1.
A falcon is 3 times as old as her chick. Together their ages add to 12 years. How old is each?
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Answer:
Did you know? Falconry is more than 3,000 years old, and UNESCO lists it as a living human heritage.
2.
A trainer's log reads: 2, 5, 4, 7, 6, ___, ___. What comes next, and what is the rule? (Hint: there are two rules taking turns.)
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Answer:
Did you know? A falcon wears a hood because a bird that cannot see stays calm — it is a blindfold, not a punishment.
3.
Three falconers — Hamza, Layla, and Bilal — fly a kestrel, a saker, and a peregrine. The kestrel is the smallest bird and the peregrine is the fastest. Hamza's bird is not the smallest. Layla flies the fastest bird. Who flies which?
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Answer:
Did you know? A falcon's eyesight is about eight times sharper than ours — it can spot a pigeon from over a kilometre up.
4.
A falcon's kit needs one hood (red, green, or brown) and one set of jesses (leather or silk). Every pairing is allowed except brown hood with silk jesses. How many different kits can be made? List them.
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Answer:
Did you know? Jesses are the short leather straps on a falcon's legs — the falconer's grip when the bird is on the glove.
1.
Three falconers — Yusuf, Tariq, and Amina — each fly a different bird (peregrine, saker, kestrel) on a different day (Tue, Thu, Sat). Who flies what, and when?
1. Amina does not hunt on Saturday. 2. The peregrine hunts on Saturday. 3. Yusuf hunts on Tuesday and does not fly the saker.
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Answer:
Did you know? A peregrine in a hunting dive passes 300 km/h, making it the fastest animal on Earth.
2.
A falcon covers 240 metres in 8 seconds at a steady speed. At that same speed, how far would she travel in 30 seconds?
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Answer:
Did you know? Falcons have a small bony cone inside each nostril that slows the rushing air, so they can still breathe in a full dive.
3.
On a balance, 3 hoods weigh the same as 2 gloves. And 1 glove weighs the same as 6 bells. How many bells balance 9 hoods?
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Answer:
Did you know? Bells on a falcon's legs let the falconer hear where the bird has landed when it drops out of sight.
4.
7 falconers meet. Each one greets every other falconer exactly once. How many greetings happen altogether?
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Answer:
Did you know? A falcon is flown hungry but never starved — the falconer weighs the bird daily, because a well-fed falcon simply leaves.
3rd Grade
1. Falcon 9, chick 3.
Think in parts: the chick is 1 part, the falcon 3 parts, so 4 parts = 12 and one part = 3. Chick 3, falcon 3 × 3 = 9.
2. 9 and 8. Add 3, then subtract 1, over and over.
2 +3→ 5 −1→ 4 +3→ 7 −1→ 6. So next is +3 = 9, then −1 = 8.
3. Layla — peregrine · Hamza — saker · Bilal — kestrel.
Layla has the fastest, so Layla = peregrine. Hamza is not the smallest, so Hamza ≠ kestrel, and the peregrine is gone → Hamza = saker. Bilal takes the kestrel.
4. 5 kits.
3 hoods × 2 jesses = 6, then remove the one banned pairing: 5. They are red-leather, red-silk, green-leather, green-silk, brown-leather.
4th Grade
1. Yusuf — kestrel — Tuesday · Amina — saker — Thursday · Tariq — peregrine — Saturday.
Clue 3 puts Yusuf on Tuesday, so he is not the peregrine (Saturday, clue 2), and not the saker → Yusuf, kestrel. Clue 1 keeps Amina off Saturday, so she is not the peregrine → Tariq, peregrine, Saturday. Amina takes the saker on Thursday.
2. 900 metres.
First the rate: 240 ÷ 8 = 30 metres every second. Then 30 × 30 = 900 m. Find the one-second rate before scaling — that's the whole method.
3. 36 bells.
9 hoods is 3 lots of 3 hoods, so 9 hoods = 3 × 2 = 6 gloves. Each glove is 6 bells, so 6 × 6 = 36.
4. 21 greetings.
Each of the 7 greets the other 6 = 42, but that counts every greeting from both sides, so 42 ÷ 2 = 21. Or add 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.