Tuesday Tangle: Sing a Song of Sixpence... er, Six Dollars

Gentle Reader,

Welcome to the first Tuesday Tangle of the year!

What is Tuesday Tangle?

The Tangles were prompted by some sad news: a friend's father was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Syndrome. Alzheimer’s is a form of senile dementia, which affects about 26 million people sufferers world-wide. At present it is incurable; however, it is possible to decrease your chance of being affected. The key is keeping your mind active throughout your life, whether by trying new experiences, learning a second language, reading widely, travel, and anything else which challenges the grey matter.

With this is mind, I decided I’d start the Tuesday Tangle: every Tuesday, I will post a logical brain-teaser. On Wednesday I will post the correct answer (with an explanation of how to get there). In this small way I hope to stimulate your grey matter... or at least help you to procrastinate from writing :)

This Tuesday’s Tangle:

Selene Deon is a budding songstress in the town of Erewhon. Last December she put on two concerts in the Erewhon town hall.

The first concert, on Saturday, had a ticket price of $10 for the first three rows, and a ticket price of $6 for every other seat.

The Saturday concert was a sell-out, and the takings were $2040 for the night.

Being a bit of a diva, Selene decided to raise the ticket prices for the second concert, on Sunday. This time, the first four rows were charged at $10 per ticket. Every other seat was $6.

Again, every seat sold. Sunday’s takings were $2120.

If all the rows had exactly the same amount of seats, can you work out how many seats there were in the Erewhon town hall?

Hint: (roll over this holding down the mouse button to reveal the Hint) first work out the difference in takings from Saturday to Sunday. This extra money must represent the ticket price increase, which we know equals $4 extra, for every seat in the fourth row. The ticket prices in all the other rows remained the same.

So, Gentle Reader, throw on that fancy thinking cap! The answer (and how to work it out) will be published tomorrow.

Feeling like a Bear Of Very Little Brain,

Charlotte xxx