Greetings and welcome to another exciting semester and another manifestation of the mathematics contest that loves you - The Wright Challenge. This contest is open to any Iowa high-school student, and any student of the University of Northern Iowa. The top 3 finishers will receive prizes of $60, $40 and $20, plus boffo UNI merchandise, all donated by our friends at University Book and Supply. Handsome certificates, suitable for framing, will go to all with qualifying scores.

The solution to this problem is due on October 3. A correct answer to this fortnight's problem will get 2 puzzle-points. A correct answer to the problem, along with the name of three of King Arthur's knights gets 3 puzzle-points.

I've hired five people to help me with my new company. Their names are Graham, John, Eric, Terry and Michael. Five jobs need to be done. I need individuals to do the typing, the filing, the telemarketing, the collating, and the shearing. Now, each person can do each job, but each has strengths and weaknesses. For example, Graham can do all the day's typing in 4 hours, but it would take him 11 hours to shear the sheep. John, on the other hand, would take 7 hours to do the days typing, but could shear the day's sheep in only 4 hours. Behold a table that reveals how long it takes each person to do each job.

How can I assign each person to a job that will minimize the total number of hours of work they do every day?

The deadline for sending in solutions has expired.  But feel free to take some time to work on this one, and click here to see the answer.   Alternatively, click here to see the current challenge.

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