Two men were discussing which one of them owned the best horse. To find out, they decided to organize a match. Because both of the men did not like to loose, they agreed on doing a ride as slow as possible. The last horse which would pass the finish would be the best one. The match started, but of course it did not proceed at all. After several hours the horsemen jumped of their horses and agreed upon something. After this short talk they jumped back on the horses and went with full speed to the finish. What did they agree upon?

Susan is in the final of a match at the olympic games. At the moment she reaches the finish, all the other contestants are behind her back. She did not play unfair and did also not use doping, but she does not get the gold medal? Why is that?

Suppose you have ten slow matches (also called match cord) and a lighter. If a slow match is lighted, it will burn for exactly one hour. The slow matches do not burn at constant speed, in other words it can happen that the first half of the slow match is burned in 15 minutes, while the remaining part will take three quarters. How can you measure exactly 45 minutes using these slow matches, and what is the minimum of slow matches you need for this?