightly more dangerous situations is to "go out on a limb." In both idioms, the idea is that you put yourself in a vulnerable position.

To break the ice is to be the first one to say or do something, with the expectation that others will then follow. Another idiom that means something similar is "get the ball rolling". 

"To get long in the tooth" means to get old. The expression was originally used when referring to horses since gums recede with age. So the longer the teeth a horse has, the older it is said to be. 

Now it is your chance. 

It was requested to choose an idiom to replace the expression in the brackets.  The correct answers are marked in red colour.

1. The price of computer chips (collapsed) after the sales of personal computers began to decrease.

     (a) took a nosedive (b) turned over (c) bottomed out (d) carried the day

2. The insurance company (cancelled) the debts from the flood damage.

     (a) wrote off (b) worked out (c) took over (d) paid off

3. We tried to decide on a (rough estimate) for the cost of new computer printers for the company.

(a)   budget crunch (b) number-cruncher (c) ball park figure (d) sweetheart deal

4. (Someone will be punished) if we don't quickly deal with the poor sales of our product.

     (a) Someone will fill the bill (b) Someone will get a break (c) Someone will deliver the goods (d) Heads will roll

5. The steel company finally went bankrupt after being (burdened with losses) for many years.

(a)   jacked up (b) on the block (c) saddled with debt (d) paid off

October - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Korin Seng’s) Reply

This month's quiz is about gases.

Gases appear to us as material of very low density that must be enclosed to keep together. Unlike solids, gases have no definite shape. Unlike liquids, gases have no definite volume, but they completely fill a container. The volume of the container is the volume of the gas in it. A gas exerts a pressure on all sides of the container that holds it. Gas can be compressed by pressures greater than the pressure the gas on its container. The words vapor, fume, air, or miasma also describes a gas. Air describes the common mixture of gases in the atmosphere. A miasma is usually a bad-smelling or poisonous gas. The words vapor and fume suggest that the gas came from a particular liquid.

In the gaseous state matter is made of particles (atoms or molecules) that are not attached to each other. The particles of a gas have too much thermal energy to stay attached to each other.

Some gases are known as Nobel Gases. The Noble Gases are nonmetals that include Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe), and Radon (Rn). The Nobel Gases are very stable - they do not react readily with other elements. The Nobel Gases are found as gases at room temperature. The lighting industry is the biggest user of noble gases.

· Xenon and krypton are used in high-powered lights, such as those used in lighthouses. · Fluorescent tubes use a mixture of argon and krypton. · Neon is best known for its use in display tubes and signs. Continuous lasers used in applications such as bar-code readers are filled with neon, or neon and helium. · Krypton lasers have found a niche in eye surgery. · Helium and xenon are used in medical imaging.

The task was to find correct answers for the following.  The correct answers submitted by Korin are highlighted in red.

1. Which gas in the atmosphere saves us from the UV rays of the sun? 
(a) Nitrogen 
(b) Hydrogen 
(c) Ozone 
(d) Carbon Monoxide

2. Which of the following is NOT a noble gas? 
(a) Helium 
(b) Hydrogen 
(c) Argon 
(d) Krypton

3. Which of the following is necessary for a substance to burn? 
(a) Hydrogen 
(b) Gasoline 
(c) Oxygen 
(d) Light

4. Carbon dioxide is lighter than air. 
(a) True 
(b) False  

November - 2003 Quiz and the Winner's (Vidya Pathak’s) Reply

The quiz of this month was about numbers.  The task was to solve the following mathematical puzzle. 

Each of the six boats in a race has one of these four-digit numbers on its sail.  

6347           8356           5744

9123           8162           1287

• The boat with the highest number on its sail finished last.

• The sum of the digits on the first two boats was the same.

• The numbers on the boats in 2nd and 3rd place both ended with an odd digit.

• The boats in 3rd and 5th place had all but one of the same digits, but in different order.

From first place to last, in what order did they cross the finish line?  Write the numbers on the sails in the correct order.

The correct answer is:

First : 5744

Second : 6347

Third : 1287

Fourth : 8356

Fifth : 8162

Sixth : 9123  

December-2003 & January 2004 Quiz and the  Correct Answer

 Because many of the students are having a fun time during the month of December, we gave two month period for this quiz.  The quiz was about adjectives.

Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in a sentence or a phrase.  The Articles — a, an, and the — are adjectives.

·         the tall professor

·         the lugubrious lieutenant

·         a solid commitment

·         a month's pay

·         a six-year-old child

·         the unhappiest, richest man

 The question was to select the adjectives in the following paragraph.  The correct answers are marked in purple colour.

 He remembered yet the East India Tea House at the Fair, the sandalwood, the turbans, and the robes, the cool interior and the smell of India tea; and he had felt now the nostalgic thrill of dew-wet mornings in Spring, the cherry scent, the cool clarion earth, the wet loaminess of the garden, the pungent breakfast smells and the floating snow of blossoms. He knew the inchoate sharp excitement of hot dandelions in young earth; in July, of watermelons bedded in sweet hay, inside a farmer's covered wagon; of cantaloupe and crated peaches; and the scent of orange rind, bitter-sweet, before a fire of coals.  

February 2004 Quiz and the Winner's (Paruna Attawar) Reply

Everyone knows that playing with and solving brainteaser puzzles is a wonderful way to promote creative thinking and exercise problem solving skills. In the broadest sense, of course puzzles are educational. 

Six discs, numbered from 1 to 6, are arranged in the following manner, so that the discs 4, 5 and 6 are at the base, discs 2 and 3 at the middle and disc 1 is at the top.  Hence, sum of the numbers along the sides of the triangle, drawn through the centers of each disc, are as follows. 

1 + 2 + 4 = 7

4 + 5 +6 = 15

1 + 3 +6 = 10

Re arrange the position of those discs, so that the sum of the numbers in each straight line of the triangle gives the same result.  Write the numbers of the discs at the top, middle and at the base from left to write. 

There are 4 possible answers for this question, which are given below.  

March - June - 2004 Quiz and the Winner's (Arjun Murthy) Reply 

The question was to test the logical reasoning skills. 

NASA received three messages in a strange language from a distant planet. The scientists studied the messages and found that "Necor Buldon Slock" means "Danger Rocket Explosion" and "Edwan Mynor Necor" means "Danger Spaceship Fire" and "Buldon Gimilzor Gondor" means "Bad Gas Explosion". What does "Slock" mean? 

The correct answer is “Rocket”.

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