037 - The Journey of Abernathy Gould

"Let me tell you a story," says Jacki Renquist as she leads Kent Dockland through the Logidyne Labs complex. "This happened during my grandfather's time."

"The great explorer, Abernathy Gould, came to western edge of a vast desert. She had with her her eight stalwart companions. Each of the nine travellers was driving an all-terrain car capable of travelling forty miles to the gallon - which was also the capacity of their cars' petrol tanks."

"When they reached the western edge of the desert, every car had a full tank of petrol, and each car carried nine extra gallon tins of petrol (that being the largest number of tins a single car was capable of carrying)."

"Under Gould's leadership, the nine travellers set out in a straight line east across the desert with the aim of Gould travelling the furthest distance east that she could manage, in the hope of finding.... something. All nine travellers returned safely, along with their cars, to the western edge of the desert at the conclusion of the journey. No additional petrol was acquired during the journey, no petrol was left unattended in the desert for any length of time (or, for that matter, with a car or driver to guard it), and none of the explorers travelled any distance on foot (as a journey on foot through the desert was said to spell certain death)."

"Gould later claimed that the distance she travelled into the desert was the greatest distance she could have achieved under the circumstances - which is lucky, as she only barely found what she was looking for."

Assuming Gould's claim is correct, how far east did she travel?

032 - Three, Four and Five

Detective Kent Dockland attends at Logidyne Labs to interview Jacki Renquist about the work she's been doing with Hillary Black.

However, he finds Jacki busy in the chemicals storeroom.

"I don't have time for you today, Dockland," Jacki snaps. "I need to measure out four quarts of umbrafan, but one of the idiot new recruits broke my measuring containers. All I have is the barrel of umbrafan, a three quart container, and a five quart container."

"That's a fairly trivial problem, ma'am," said Dockland stoically, and then explained to her how to solve it. "And now maybe you have time for an interview?"

How did Jacki measure out four quarts of umbrafan?

024 - Ave Caesar

"Are these all of them?" asked Detective Dockland.

"Yes," replied Hillary Black. "I've given you a copy of every other document in the safe on the night of the robbery. I should warn you, though, they're all encrypted."

Dockland glanced briefly at the top document in the stack. "I don't think much of your idea of encryption."

"Oh, that one's not serious encryption. She just does them that way for fun," said Hillary.

Dockland paused, and looked at the document longer, before adding, "She's right, in that the math problem is't very hard either."

What is the answer to the math problem Dockland is referring to? The document reads, in full:

DY RSVVKBI

GYBU MYXDSXEOC. CY PKB KVV DOCDC YX DRO NOFSMO RKFO ZBYFON XOQKDSFO. GO KBO CDSVV RYZOPEV YP MBKMUSXQ DRO KMDSFKDSYX COAEOXMO GSDRSX DRO XOHD GOOU. DRO DOKW SC ECSXQ LBEDO PYBMO LED S CDSVV DRSXU DROBO WECD LO KX OKCSOB GKI. SD'C VSUO PSXNSXQ DRO CEW YP KVV ZYCSDSFO SXDOQOBC LODGOOX YXO KXN YXO REXNBON SXMVECSFO - DROBO SC XY XOON PYB DONSYEC KNNSDSYX GROX IYE UXYG DRO CRYBDMED. KXIGKI S RYZO DY RKFO WYBO XOGC XOHD DEOCNKI.

LOCD BOQKBNC

TKMUS

020 - Equal Opportunities

Detective Kent Dockland is questioning Hillary Black about the recent break-in at her offices.

"Can you tell me a little bit about your business?" he enquires.

"We're a consulting firm," says Hillary. "We mostly do work for Logidyne Labs, a research and development company."

"And how many people are employed here?" asks Kent.

"Well, each male worker has one fewer female co-worker than he does male co-worker," says Hillary, "and each female worker has two male co-workers fewer than twice the number of her female co-workers."

"Thank you, ma'am," says Kent. "That's very helpful."

How many people are employed at Hillary's consulting firm?

019 - Age Detective

Responding to an urgent call, Detective Kent Dockland attends the offices of Hillary Black, where a burglary has been reported.

Hillary, though, is unimpressed. "Dockland?" she says. "I've heard you've got a bad reputation on the police force. Why shouldn't I send you back and request a good detective?"

"I am a good detective, ma'am,' says Dockland.

"Well, then," says Hillary, "tell me this: how old are my daughters?"

"How many daughters do you have?" asks Dockland.

"Three," says Hillary. "The product of their ages is 36, and the sum of their ages is the same as the number on my ID badge."

Dockland looks at Hillary's ID badge. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he says. "I can't tell you the answer to that question given that information."

"Oh, of course you can't!" says Hillary. "My apologies. I should have added that when I went into labor with my youngest daughter, both of her sisters were running around the back yard."

"Well, then, that's easy," says Dockland, and tells her the answer.

"Well, Detective, it seems I've been mistaken about you," says Hillary. "Let me tell you about these documents that were stolen..."

How old are Hillary's daughters?

016 - Brevity of Communication

Kent Dockland doesn't get on well with his co-workers at the Serendipity Police Department. Today, as he's trying to finish some incident reports on his computer, he's distracted by his co-workers loudly discussing the comparitive merits of cars, motorcycles, and speedboats.

Peter Bernard, the loudest, meanest cop on the force, spots Kent at his computer. "Hey Kent!" he yells. "What kind of vehicle do YOU like?

"Here's the thing, Peter," says Kent. "This isn't news. You understandably really like cars or motorcycles. But I have to finish this incident report, it's due today, and you and your idiot friends aren't helping."

Peter scowls. "Don't be a loser, Kent. The report can wait five minutes. What's your vehicle of choice?"

Kent stares at Peter, and says, "I just told you."

What is Kent's favourite kind of vehicle?