#190 All square
Set by Zoe Mensch
The secretary of my tennis club has just changed the six-digit code for the padlock at the entrance gate. “As a mathematician, you will be interested to know that the new code is a square number,” he said.
“Really?” I replied, only mildly interested.
“The code is also the final score of the three-set league match I played last week.”
“And you have other clues to help me?”
“No, that’s it,” he said. And he was right. After a few “aha” moments, I narrowed the possibilities to a small range, and with the aid of a calculator discovered that there is only one “proper” three-set tennis result that is a square. …