Foxed by Funny Figures

By

KT Rajagopalan

The question:

At the end of the party, Prof Calculus told me, ‘Call me tomorrow morning.’ I asked for his contact number. He fished into his pocket for a visiting card. As he had run short of cards, Prof Calculus wrote down his ten-digit mobile number on a slip of paper and gave it to me.

I had one look at it and said, ‘Quite a tough number to remember.’

‘Not all that bad a number, it is a perfect cube!’ replied the learned professor.

It was raining all the way home and I got drenched to the skin. Next morning, I looked at the slip of paper with the professor’s mobile number written on it. The first nine digits were 989683052. The last digit had been washed out.

Which of the following do you think was the last digit?

(a) 9             (b) 8             (c) 1             (d) 3             (e) 6   

Foxed? Would you like a hint?

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