Brain Teasers
Stamps
Yesterday my mother asked me to buy some stamps. Stamps, in the
land of Bored Shitless, are available in 3p, 9p, 11p, 17p and
21p denominations. For three types of stamp I was asked to buy
eight of each. For the other two types of stamp, I was asked to
buy nine of each. Unfortunately I forgot which I was supposed to
buy eight of and which to buy nine of. Luckily my mother had
given me the exact money required to buy the stamps, £5.00 and
the shopkeeper was able to give me the correct stamps. Which
stamps did I buy?
Solution
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American
presidents
Can you find 4 American presidents whose surnames contain only 4
letters?
Solution
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Triangle
One side of an isosceles triangle is 15cm, another side is 7cm,
what is the third side?
Solution
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American
states
Which four American states have been mixed together here:
K N A N O T E E
X H I W S Y O R A S K O A S
Solution
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Cashed a
cheque
I once cashed a cheque at the bank. I had spent £1.06 before I
realised the bank clerk had made a mistake. He had transposed
the pounds with the pence. I now had exactly 8 times the value
of the original cheque. What was the original cheque's value?
Turkey 4.00pm
Mexico 3.00pm Jamaica 5.00pm Japan 1.00pm
According to
the software, at what time is the return trip to Finland?
Solution
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Farmer
In Farmer Donald's hay loft there are a number of ants, mice and
chickens. There are ten times more ants than mice and there are
four times more mice than chickens. Altogether there are 1806
feet. How many chickens are there?
Solution
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Rhymes
From 6, 5, 2, 3 grows an oak. I 6, 8, 9 , I 6, 8, 9, I 6, 8, 9,
its no joke. 7, 5, 1 rhymes with you. 4, 2, 1 rhymes too! What
am I?
Solution
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A family
photo
A family photo contained:
one
grandfather, one grandmother; two fathers, two mothers; six
children, four grandchildren; two brothers, two sisters; three
sons, three daughters; one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, one
daughter-in-law
29 people you
may think, but no, what is the least number of people here?
Solution
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Strawberries
After a day picking strawberries I had a basket full. I ate 5
and gave Geoff half of the remaining. I then ate another 3 and
gave Simon one third of the remaining. I ate another 6 and then
gave Kim two thirds of the remaining. I now had 34 strawberries
left. How many did I start with?
Solution
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Birthday
Cake
The birthday cake on the picture must be cut into eight equally
sized pieces. However, you are allowed to make only 3 straight
cuts.
The Question:
How can the cake be cut into eight pieces with only 3 straight
cuts?
Solution
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The Hotel
Three salesmen went into a hotel to rent a room. The manager
stated that he had only one room left, but all three could use
it for $30.00 for the night. The three salesmen gave him $10.00
each and went up to their room. Later, the manager decided that
he had charged the salesmen too much so he called the bellhop
over, gave him five one-dollar bills, and said: 'Take this $5.00
up to the salesmen and tell them I had charged them too much for
the room'. On the way up, the bellhop knew that he could not
divide the five one-dollar bills equally so he puts two of the
one-dollar bills in his pocket and returned one one-dollar bill
to each of the salesmen.
This means that
each salesman paid $9.00 for the room. The bellhop kept $2.00.
Three times nine is 27 plus two is 29.......
The Question:
What happened to the extra dollar?
Solution
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Climbing
Snail
A snail is at the bottom of a 20 meters deep pit. Every day the
snail climbs 5 meters upwards, but at night it slides 4 meters
back downwards.
The Question:
How many days does it take before the snail reaches the top of
the pit?
Solution
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Find Number
What is the 5-digit number in which the sum of the first two
digits is one less than the third, the third is double the
fourth, the fourth is double the last, the third is the product
of the fourth and fifth, and the second is five more than the
first.
Solution |
Two Dice
I'm sure you are familiar with the probabilities associated with
rolling two dice. You know that there is a 1/36 chance of
getting a 2 or a 12, a 2/36 chance of a 3 or an 11, a 3/36
chance of a 4 or a 10, a 4/36 chance of a 5 or 9, a 5/36 chance
of a 6 or 8, and a 6/36 chance of a 7.
All this
assumes, of course, that each die contains the numbers
1,2,3,4,5,6. There is, however, a way of renumbering the die
with non-zero integers such that the probabilities of rolling
any number from 2 to 12 remains the same. Can you find what
numbers would be on each of the renumbered dice? You are allowed
to use the same number more than once, even multiple times on
the same die, if necessary.
Solution |
Coins
In my money box I found $36.80 made up of equal numbers of
quarters, dimes and nickels. How many of each coin did I find?
Solution
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How much
petrol
During a recent car journey, I filled my petrol tank to the top,
a total of 10 gallons. I travelled at 60 mph up the highway and
I knew that I could average 40 miles per gallon. However, the
moment I started, my petrol tank developed a leak and four hours
later I ground to a halt having run out of petrol. How much
petrol had I lost through the leak?
Solution
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Numbers
What number do you get if you divide 200 by 1/2 and add 7?
Solution
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Bus company
My local bus company has recently expanded and no longer has
enough room for all of its buses. Twelve of their buses have to
be stored outside. If they decide to increase their garage space
by 40%, this will give them enough room for all of their current
buses, plus enough room to store another twelve in the future.
How many buses does the company currently own?
Solution
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Cowboys
A Western rancher, finding himself well advanced in years,
called his boys together and told them that he wished to divide
his herds between them while he still lived.
"Now, John," he
said to the eldest, "you may take as many cows as you think you
could conveniently care for, and your wife Nancy may have one
ninth of all the cows left."
To the second
son he said, "Sam, you may take the same number of cows that
John took, plus one extra cow because John had the first pick.
To your good wife, Sally, I will give one ninth of what will be
left."
To the third
son he made a similar statement. he was to take one cow more
than the second son, and his wife was to have one ninth of those
left. The same applied to the other sons. Each took one cow more
than his next oldest brother, and each son's wife took one ninth
of the remainder.
After the
youngest son had taken his cows, there were none left for his
wife. Then the rancher said: "Since horses are worth twice as
much as cows, we will divide up my seven horses so that each
family will own livestock of equal value."
How many cows
did the rancher own, and how many sons did he have ?
Solution
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