You are about to count the Omer for tonight. Unfortunately, you have a problem. You forgot what night it is. If you ask someone directly then they have a problem. That is, they end up counting for themselves as they answer you. Then they cannot count the current night with a bracha.

You know the usual solution: Ask someone what the count was last night. Then they are ok and you just know to count tonight with the next number. The problem is that you cannot find anyone around to ask.

Well, there is someone- the class jokester. He never lies but he also never gives a straight answer. You decide to walk over to him anyway and ask him. Sure enough, he gives you a riddle. You ask him the simple question, “Can you tell me what the count was last night?”

He says, “Well I temporarily forgot what the count was last night. However, eight nights ago the count was one half of what it was two nights ago.”

What night of the Omer is it?

Solution: It is the 14th night of the Omer. You can solve this riddle with guess-and-check methods or with algebra. If you keep guessing, you can confirm that 14 works: That is, 6 is 14-8 and that is one half 12 which is 14-2.

An algebraic equation representing the riddle is:

x-8 = 1/2 * (x-2)

This can be solved as follows:

2(x-8) = x-2

2x-16 = x-2

x-16 = -2

x = 16-2

x = 14

Shabbat Shalom.

Ari Blinder is a math educator living in Highland Park, NJ. He is the owner of Math for the Masses, an innovative tutoring and consulting company. Please visit www.math4masses.com for fun activities and helpful worksheets. Ari can be reached at [email protected]. Never think you are “not a math person.” You are very much one already, but no one has shown you how.