1

Intel Clock Interview Question

Can you find out the angle between the minute hand and the hour hand at 3:15 on an analog
clock? Think hard and then come to a conclusion.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The most often answer is 0 which is completely wrong.

Let us begin like this. The 12 hours in a clock makes a total of 360 degrees. Thus one hour will equal
to 30 degrees.

Now as per the question, the hour hand will directly be on 3 when the minute hand is at 12. After 15
minutes or after 1/4 of an hour i.e. at 3:15, the hour hand will be 1/4 * 30 degrees = 7.5 degrees
away from the minute hand.

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2
Drainage Pipe Interview Question

There is a large fresh water reservoir that has two distinct drainage systems - small pipe and large
pipe.

Six large pipes can drain the reservoir completely in exactly 12 hours while six small pipes will take
18 hours to drain the reservoir.

Can you calculate the time that will be taken by 6 large pipes and 6 small pipes together to drain
the reservoir?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us provide the terms with a variable first.

Let the quantity of the entire reservoir be T liters
Let the large pipe be L
Let the small pipe be S

Now
T / 6L = 12 which means L = T / 72

And
T / 6S = 18 which means S = T / 108

We want T / (6L + 6S)

= T / ((6 * T / 72) + (6 * T / 108))

= T / ((648 * T + 432 * T) / 7776)

= T / ((1080 * T) / 7776)

= 7776 * T / (1080 * T)

= 7776 / 1080

= 7.2 hours

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3
Intel Series Interview Question

Can you determine what comes next in the following series of animals?
Fawn, Bear, Lion, Mole, __?

Choose from the following:

Seal
Duck
Stag
Vole
Wolf

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Duck

Look closely at the series. Consider the second letter of every animal's name. You will see that they
are vowels and that too in alphabetical order.
fAwn
bEar
lIon
mOle

Thus, the next animal must have U as the second letter and hence dUck is the right answer.

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4
Intel Maths Interview Question
 Three professors were discussing over how long they have been teaching. Andrew and Beyonce had
been teaching for a total of thirty six years. Curt and Beyonce had been teaching for a total of
twenty two years. Curt and Andrew had been teaching for a total of twenty eight years.

Can you find out how long have each of them been teaching?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Andrew had been teaching 21 years.

Beyonce had been teaching 15 years.
Curt had been teaching 7 years.

Now let us consider the data given to us in the question

Andrew and Beyonce had been teaching for a total of 36 years.
Curt and Beyonce had been teaching for a total of 22 years.
Curt and Andrew had been teaching for a total of 28 years.
Let Andrew = A, Beyonce = B and Curt = C, then:
A + B = 36 [1]
C + B = 22 [2]
C + A = 28 [3]

If we use [3] - [2] we have:

A - B = 6 [4]

If we use [1] + [4] we have:

2A = 42
A = 21

By [1] B = 15
By [3] C = 7

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5
Intel Interview Difficult Logical Brain Teaser

Each of the alphabets are being converted into the equivalent binary code.

a=1, b=10, c=11, d=100, e=101, f=110, g=111, h=1000, i=1001, j=1010, k=1011, l=1100,
m=1101, n=1110, o=1111, p=10000, q=10001, r=10010, s=10011, t=10100, u=10101,
v=10110, w=10111, x=11000, y=11001, z=11010.

Some of the popular decoders of a university are called upon and they are presented with the
following code

110011101001000100110011100110011110110
101100101100110010011101101001111010111
001010010000101011101011010110010110011
010010001111101011111000101001001101001
011111111010111001001000101110010000100
111010011100111011101100110011100111011
 000011001011000110101101100111010010011
111111010111100011010010011001111111110
101100001100101011001111111110101

The only problem with the binary code is that the spaces are missing and there is no punctuation
whatsoever. Only a couple of them were able to decipher the cipher and tell what is written.

Can you solve it?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

"As this is a very difficult puzzle, I thought it would help if I asked a simple question: What is one plus
one?"

Intel Time Interview Puzzle

I renovated my bathroom and got myself a new bath tub along with new accessories. I have two
taps now - hot one and cold one. The hot tap fills the bath tub faster i.e. in fifteen minutes while it
takes eighteen minutes for the cold tap to fill the bath tub.

The drain hole can drain the entirely filled bathtub in ten minutes when the taps are not running.

If I leave both the taps on with the drain plug left out, how long will it take the bath to fill?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

It will take 45 minutes.

Let us talk about 24 hours as it will simplify the problem. In 24 hours

The cold tap will be able to fill the bath tub 80 times.
The hot tap will be able to fill the bath tub 96 times.
The drain will be able to drain the bathtub 144 times.

Thus in 24 hours, I will be able to fill the bath tub 80 + 96 - 144 = 32 times (if I leave both the taps
open with the drain also open)

Thus it will take 45 minutes to fill the tub once.

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7
Intel Interview Logical Question

Five potential donors are sitting on a bench from left to right outside the surgery room and are
waiting for the doctor. Their ages are 6, 10, 31, 47 and 61. Their heights are 41, 49, 61, 66 and
75. Their weights are 41, 76, 97, 126 and 166.
 All you have to do is determine the position, blood group, age, height and weights of each of them
with the help of the following ten hints.

1. The person on the far right is 37 years older than Jimmy, and is 61 inches tall.
2. Jimmy weighs 56 pounds more than his height.
3. Alexandrio weighs 76 pounds and is 75 inches tall.
4. Justin is type AB and weighs 56 pounds less than Jimmy.
5. The person in the center is 10 years old, is blood type AO and weighs 97 pounds.
6. Andrew, who is the first, is 66 inches tall, and weighs 100 pounds more than his height.
7. The person who is blood type O, is 25 years older than the person to the left of them.
8. Kian is 61 years old.
9. The person who is blood type A, is 55 years younger than Kian and is not next to the person who
is type AO.
10. The person who is next to the 10 year old but not next to the person who is 66 inches tall, is
blood type B, and weighs 126 pounds.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

# Name Type Age Height Weight

1 Andrew A 6 66 166
2 Alexandrio O 31 75 76
3 Jimmy AO 10 41 97
4 Kian B 61 49 126
5 Justin AB 47 61 41

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8
Sherlock Interview Mystery Puzzle

Six men, namely Martin Freeman, Jonah Jameson, Terry Singer, Mike Cooper, Jim Condon, and
Sylvian Bogard were in an elevator together.

Unexpectedly, the lights went out. When the lights came back, Martin Freeman's wallet was missing
which contained a confidential item.

Detectives were called at the scene. They interrogated the suspects, the witnesses, and people who
were familiar with the suspects. They collected physical evidence (hair samples, fiber samples, etc.)
from the crime scene as well. Overall, they were able to collect fifteen clues, but they could still not
find the culprit.

Then as the last resort they dialed a phone number that connected to 221B Baker Street and
Sherlock Holmes was appointed on the case. Following are the clues reading which he was able to
deduce the culprit within a couple of minutes.

1) No two suspects have the same weight, color shoes, color umbrella, color car, or hair color.
1) The suspect who owns a pink car was wearing tan shoes.
3) The suspect who weighs 180 pounds owns an orange car.
4) Terry Singer owns an orange car.
5) The suspect who owns a blue car was wearing purple shoes.
6) The suspect who weighs 150 pounds was wearing tan shoes.
 7) Mike Cooper was carrying a pink umbrella.
8) Sylvian Bogard has black hair.
9) Jonah Jameson weighs 210 pounds.
10) The suspect who weighs 190 pounds was wearing purple shoes.
11) The suspect who was carrying a black umbrella is not the one who was wearing blue shoes.
12) The thief owns a blue car.
13) The suspect who owns a white car is not the one who weighs 170 pounds.
14) Jim Condon was wearing brown shoes.
15) The suspect who weighs 190 pounds is not the one who has black hair.

Can you find the culprit too?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Mike Cooper is the one.

We can exclude Martin from our investigations as he was the victim.

Terry Singer possesses an orange car. The thief possesses a blue car, thus Terry Singer cannot be the
murderer.

The suspect who owns a blue car was wearing purple shoes.

The suspect who weighs 190 pounds was wearing purple shoes.

The suspect who weighs 190 pounds is not the one who has black hair. Therefore, one suspect was
wearing purple shoes, possesses a blue car, weighs 190 pounds, and is not the one who has black
hair.

But Jim Condon was wearing brown shoes, Sylvian Bogard has black hair, Jonah Jameson weighs 210
pounds, and Terry Singer possesses an orange car.

Therefore, the only suspect who could be this suspect is Mike Cooper.

As Mike Cooper, owns a blue car and the thief owns a blue car, he is definitely the thief.

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9
Intel Logical Interview Question

Mark went to visit his mother last weekend which is about 250 miles away from his home. He
started 7am in the sunny morning of Saturday and found out that the road was too crowded. There
were times that he has completely stationary. He reached his mother's house after lunch.

He had to return on Sunday and he had to travel through the same route again. He left the place at
7 am and found no traffic at all and reached home before lunch time enjoying a smooth drive.

What is the probability that he was at the same point at the same time on both the days he
traveled?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

This is rather a confusing logical puzzle which can leave you without an answer. The answer logically is
quite simple though. It is entirely sure that Mark will definitely be at a certain point exactly at the
same time on both of his trips.

To simplify and prove it we can send a hypothetical brother of Mark to their mother's house at the
same time when Mark starts his journey back to their home. There will be a certain place where they
will meet (as they are following the same route) and also they will be at that place the same time.

Thus no fact will matter in any case and there will be one point where Mark will be there at the same
place at the same time in both of his journeys.

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10
Intel Word Puzzle

The following set of letters may appear totally irrelevant but they can be crafted out into real words
if you add three letters in the beginning and that very three letters at the end. Can you find out
those three letters in each case?

ERTAINM
ISCOVE
ROW
IOXID
ROCOS

Hint: Suppose you are given a word ANGLEM and you have to find three letters in the same
fashion, you can add ENT in the beginning and at the end. ENT + ANGLEM + ENT will become
ENTANGLEMENT.
Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

ENT + ERTAINM + ENT = ENTERTAINMENT

RED + ISCOVE + RED = REDISCOVERED
ING + ROW + ING = INGROWING
ANT + IOXID + ANT = ANTIOXIDANT
MIC + ROCOS + MIC = MICROCOSMIC

11
Fishermen and Fishes Interview Puzzle

Six fishermen catches six fishes in six minutes. How many fishermen will be needed to catch sixty
fishes in sixty minutes?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
This question is one of the most common interview question. The most common answer of the
question is sixty which is completely wrong. The second most common answer of this interview
question is 10 which is wrong as well.

What we have is
6 fishermen catches 6 fishes in 6 minutes

If you offer them 10 times as much as time, they will surely catch 10 times as much as fishes as well
Thus the same six fishermen will be able to catch 60 fishes in 60 minutes.

You can also thing this in the unitary method.

If six fishermen catches 6 fishes in 6 minutes

Then, one fisherman will catch one 1 fish in 6 minutes
Thus in sixty minutes, one fisherman will catch 10 fishes (10 times the time, ten times the fishes).

Thus the right answer is six.

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12
Find the Ages Interview Question

Five years ago, Katie Holmes was 5 times as old as her daughter. Five years hence, Katie's age will
be eight less than three times the corresponding age of her daughter.

Can you find their ages?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let the age of the daughter five years ago be x. Then Katie's age will be 5x.

Present age
Daughter = x + 5
Katie = 5x + 5

After 5 years
Daughter's age = x + 10
Katie's age = 5x + 5 + 5 = 5x + 10

Now consider the question again. We know that five years from present, Katie's age will be 8 less than
three times the corresponding age of her daughter. Thus if we add eight to the Katie's age, five years
from now and make her daughter's age 3 times more, we can easily find out x.

5x + 10 + 8 = 3(x + 10)
5x + 18 = 3x + 30
5x - 3x = 30 - 18
2x = 12
x = 12 / 2
x=6
Katie's Present age is 5x + 5
=> 5(6) + 5
= 30 + 5
= 35 Years

Her daughter's Present age is x + 5

=> 6 + 5
= 11 Years

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13
Dice to Days Tricky Interview Puzzle

You are given with two dices. You can write numbers from 0 to 9 on each of the face of the two
dices. All you have to make sure is that you should be able to represent any day of the month
using the two dices from 1 to 31.

Suppose if you have to represent 3rd of the month, then one dice must have 0 and one dice must
have 3. How can you make it possible for all the days?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Dice 1: 0 1 2 3 5 7
Dice 2: 0 1 2 4 5 8

Please keep in mind that you will have to show 11 and 12 as well, thus 1 and 2 must be present in
both the dices. In the same manner, to show 01, 09, 0 must be present in both the dices. Now if you
are wondering how you will show 9 as we have not written it in any of the faces of the dices, the trick
is to reverse 6 to show it as 9.

You may now try any day of the month and you will easily be able to represent it through the dices.

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14
Tricky Series Interview Puzzle

Find the next letter in the sequence

A, E, F, H, __?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
This sequence is a bit tricky while you may be running in myriad directions, the actual trick to solve
this sequence might as well prove to be a bit annoying to you.

So what do we have common in the physical appearance of all the letters of the sequence? Did you
think that all of them are made with straight lines?

Consider the in between letters - B, C, D and G. All of them require curvy lines to write but A, E, F and
H can be written with straight lines.

Thus the next letter in the sequence will be 'I'.

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15
Equidistant Buildings Interview Puzzle

You are a builder who is building a new society. You are required to build four buildings that are
equidistant from each other which means the distance from each building to the other must be
equal.

You have read that only three points can be equidistant from each other. How can you complete
the assignment as required?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This is quite an easy question which is used generally as a warm up question during the interviews.

It is true that only three points are equidistant from each other. But take a paper and draw four points
in the shape of a pyramid. You can definitely draw four equidistant points. Thus all you have to do as
a builder is build the buildings in the same manner. In this way, one building will be placed in between
the three buildings.

16
Find the acute angle Interview Question

We have a right angled triangle whose square of the hypotenuse is twice as the product of the
other two sides.

Which of the following is one of the acute angles of the triangle?

a) 45
b) 30
c) 60
d) 15

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us begin solving the problem by denoting a simple letter to all the three sides of the triangle
Let base be (b), perpendicular be (p) and hypotenuse be (h)
Now glance over the given condition according to which h^2 = 2b*p
or b^2 + p^2 = 2b*p
or (b-p)^2 = 0
or b = p

Thus the triangle is an isosceles one with the angle = 45 degrees

So, option (a) is correct

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17
Tricky Probability Interview Puzzle

Rihanna puts 9 pairs of blue socks and 8 pairs of grey socks in a drawer. She picks up 3 socks.
Calculate the probability that she will pick up a pair of blue socks?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

One thing you must take note of is that in the question they are talking about pair of socks not
individual socks.

Thus, total socks = (9x2) + (8x2) = 18 + 16 = 34

Total possibilities = 34*33*32/3*2*1 = 5984

The next part can be a little tricky. Read the question again. You are asked to calculate the probability
that she will pick up a pair of blue socks. That also includes picking up three blue socks.

Thus our favorable events = select 2 blue + all 3 blue

= (18*17/2*1)(16/1)+ (18*17*16)/(3*2*1)
= 2448 + 816
= 3264

Hence the Probability = 3264/5984 = 6/11 = 0.54545

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18
Polynomial Equations Interview Question

Determine the value of z in the polynomials x^2-11x+z and x2-14x+2z such that these two
polynomials have common factors.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
If z = 24, then polynomials will become

x^2-11x+24 and x^2-14x+48

Which can be re-written as
(x-8)*(x-3) and (x-8)*(x-6)

(x-8) is common factor.

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19
GP series Interview Problem

Determine the value of the following series

1/(7^1) + 2/(7^2) + 1/(7^3) +2/(7^4) + 1/(7^5) +....

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1/7+1/7^2+1/7^2+1/7^3+1/7^4+1/7^4+1/7^5+......
==>(1/7+1/7^2+1/7^3+1/7^4+1/7^5+......) + (1/7^2+1/7^4+ 1/7^6+.......)
Thus we have two GP series one with a=1/7 and r=1/7
And the second one with a=1/7^2 and r= 1/7^2

Sum of GP to infinity (when r is small) = a/1-r

Hence sum of expression = (1/7/1-1/7) + (1/7^2/1-1/7^2) = (1/6) + (1/48) = 3/16

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20
Reciprocal Roots Interview Question

Find the value of m if 5x*x+14*x+m=0 is having two reciprocal roots.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Product of reciprocal roots = 1

Product of roots of quadratic equation ax^2+bx+c = 0 is c/a.

Hence m/5 =1
m=5

21
Faulty Coins Interview Question
 You have ten sets of 10 coins. You are aware of exactly how much the coins weigh. You also know
that all the coins in one set of ten are exactly a hundredth of an ounce off which makes the entire
set of the ten coins a tenth of an ounce off. Also you are aware of the fact that all the other coins
weight the correct amount. Now you are allowed to use an exceptionally precise digital weighing
machine only once.

Can you identify which set of 10 coins is faulty?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Keep one coin from the first set and place it on the scale along with the two from the second set etc.
If the weight is off by one hundredth of an ounce, then you will know that it is the first set that is
faulty and if the weight is off by two hundred of an ounce, then the second set is faulty and so on.

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22
Complex Grid Interview Puzzle

You are given with a cube with a three by three grid. Suppose you are standing on the back left
corner of the cube and you are supposed to reach the front right of the cube. You are free to move
towards the front, downwards or upwards.

How many ways are there that will take you to the end.
Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

90

Split the cube into three by three grids. You will get three layers. Now get to one square from the cell
adjacent instead of counting the path. You can now count the paths from the left (x), the right (y) and
the level above (z). So the path for any square will be x + y + z.

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23
Toughest Bulb Logic Interview Puzzle

There are 100 bulbs lined up in a room. All are turned on in the first pass. Then all the even
numbered light bulbs are switched off. After that, every third bulb is switched on. Then all those
bulbs that were switched off are turned back on and all those that were lit are turned off. Then the
 same process is being carried with the fourth bulb and the fifth bulb.

How many bulbs are glowing after 100 passes?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

10 Bulbs

For this tricky puzzle, you must check how many light bulbs in the row are having an odd number of
factors. The first one surely has odd number of factors, the second has even, four has odd. Thus the
bulb four and one will remain lit. The bulbs that are going to remain lit are perfect squares as they
have an odd number of factors - 1, 4, 9, 16.

Since there are 100 passes, you can go up to 10 times 10 i.e. the square of 10. There are 10 perfect
squares available to you - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. They
corresponds to the bulb number 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81 and 100. All of them will remain lit and
thus total ten bulbs will remain lit after 100 passes.

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24
Toughest Logician Interview Question

Three best logicians are brought into a room. Each of them has been painted a number on their
forehead with a number that is unique and greater than zero. You are one of them and can see
other two foreheads with the number 20 and 30 painted on them. The game begins and the host
circles around the logicians asking each one of them to guess the number written on their
forehead. Each of the logician is unable to answer and says that he can't guess it. Then the
question is asked again.

What is your number and why?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This particular answer depends on what the third person says.

You know that the other two logicians have 20 and 30 painted on their foreheads. If the first logician
is 10, the second will either say he has either 40 or 20 painted on his forehead. The second logician
will say "I'm either 30 or 10 but I can't be 10 because every number is unique as explained earlier. If
the third logician is able to deduce that he has 30 painted on his forehead, but the third logician is not
able to deduce the number. Thus the first logician is not numbered 10 and he must be painted 50 on
his forehead.

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25
Simple Grid Interview Puzzle

You are given a 6 by 6 grid and asked to start on the top left corner. Now your aim is to get to the
bottom right corner. You are only allowed to move either right or down. You must never move
diagonally or backwards.

How many feasible ways are there for you to reach the end point?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

252 ways.

Think how symmetric the problem is. Pick up any random cell. Suppose that you took 'n' steps in
reaching the particular cell above it and 'm' steps to reach the particular cell placed left to it. In such
circumstances, the number of ways to reach to the random cell is equal to the sum of two steps
'n+m'. Thus, keep that logic in mind and fill out the six by six grid. In that manner, there are 252
ways to get to the destination that is the bottom right step.

26
Logicians Interview Puzzle

Hundred most brilliant logicians are handpicked from the world and invited to a room. But before
they could enter, they are told that at least one of them has a black forehead. Whenever anyone
can frame out that he is having a black forehead, he needs to leave the room when the lights are
turned off. After that, the lights are turned back on and those who could infer that their forehead
was black have left the room.

What happens if they have painted every forehead black?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Since there are 100 logicians, the lights are turned on and off hundred times and after the 100th time,
all the logicians leave the room.

If all of them sees 99 black foreheads, the lights get turned off. When the light is turned on again,
everyone is able to see 99 black foreheads again. This happens 100 times and then every logician
leaves the room.

Let us make it more simplified for you. Assume that only one person has a black forehead. The people
who invited them said that at least one person has a black forehead and as they turn off the lights,
that logician leaves.

Imagine the scenario with two logicians having black forehead. One of the logician sitting there must
be thinking "I have a black forehead or I don't have a black forehead. If I am not the one with black
forehead, the other logician with black forehead will deduce that he is having a black forehead and
then he will leave."

"If I don't have a black forehead, the other logician will stay and thus I must be having a black
forehead as well. Thus we must leave when the lights are turned off for the second time"
When you repeat the logic to 100 times, you will get the answer.

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27
Alien Invasion Interview Puzzle

An alien force has invaded the realms of the earth. All they plan is the destruction of the entire
planet. However, they have given humans a chance. They picks up ten intelligent most humans
(you are one of them) and take them in a pitch black room. There is nothing you can see in the
total darkness. The aliens place a hat on every human. The hats are of two colors - pink and green.
After they place all the hats, the lights are turned on.

You are not allowed to see your own hat. The circulation of the hat is totally random with any kind
of possible combination. The aliens start from the back and ask, "What is the color of hat you are
wearing?" Everyone is allowed to hear the answer. If he gives the correct answer, he will be
allowed to live and save the people but if he gives the wrong answer, he will be killed mercilessly
and the people you represent will be killed.

What will you do to save as many lives as you can?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The human in front will count the number of green hats and if the count is an odd number, he will say
green and if the number is even, he will say pink.

The next human behind him definitely saw either an odd or an even number of hats. If the number is
still odd, then he has a pink hat. That human says Pink and survives. Thereafter, there will be an odd
number of green hats forward and the third person can decide whether he is wearing a green hat or a
pink hat.

If the second person sees an even number of green hats, then he must have a green hat as well and
will be freed. In this fashion, the humans will just have to keep the track if the number of green hats
in front of them are odd or even in number and then they can spontaneously conclude with the color
of their hats.

Since the first human will be guessing, he will have a 50/50 chance of surviving but the other 9 people
will definitely be saved.

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28
Find the Truth Teller Interview Riddle
 Just to test the brilliance of Sherlock's mind, Dr. Watson makes five people stand in front of him.
Out of the five, only one is the truth teller and the other four are togglers which means they may
tell the truth or lie on being asked. But on being asked again, they will switch which means if they
told a lie the first time, they will tell the truth on second question and vice versa.

Sherlock is challenged to ask only two questions to determine who the truth teller is. He can ask
both the questions to the same person or ask two different people. How will he determine who is
the truth teller?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Sherlock will ask any one of them "Are you the truth teller?" There can be two responses to this
question - Yes or No.

If the person says yes, then he is the truth teller or a lying toggle.
He will ask the second question to the same person "Who is the truth teller?"
If he is the truth teller, he will admit it. If he is a lying toggler, he will speak truth on the second
question if he lied on the first, telling you who the truth teller is.

If the person says no, Sherlock will be confirmed of the fact that he is not the truth teller and thus he
is a toggle who has told truth and will say a lie on the second question.
The next question he will ask to the same person "Who is not the truth teller?"
Since the person told truth in the first question, he will speak a lie this time and in order to tell a lie,
he will tell Sherlock exactly who the truth teller is.

Answer
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29
Logical Treasure Interview Puzzle

Sheldon Cooper reaches the final destination in his quest of finding the hidden treasures. The final
destination has two doors - one leads to the treasure and the other leads to a deadly maze that
ends only at death. The doors are protected by two guards. Both of the guards know the correct
door that leads to the treasure. One of the guards never speaks a lie and the other always speaks a
lie. But the sad part is that there is no way Sheldon Cooper can identify who is the liar and who
speaks truth. Also the guards allow only one question to be asked to any one of the both.

What question will Sheldon Cooper ask and to whom to finally get the treasure he has been
searching for?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

He can ask any one of them. The question he will ask is - "Which door will the other guy say is the
correct one?"

If he asks this question to the truth teller, he will get the incorrect door as he will honestly tell him
what the liar will say. If he asks the liar, he will get the incorrect door again as he will lie about what
the truth teller will tell him (the truth teller will obviously tell him the right door). Thus, by asking any
of them, Sheldon Cooper will get the incorrect door only and he can choose the other one to find the
treasure.

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30
Tricky Sequence Interview Puzzle

Find out the next term in the series

F21, S23, T25, T27, S29, M31, __?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

W02

F21: Friday the 21st.

S23: Sunday the 23rd.
T25: Tuesday the 25th.
T27: Thursday the 27th.
S29: Saturday the 29th.
M31: Monday the 31st.

Avoiding every other day, the next term must be 'Wednesday the 2nd' i.e. 'W02'

31
Logic Maths Cube Interview Questions

Aamir has a cube with 4 inch side. He paints it red, green and black on the opposite faces. After
that, he cuts it into one inch cubes. Answer the following questions (1-4) relating them with the
once inch cubes.
Q1.
How many cubes are left with only one face painted?
a) 8
b) 16
c) 24
d) 32

Q2.
How many cubes have two of their faces painted?
a) 8
b) 16
c) 24
d) 32

Q3.
How many cubes have four faces painted?
a) 0
b) 4
c) 8
d) 12
 Q4.
How many cubes are left with none of their faces painted?
a) 0
b) 4
c) 8
d) 12

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1) 24
2) 24
3) 0
4) 8

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32
Related To Interview Riddle

When 'Win' can be related with 'Competition'.

Invention can be related to ?

a) Trial
b) Discovery
c) Laboratory
d) Experiment

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Experiment

Answer
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33
Algebra Cipher Interview Problem
 If '+' means '*', '-' means '/', '/' means '+' and '*' means '-', what is the value of 20/ 40? 4 * 5 +6?
a) 0
b) 60
c) 120
d) 180

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Answer
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34
Trick Series Interview Problem

Analyze the following series and complete it.

BXF, DVI, FTL, HRO, _ ?
a) JPL
b) KPL
c) JOL
d) None of These

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

None of These

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35
Logic Half Filled Bucket Puzzle

In an editorial department, there is a common bin where people throw their waste papers. If the
number of waste papers become double every minute and it takes one hour for the basket to
become full.

After how many minutes will the basket be half filled ?

a) 30
b) 49
 c) 59
d) 25

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

59

Answer
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36
Adobe Birthday Puzzle

Saif was born on 11 August. Kareena is 11 days younger to Saif. On a particular year,
Independence Day falls on Monday.

On which day will Kareena's birthday fall on that particular year?

a) Monday
b) Wednesday
c) Friday
d) Sunday

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Sunday

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37
Adobe Cipher Puzzle

Robert Langdon was decrypting a code message. In the code language 'Gura Beha' meant 'Clear
Water', 'Puak Goma' meant 'Overcast Sky' and 'Puak Suka Beha' meant 'Clear Blue Sky'.

What code word was used to represent the word 'Blue'?

a) Puak
b) Beha
c) Suka
d) Gura
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

Suka

Answer
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38
Rooms Maths Interview Problem

There are three departments of students in a school. These departments comprises of 64, 58 and
24 students respectively. In an exam, a strict examiner is appointed who asks the officials to make
them sit in a manner that every room has equal number of students and also only a single student
of one departments can be seated in one room.

How many rooms will be required to fulfill it?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

73

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39
Combination Interview Problem

22 Players have been allotted in the team of Argentina. The captain of the team is from Brazil and
the goalkeeper is from a European team. For the remaining twenty players, they have picked six
players from Argentina and fourteen from Europe. In a match, only eleven players are required
which must comprise of the captain and the goalkeeper. For the remaining nine players, the
manager decides to select three from Argentina and six from Europe.

What are the number of methods available for such a formation?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

160600
Answer
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40
Interview Problem On Determining Speed

Adam and Eve are boating in a river upstream. They are carrying a magical leaf that can heal any
kind of wounds. After rowing the boat for a mile, Eve notices that the leaf has fallen in the river.
After five minutes, she tells Adam that the leaf has fallen. In order to get the leaf back, they turn
around and grab the leaf at the point from where they had begun boating after five minutes.

What is the speed of the river?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

6 miles/hour

41
Age Interview Problem

When Daniel was married ten years ago, his wife was the sixth member of the family. Daniel's
father died today and a baby is born. If the average age of Daniel's family during his marriage is
same as of today.

calculate the age of his father when he died ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

70 minutes

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42
Time Work Interview Puzzle

The water supplies in a village has been destroyed. A social corporation begins distributing water
jugs in the village. The jugs can be passed only to two persons in five minutes.

How long will it take to pass the water jugs to 768 persons?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

47.5 minutes

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43
Time To Work Problem

If a class project is completed by all the Girls in X hours.

How much time is taken by Girls and Boys together?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

G*X/G+B (G=Girls, B= Boys)

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44
Easy Interview Age Riddle

Niyati is as young as Piya and as old as Neeti. The sum of the ages of Piya and Neeti is 40.

How old is Niyanti?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

20

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45
Maths Algebra Aptitude Problem

In a manufacturing plant, a commodity is manufactured 1000 times in x dollars. If the quantity of

the commodity is increased, the cost becomes y dollars.

If the increased number of items are z, what is the total cost in the terms of x, y and z ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1000 (x-y) + yz

46
Time Distance Statement Problem

If the distance of Anastasia's house from Bella's house is 10 Km and the distance of Cinna's house
from Bella's house is 17 Km.

Which of the following statement is true?

a) Anastasia lives between the houses of Bella and Cinna.
b) Bella lives between the houses of Anastasia and Cinna.
c) Cinna lives between the houses of Anastasia and Bella
d) Both A and B.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Both A and B

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47
Mathematics Set Problem

In a university, 7500 students study. If 75% of them opted to study science and 45% students
opted to study mathematics.

How many students in total opted for both?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1500

Explanation:
As we know, n(A n B)=n(A)+n(B)-n(A U B)
=> n(A) = 0.75x7500 = 5625.
and n(B) = 0.45x7500 = 3375
n(A U B)= 7500

=> Ans is 5625+3375-7500 = 1500(Answer)

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48
Samsung Logic Problem

Tony Stark is standing in the queue for the current show of Iron Man 3. If he is standing at the
11th position from both the ends of the row.

How many people are standing in the row?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

21

Explanation:
There are 10 ahead of him and there are 10 behind him + tony stark himslef

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49
Number Sequence Interview Problem

Find the missing item in the sequence

2,7,6,14,12,28,20,56, ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

30

Explanation :
It can be divided into 2 series
A) 2 6 12 20 ?
B) 7 14 28 56

Series A is related to our answer =>

2
6 (+4)
12(+6)
20(+8)

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50
Cipher Interview Problem

Sherlock Holmes was decoding an encrypted message. If in the encryption, DISTANCE is written as
IDTUBECN and DOCUMENT is written as ODDVNTNE.

Can you help him decipher HTTQYAD?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

THURSDAY

Explanation:
The first two alphabets are interchanged.
For the next three alphabets, the succeeding alphabet is written.
And then the last three alphabets are reversed.

51
Interview Area Problem

If I want to increase the length of the rectangle by 20% and decrease the breadth of the rectangle
by 20%, then the area is

a) Increases by 4%
b) Decreases by 4%
c) Remains Same
d) None of the Above

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Decreases by 4%

Explanation:
New Length : 1.2
New Height : 0.8

Area = 1.2 * .8 = 0.96 (Decreases by 4%)

Answer
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52
Time Work Interview Problem

wo passenger trains are traveling in opposite direction. The distance between them is 110 Kms.
One of them starts at 4 AM and the other starts at 5 AM on a velocity of 20 and 25 KMPH
respectively.

What is the time when they both will meet?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

7 AM

Explanation:
Train A covers 20x3 km i.e. 60 kms in 3hrs and
Train B covers 25x2 km i.e. 50 kms in 2hrs => total of 110kms

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53
Maths Magic Riddle

I can prove why 1 = 2

Step1. Lets say y = x

Step2. Multiply through by x xy = x2
Step3. Subtract y2 from each side xy - y2 = x2 - y2
Step4. Factor each side y(x-y) = (x+y)(x-y)
Step5. Divide both sides by (x-y) y = x+y
Step6. Divide both sides by y y/y = x/y + y/y
Step7. And so... 1 = x/y + 1
Step8. Since x=y, x/y = 1 1 = 1 + 1
Step9. And so... 1 = 2

How is this possible ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Step 5 is invalid, because we are dividing by (x-y), and since x=y, we are thus dividing by 0. This is
an invalid mathematical operation (division by 0), and so by not following basic mathematical rules
Answer
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54
Most Popular Logical Puzzle

Outside a room there are three light switches. One of switch is connected to a light bulb inside the
room.
Each of the three switches can be either 'ON' or 'OFF'.

You are allowed to set each switch the way you want it and then enter the room(note: you can
enter the room only once)

Your task is to then determine which switch controls the bulb ??

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Set the first switches on for abt 10min, and then switch on the second switch and then enter the
room.
Three cases are possible
1.Bulb is on => second switch is the ans
2.Bulb is off and on touching bulb , you will find bulb to be warm
=>1st switch is the ans.
3.Bulb is off and on touching second bulb , you will find bulb to be normal(not warm)
=>3rd bulb is the ans.

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55
IAS Interview Problem

I need to divide numbers from 1 to 9 into two group such that sum of numbers in one group is
equal to the sum of other group.
Note : 6 cannot be flipped over to make it 9.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 8 6

Since summation of numbers 1-9(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) is 45 , so its impossible to divide into two equal
parts.
Since we cant flip over 6 to make it 9 but we can flip 9 to make it 6 and hence the solution

56
Math IQ Question

Adam is one of the finalist in an IQ championship. As the final test, he is provided with two
hourglass. One of them can measure eleven minutes while the other one can measure thirteen
minutes.
He is asked to measure exactly fifteen minutes using those two hourglasses. How will he do it ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Fifteen minutes can easily be measure using these two hour glasses.

Step 1: He will start both the hourglass.

Step 2: The moment the eleven minute hourglass is empty, he will invert it.

Step 3: When the thirteen minutes hourglass is empty, he will invert the eleven minute hourglass.
In step 3, we will have counted thirteen minutes. Since we inverted the eleven minute hourglass in
step 2, it started from fresh and was inverted just for two minutes (13-11=2). In this manner when it
is reversed when the thirteen minute hourglass is finished, it will have two minutes of sand left. This
time when the sand finishes, he will have measured fifteen minutes. (13+2=15)

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57
Induction Brain Teasers

Three college toppers are summoned by the inspecting faculty. To identify the best from them, the
faculty takes them into a room and places one hat on each of their heads. Now all of them can see
the hats on other's heads but can't see his own. There are two colored hats- green and red.

Now the faculty announces that he had made sure that the competition is extremely fair to all three
of them. He also gives them a hint that at least one of them is wearing a red hat. Now the first one
who is able to deduce his own hat color will be awarded the most intelligent student of all award.
After a few minutes, one of them raises his hand and is able to deduce the color correctly.

How?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There are two things to keep in mind:

Firstly there is at least one red hat. (There can be two or three as well).
Secondly the competition is fair for everyone.
Thus if there is only one red hat, that person will see two green hats on other heads and will be able
to deduce his own color as red. However the other students will see one red and one green hat and
can never be sure. In such manner, the competition will prove to be partial for one student.

Suppose if there are two red hats. Then the students who are wearing red hats will see one red and
one green hat on others. Now they must have deduced that there can't be just one red hat. Thus they
will know that they are also wearing a red hat. But the one who is wearing a green hat will see two
red hats and can never be sure of his own color. In this case as well, the competition will not be fair.

Thus the only possible and fair means is if all of them are wearing a red hat. The one who is able to
deduce the situation first, will raise his hand and will tell the correct answer.

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58
Best Thinking Brain Teaser Ever

Three men are living in a desert namely - Alex, Brian and Chris.

Alex hates Chris and thus he decides to kill him. To succeed in his evil intentions, he poison the
water supply of Chris. Since they are living in desert, he will have to drink water or he will die of
thirst.

Brian is not aware of the actions of Alex and he plans to kill Chris as well. To do this, he killed the
water supply of Chris.

Chris dies due to his thirst. Who killed him?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This is more of a philosophical question than being a riddle or a puzzle. The action of Brian directly led
to the result which is the death of Chris. Thus he murdered Chris. In a sense, Chris died due to the
lack of water. It is the circumstances that ultimately led to his death.

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59
Yahoo Tricky Series Interview Question
 Find the next term in the series

1, 3/2, 5/4, 7/8, __?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This one is a tricky series and here we shall tell you a common way to solve the series problem when
fractions are involved. You will find that so many series can be solved the way this one is solved.

Just look at the numerator and denominator separately

Numerators = 1, 3, 5, 7
Two is added to each one, thus the next number will be 9.

Denominators = 1, 2, 4, 8
Every next term is the double of previous, thus the next term will be 16.

So, the next term in the series will be 9/16.

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60
Salary Interview Question

I got my salary on Sunday. On Monday, I spent a quarter of that in buying a new smartphone. On
Tuesday, I spent one third of the remaining in buying a music player. On Wednesday, I spent half
of the remaining on buying new furniture. On Thursday, I was left with just $125 and I bought an
old laptop from that.

What is the salary I received on Sunday?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us move backwards.

On Thursday, I had $125.

On Wednesday, I had $125 (1 / one half) = $250
On Tuesday I had $250 (1 / two third) = $375
On Monday, I had $375 (1 / three quarters) = $500

Thus my salary is $500.

61
Yahoo Logical Mathematics Interview Question

Suppose that you are building a tower using play bricks. A white brick is 19 mm tall whereas a
black brick is 21 mm tall.

If you want to build a tower 562 mm tall, how many of each will be required?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

According to the question

19W + 21B = 562 (where W stands for white bricks and B stands for black bricks)

The easiest way to solve this problem would be putting in the values for W, till we achieve an answer
which is divisible by 21.
Why? Because it is must for the statement to be true.

If W = 1
21B = 562 - 19 = 543 i.e. not divisible

If W = 2
21B = 562 - 38 = 524 i.e. not divisible

If W = 3
21B = 562 - 57 = 505 i.e. not divisible

If W = 4
21B = 562 - 76 = 486 i.e. not divisible

If W = 5
21B = 562 - 95 = 467 i.e. not divisible

If W = 6
21B = 562 - 114 = 448 i.e. not divisible

If W = 7
21B = 562 - 133 = 429 i.e. not divisible

If W = 8
21B = 562 - 152 = 410 i.e. not divisible

If W = 9
21B = 562 - 171 = 391 i.e. not divisible

If W = 10
21B = 562 - 190 = 372 i.e. not divisible

If W = 11
21B = 562 - 209 = 353 i.e. not divisible

If W = 12
21B = 562 - 228 = 334 i.e. not divisible

If W = 13
21B = 562 - 247 = 315 i.e. divisible

Thus W must be 13 and if W = 13

B = 315/21 = 15

Thus to form that tower, 13 white bricks and 15 black bricks will be required.

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62
Jumbled Words Interview Question

If you look closely at the letters mentioned below, you will find four related words that have been
merged and jumbled up. Can you?

RENM IPUR TNTU SAWS GERM NIMU

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Spring, summer, autumn and winter.

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63
Tricky Clock Interview Puzzle

If you see a reflection of an analogue clock which shows 2:30, what will be the original time?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Though the question is very simple, most of the people answer it wrong. The real time will be 9:30. If
you don't believe us, take a clock with 9:30 time in front of the mirror and look for yourself.

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64
Guess the Password Interview Puzzle

I was working in a highly secured company that needed to keep highest possible encryption. On a
random day I logged into my system and it said password denied. Then it caught my attention that
the passwords were changed randomly on any day for maximum security and that it could only be
obtained from the boss in that case.

I went to the cabin of my boss and said, "Boss, my old password is out of dare."
 He replied, "Yes I know about it. Though your new password is different, it has the same amount of
letters as your previous one and also four of the letters are same."

Can you deduce the old password and the new password?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Old password - Out of Date

New Password - Different

Both of them are given in the statements if you read closely.

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65
Yahoo Interview Tricky Question

Select any four numbers out of the following such that the sum is twelve.

1 6 1
6 1 6
1 6 1
6 1 6

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This is quite a tricky question. To solve it you must turn the grid upside down and then you will have
the following numbers:

9 1 9
1 9 1
9 1 9
1 9 1

Now if you select a 9 and three 1, the sum will be 12.

It's quite easy to solve but what matters is if you can approach the possibility of it.

66
Yahoo Interview Anagram Puzzle

Following are some four letter words. If an alphabet is added to each one of them and they are
rearranged, they can form a five letter word. Also, the thus found seven letters are an anagram to
a seven letter word.

Can you find all that?

The words are:

 Mail
Exit
Gosh
City

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

MAIL + C = CLAIM
EXIT + S = EXIST
GOSH + T = GHOST
CITY + H = ITCHY
NEWT + I = TWINE
DENY + E = NEEDY
MINI + M = MINIM

The seven letters are CSTHIEM which can be rearranged to form CHEMIST.

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67
Interview Marble Logic Puzzle

You are given a set of scales and 12 marbles. The scales are of the old balance variety. That is, a
small dish hangs from each end of a rod that is balanced in the middle. The device enables you to
conclude either that the contents of the dishes weigh the same or that the dish that falls lower has
heavier contents than the other.
The 12 marbles appear to be identical. In fact, 11 of them are identical, and one is of a different
weight. Your task is to identify the unusual marble and discard it. You are allowed to use the scales
three times if you wish, but no more.

Note that the unusual marble may be heavier or lighter than the others. You are asked to both
identify it and determine whether it is heavy or light.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

So that the following plan can be followed, let us number the coins from 1 to 12. For the first weighing
let us put on the left pan coins 1,2,3,4 and on the right pan coins 5,6,7,8.

There are two possibilities. Either they balance, or they don't. If they balance, then the different coin
is in the group 9,10,11,12. So for our second one possibility is to weigh 9,10,11 against 1,2,3

(1) They balance, in which case you know 12 is the different coin, and you just weigh it against any
other to determine whether it is heavy or light.
(2) 9,10,11 is heavy. In this case, you know that the different coin is 9, 10, or 11, and that that coin
is heavy. Simply weigh 9 against 10; if they balance, 11 is the heavy coin. If not, the heavier one is
the heavy coin.
(3) 9,10,11 is light. Proceed as in the step above, but the coin you're looking for is the light one.
That was the easy part.

What if the first weighing 1,2,3,4 vs 5,6,7,8 does not balance? Then any one of these coins could be
the different coin. Now, in order to proceed, we must keep track of which side is heavy for each of the
following weighings.

Suppose that 5,6,7,8 is the heavy side. We now weigh 1,5,6 against 2,7,8. If they balance, then the
different coin is either 3 or 4. Weigh 4 against 9, a known good coin. If they balance then the different
coin is 3, otherwise it is 4. The direction of the tilts can tell us whwther the offending coin is heavier or
lighter.

Now, if 1,5,6 vs 2,7,8 does not balance, and 2,7,8 is the heavy side, then either 7 or 8 is a different,
heavy coin, or 1 is a different, light coin.

For the third weighing, weigh 7 against 8. Whichever side is heavy is the different coin. If they
balance, then 1 is the different coin. Should the weighing of 1,5, 6 vs 2,7,8 show 1,5,6 to be the
heavy side, then either 5 or 6 is a different heavy coin or 2 is a light different coin. Weigh 5 against 6.
The heavier one is the different coin. If they balance, then 2 is a different light coin.

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68
Logic Problem Brain Teaser

The world is facing a serious viral infection. The government of various countries have issued every
citizen two bottles. You as well have been given the same. Now one pill from each bottle is to be
taken every day for a month to become immune to the virus. The problem is that if you take just
one, or if you take two from the same bottle, you will die a painful death.

While using it, you hurriedly open the bottles and pour the tablets in your hand. Three tablets come
down in your hand and you realize they look exactly the same and have same characteristics. You
can't throw away the pill as they are limited and you can't put them back or you may put it wrong
and may die someday.

How will you ensure that you are taking the right pill?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

You must put labels on the tablets as A and B before using. In that case, if you pour tablets together,
you will get 3A, 2A 1B, 1A 2B or 3B. If they are from the same bottles you can take one from another
bottle and save the remaining two for another day. If you get two from same and one from other, you
can draw one from another bottle and you will have two pairs of which you can eat one and save the
other.

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69
Hard Yahoo Logical Mathematics Interview Question

In an old town, there lived a pot maker who wanted to sell the last stock of his craft to a merchant.
When the merchant asked him how many pots he had, he replied that he was unable to count after
100. But he gave him certain clues to figure out for himself:

If the number of pots are divided by two, there will be one left.
If they are divided by three, there will be one left.
If they are divided by four, there will be one left.
If they are divided by five, there will be one left.
If they are divided by six, there will be one left.
If they are divided by seven, there will be one left.
If they are divided by eight, there will be one left.
If they are divided by nine, there will be one left.
If they are divided by ten, there will be one left.
But if they are divided by eleven, there will be no pot left.

Can you find the number of pots, the pot maker possess?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

You may solve this question with different methods but we are only giving away one.

What you have to do in that method is look for a number x to which all the numbers from 2 to 10
divide evenly. Multiplying the numbers together (2*3*4*5*6*7*8*9*10) will give you a big number
but we have to find a smaller possibility. What we can do is find the prime factors, a subset of which
we can use to form a number from 2 to 10.

2*2*2*3*3*5*7 will certainly give us what we need. The product is 2520 and it is the lowest possible
number which can be evenly divided by 2-10.

Now if we add 1 to the number, the result will be 2521 which will satisfy all the conditions from 2 to
10. But will not hold true in case of 11.

If you calculate, you will see that you can multiply 2520 by any integer and add 1 to it to satisfy all
the conditions except the divisibility by 11. What we need is an integer Y that can be multiplied by
2520 and if we add 1 to the product, it becomes divisible by 11.

2520/11 leaves a remainder 1. Now let us keep increasing the number of 2520. Suppose if we divide
two 2520 by 11, the remainder then will be 1 + 1 = 2. If we keep going on like that. Ten 2520 when
divided by 11 will give 10 as remainder and if we add 1 to them, it will be completely divisible. Also it
will satisfy all the conditions from 2-10.

Thus our answer is 25201.

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70
Interesting Gold Bar Interiew Puzzle

You are a king of an empire. You have a servant working in your palace. He works all the seven
days and you only pay him in the form of gold bar. You must pay the worker for his work every day
at the end of the day.

If you are only able to make two breaks in the gold bar, how will you pay the servant if the servant
works for the equal time every day and thus equal amount must be paid at the end of the day?
Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

If you are thinking of how to cut in such a way that you are able to make seven equal pieces, you are
thinking in the wrong direction. You should give more stress on how to make the transaction with the
worker.

You have to break the gold bar two times so you have the following sizes of the bar:

1/7---- Bar A
2/7---- Bar B
4/7---- Bar C

When the day 1 ends:

Give Bar A (You remain with Bar B and Bar C; Worker possess - Bar A)

When the day 2 ends:

Give Bar B and take the Bar A back (You remain with Bar A and Bar C; Worker possess - Bar B)

When the day 3 ends:

Give Bar A (You remain with Bar C; Worker possess - Bar A and Bar B)

When the day 4 ends:

Give Bar C and take back Bar A and Bar B (You remain with Bar A and Bar B; Worker possess - Bar C)

When the day 5 ends:

Give Bar A (You remain with Bar B; Worker possess - Bar A and Bar C)

When the day 6 ends:

Give Bar B and take back Bar A (You remain with Bar A; Worker possess - Bar B and Bar C)

When the day 7 ends:

Give Bar A (You remain with no bar; Worker possess - Bar A, Bar B and Bar C)

Thus by the end of seven days, you have taken care of everything.

71
Water Measurement Riddle

A barman is having a 12 liters jug full of beer. He needs to divide or split that beer into two equal
parts. All he has is two empty jugs of capacity 8 liters and 5 liters.

How will he do it using them?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :
Solution:

First fill the 8 liters jug complete - 4, 8, 0

Fill the 5 liters jug with 8 liters jug - 4, 3, 5
Pour back the beer from 5 liters jug to 12 liters jug - 9, 3, 0
Pour the 3 liters from 8 liters jug to 5 liters jug - 9, 0, 3
Fill the 8 liters jug completely from 12 liters jug - 1, 8, 3
Fill the 5 liters jug from the 8 liters jug - 1, 6, 5
Pour the entire 5 liters jug back in 12 liters jug - 6, 6, 0

You have successfully split the beer into two equal parts.

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72
Lateral Thinking Problem

Suppose there is a Christmas tree and four angels are sitting on it amidst the other ornaments.
Two of them have black halos and two of them have white halos. No body among them can see
above their head. Angel A is sitting on the top branch and can see angels B and C sitting below
him. B can see C who is sitting in a branch lower than his. Angel D is at the base of the tree and
can't be seen due to the branches in between. Also, he can't see anybody as well.

If they are asked to guess the color of their own halo (they dont know that), who do you think will
be able to deduce and speak up first with a right answer?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Now there can be two solutions to the given situation because there can be two situations:
Suppose if B and C have same colors, A will know that his color is the other one and he will be able to
speak up the first.
Now if B and C do not have same colors, A will stay silent. This will tell B that his and C's colors are
different. Thus he will speak up first.

So either A or B will speak up first depending on the situation.

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73
Hard Ten Boxes Interview Puzzle
 You have ten boxes and an electronic weighing machine. In those ten boxes, you have chocolates.
Each chocolate weigh 20 grams. But in one box the chocolates are defective and each weigh 19
grams exactly.

Now you can weigh in the electronic weighing machine but you can use that machine just once.
How will you find out which box has the defected chocolates.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

If you are thinking to hold one chocolate from each box in hand and then balancing weight in bare
hands, you are thinking all wrong.

Let us begin by labelling boxes as 1, 2, 3 and so on till 10.

Now pick one chocolate from box 1, two chocolates from box 2, three from box 3 and so on. In total,
you will have 55 chocolates now. (1 + 2 + 3 +..... + 10)

The ideal weight of the chocolates should be 55 * 20 = 1100. However, somewhere in there are the
defected chocolate/s.

You can judge that clearly by noting down the result of 1100 - total weight of chocolates. If the weight
is less than 1 gram, the defected box is box 1, if the weight is less than 2 grams, the defected box is
box 2 and so on.

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74
Famous 13 Cave Logic Problem

A thief was running from the police after the biggest theft the town saw. He took his guard in one
of the thirteen caves arranged in a circle. Each day, the thief moves either to the adjacent cave or
stay in the same cave. Two cops goes there daily and have enough time to enter any two of the
caves out of them.

How will the cop make sure to catch the thief in minimum number of days and what are the
minimum number of days?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

One of the cop will move clockwise while the other will move anti-clockwise every day. In such a
manner, they will catch the thief in minimum seven days.

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75
Hard Logic Statement Riddle

There are a hundred statements.

1st person says: At least one of the statements is incorrect.
2nd person says: At least two of the statements is incorrect.
3rd person says: At least three of the statements are incorrect.
4th person says: At least four of the statements are incorrect.
..
..
..
100th person says: At least a hundred of the statements are incorrect.

Now analyze all the statements and find out how many of them are incorrect and how many are
true?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The 100th statement for sure is incorrect because it says that at least 100 of the statements are
incorrect.

Suppose if that is correct, then 100 statements cannot be true.

This suggests that the 100th statement is incorrect and that the first statement is true.

Similarly 99 statements cannot be true because if they were true, then two statements would become
correct i.e. the 1st and the 99th.
But the 99th statement says that at least 99 are incorrect.
This suggests that the 99th statement is incorrect and that 2ndone is true.

If we keep analyzing is the same way till the end, we will find out that only the first fifty statements
are true and all the remaining ones are incorrect.

76
Tricky Iq Question

In a jar, there are some orange candies and some strawberry candies. You pick up two candies at a
time randomly. If the two candies are of same flavor, you throw them away and put a strawberry
candy inside. If they are of opposite flavors, you throw them away and put an orange candy inside.

In such manner, you will be reducing the candies in the jar one at a time and will eventually be left
with only one candy in the jar.

If you are told about the respective number of orange and strawberry candies at the outset, will it
be feasible for you to predict the flavor of the final remaining candy ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

At each draw, the number of strawberry candies are either decreasing by 2 or not decreasing at all. In
the case of orange candies, at each draw, they are either increasing by 1 or decreasing by 1.
Thus on an assumed outset with at least one candy in the jar to begin with, if the number of
strawberry candies are 0 or are even in numbers, they will finish off leaving an orange candy at the
end. If otherwise, the remaining candy will be a strawberry one.

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77
Game Of Dice Brain Teaser

A unique solo game of dice is being played. Two dices are thrown in each turn and the scores are
taken by multiplying the numbers obtained.

Now talking about a particular game, here are the facts:

1) The score for the second roll is five more than the score for the first roll.
2) The score for the third roll is six less than the score for the second roll.
3) The score for the fourth roll is eleven more than the score for the third roll.
4) The score for the fifth roll is eight less than the score for the fourth roll.

Reading the above facts, can you tell the score for each of the five throws?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

10,15,9,20,12

Explanation:
The score obtained on the first throw is 10.
The score obtained on the second throw is 15.
The score obtained on the third throw is 9.
The score obtained on the fourth throw is 20.
The score obtained on the fifth throw is 12.

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78
Funny Brain Twister

We all know that New Year occurs after a week from Christmas and thus it falls on the same day as
of Christmas. But this will not happen in 2050. In 2050, Christmas will appear on Sunday while
New Year will appear on Saturday.

How can this be possible ?

 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

Read the question carefully again. New Year do falls after Christmas but that happens if two different
years. The question is put up against the year 2050 and thus there will be 51 weeks and 2 days in
between them as New Year will appear on 1 January 2050 and Christmas will happen on 25 December
2050.

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79
Interesting Bet Puzzle

In a bowl, there are several chits with distinct numbers on them. You have to choose any two of
them at random.

Will you accept the 2 to 1 bet that the numbers will be relatively prime will you accept it?

For instance:
If the numbers you pick are 6 and 13, you lose $1.
If the numbers you pick are 5 and 25, you win $2.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The probability of two numbers being relatively prime is 60%. Thus if you keep playing the bet, you
will hypothetically make 20 cents on every play.

Thus, you should accept the bet.

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80
Lateral Thinking Problem

Suppose there is a Christmas tree and four angels are sitting on it amidst the other ornaments.
Two of them have black halos and two of them have white halos. No body among them can see
above their head. Angel A is sitting on the top branch and can see angels B and C sitting below
him. B can see C who is sitting in a branch lower than his. Angel D is at the base of the tree and
can't be seen due to the branches in between. Also, he can't see anybody as well.
 If they are asked to guess the color of their own halo (they dont know that), who do you think will
be able to deduce and speak up first with a right answer?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Now there can be two solutions to the given situation because there can be two situations:
Suppose if B and C have same colors, A will know that his color is the other one and he will be able to
speak up the first.
Now if B and C do not have same colors, A will stay silent. This will tell B that his and C's colors are
different. Thus he will speak up first.

So either A or B will speak up first depending on the situation.

81
Popular Interview Problem

I have two rectangular bars.

They have property such that when you light the fire from one end , it will take exactly 60 seconds
to get completely burn.
However they do not burn at consistent speed (i.e it might be possible that 40 percent burn in 55
seconds and next 60 percent can burn in 10 seconds).

Problem is : How do you measure 45 seconds ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Steps:
1) Light fire on first bar from both the ends and second bar from one end.

2) After 30 seconds(when first bar gets completely burned out) , burn the second bar from second end
as well.

3) When second run completely gets burned , you know its 45 seconds.

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82
Water Measurement Riddle

A barman is having a 12 liters jug full of beer. He needs to divide or split that beer into two equal
parts. All he has is two empty jugs of capacity 8 liters and 5 liters.

How will he do it using them?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :
Solution:

First fill the 8 liters jug complete - 4, 8, 0

Fill the 5 liters jug with 8 liters jug - 4, 3, 5
Pour back the beer from 5 liters jug to 12 liters jug - 9, 3, 0
Pour the 3 liters from 8 liters jug to 5 liters jug - 9, 0, 3
Fill the 8 liters jug completely from 12 liters jug - 1, 8, 3
Fill the 5 liters jug from the 8 liters jug - 1, 6, 5
Pour the entire 5 liters jug back in 12 liters jug - 6, 6, 0

You have successfully split the beer into two equal parts.

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83
Logical Arrangement Bonfire Puzzle

30 classmates went for a bonfire. While sitting around the fire, they decided to play a game. To
play it, they divided themselves into 5 teams in a way that there were 5 rows having 7 people
each.

How can this arrangement be possible while sitting around the bonfire?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

If you see the picture, they formed a pentagonal shape and achieved the require

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84
Hard Ten Boxes Interview Puzzle

You have ten boxes and an electronic weighing machine. In those ten boxes, you have chocolates.
Each chocolate weigh 20 grams. But in one box the chocolates are defective and each weigh 19
grams exactly.

Now you can weigh in the electronic weighing machine but you can use that machine just once.
How will you find out which box has the defected chocolates.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

If you are thinking to hold one chocolate from each box in hand and then balancing weight in bare
hands, you are thinking all wrong.

Let us begin by labelling boxes as 1, 2, 3 and so on till 10.

Now pick one chocolate from box 1, two chocolates from box 2, three from box 3 and so on. In total,
you will have 55 chocolates now. (1 + 2 + 3 + ..... + 10)

The ideal weight of the chocolates should be 55 * 20 = 1100. However, somewhere in there are the
defected chocolate/s.

You can judge that clearly by noting down the result of 1100 - total weight of chocolates. If the weight
is less than 1 gram, the defected box is box 1, if the weight is less than 2 grams, the defected box is
box 2 and so on.

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85
Riddle 1 - 1 !=3

Can you move four matchsticks to make the equation true?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :
Solution:

It can be solve as shown below.

86
Logic Problem Brain Teaser

The world is facing a serious viral infection. The government of various countries have issued every
citizen two bottles. You as well have been given the same. Now one pill from each bottle is to be
taken every day for a month to become immune to the virus. The problem is that if you take just
one, or if you take two from the same bottle, you will die a painful death.

While using it, you hurriedly open the bottles and pour the tablets in your hand. Three tablets come
down in your hand and you realize they look exactly the same and have same characteristics. You
can't throw away the pill as they are limited and you can't put them back or you may put it wrong
and may die someday.

How will you ensure that you are taking the right pill?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

You must put labels on the tablets as A and B before using. In that case, if you pour tablets together,
you will get 3A, 2A 1B, 1A 2B or 3B. If they are from the same bottles you can take one from another
bottle and save the remaining two for another day. If you get two from same and one from other, you
can draw one from another bottle and you will have two pairs of which you can eat one and save the
other.

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87
Chasing Cats Interview Question

Suppose that there is a unit square. There are four cats sitting at the four different corners of the
square. Each of those cats start chasing the other cat in the clockwise direction. The speed of the
cats are same and constant and they continuously change their direction in a manner that they are
always heading straight to the other cat.

How long will it take for the cats to catch each other? Where will they catch each other?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

Let us denote the cats with A, B, C and D in a fashion that A is chasing B, B is chasing C, C is chasing
D and D is chasing A. The cats are moving in symmetry and thus the only logical answer is that they
will meet at the center of the square.

At any point of time, the Cat A is perpendicular to cat B and Cat B is perpendicular to Cat C and so on.
Cat A runs for Cat B but Cat B does not run towards or away from Cat A for it is moving in a
perpendicular direction to Cat A. Thus the distance that need to be covered by Cat A to grab Cat B will
be exactly same as the original distance between them which in this case is one unit (as it is a unit
square).

Thus the speed of each cat towards the cat it is chasing will be [1 + cos (x)] where x denotes the
angle on each corner.

Thus speed of the cat = 1 + cos (90) = 1 + 0 = 1

The time needed = Distance / Speed = 1/1 = 1 unit

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88
Light Switches Interview Puzzle

A room has three light switches. The light switches are located outside the room with a closed door.
Only one of them is the actual switch that can control the lights inside the room. You are allowed to
turn those switches as many times as you wish. Please note that you can't identify from outside
whether the lights are on or off.

You can enter the room only once to see the light. You can't change the light switches once you are
inside. Rule out all the illogical answers like there is a window in the room or someone inside can
help you with the answer etcetera.

Based on what information and guidelines have been provided to you, can you determine the exact
switch that controls the light inside the room?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Even though the question might sound quite difficult, there is quite a simple solution for it if you light
up your logics. All you have to do is turn two switches on and keep one off. Keep them in the same
position for some 10 minutes and then shut one of them off. Hurry up into the room now.

There can be two possibilities - either the light are on or they are off. If they are on, you know which
switch controls the lights as you have left only one switch on. If the lights are off, it can be either of
the two remaining switches. All you have to do is touch the lights with your bare hand. If the lights
are hot, it is the switch which you just turned off before entering the room and if the lights are cold, it
is the switch which was left untouched and was off since the beginning.
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89
Airplane Collision Interview Question

Read the question carefully as it can be quite tricky. There are four airplanes flying in four different
directions. Each of the plane navigates a straight line at a constant speed. Please keep in mind that
none of the two planes are flying parallel with each other. They began flying at the same time long
time ago. Sometimes, even a collision takes place but the strong build, makes the planes continue
with the journey. But even the sturdy built can only survive two collisions and after that the plane
will crash.

Out of the six possible collisions, five have already taken place (do note that the collisions did not
involve more than two planes at one time). Two planes have already crashed. What will be the fate
of the remaining two planes?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us assume that the z axis denotes the time and x and y axis denote the 2D planet. The four
trajectories in that case are straight lines. Since no collisions involved more than two air planes, the
four lines must be lying in the same plane. Now you must be thinking that the other two planes will
collide as well.

But consider the fact that they might have collided in the negative time. Thus you can't be sure with
the provided facts if the two remaining planes will collide or not.

There can be both possibilities. The first assumption depicts that the four air planes fly in a manner
that there is no collision between the ships. However in the second diagram, the four airplanes fly in a
manner that there is collision between them.

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90
Logical Sequence Interview Problem

Identify the next number in the sequence

31, 28, 31, 30, __?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Did you consider the fact that we could be talking months here?
January - 31 days
February - 28 days
March - 31 days
April - 30 days
May - 31 days

Thus the next number in the sequence will be 31.

91
Age of Children Interview Puzzle

Lincoln and Michael gets acquainted in a bar. Lincoln offers a drink to Michael and they begin
chatting. After a small conversation, Lincoln comes to know that Michael is married and has three
children. He asks him, "How old are your children?" Michael thinks and then replies that the product
of his children's ages is 72. Lincoln is puzzled and says that the information is not enough.

Michael tells him that if he goes outside and look at the building number posted on the door to the
bar, he will get the sum of their ages. Lincoln goes outside and returns. Still puzzled, He tells
Michael that the information is still not enough. Michael smiles and tells him that his youngest child
loves strawberry ice cream.

How old are the children?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

In this question, let us think through the mind of Lincoln. At the first information of the product of the
ages being 72, he must have calculated the number of ways in which the three ages can be multiplied
in order to obtain 72. Of course there are many ways and therefore he asked for more info. Then
Michael tells him how to find the sum of the ages of his children. Of course, we don't know what he
saw. But he said that the information was still not enough.

Now why did he say so? It is because there must be two permutations with the same sum or he would
have identified the ages easily. Now what are those two permutations?

The two possible permutations are 8 3 3 and 6 6 2. Both of them adds up to 14 (which would be the
bar's address).

The last hint by Michael was that his youngest child loves to eat strawberry ice cream. The term
youngest means that there is only one youngest child. If you see the permutation 8 3 3, it will mean
that there are two youngest children. Thus it does not stand valid with the third hint. So, we are only
left with one possibility i.e. 6 6 2.

Thus the ages of his children are 6, 6 and 2.

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92
Poisoned Wine Interview Puzzle

A King has a collection of 1000 bottles of irresistible and one of the finest wines in the world. The
king is quite fond of drinking which is taken to be as a weak point by the neighboring king, He
creates a plan to kill the king so that he can take over his kingdom and increase his power. He send
 in a servant to poison the wines with a deadly virus that is so strong that even if it is diluted a
million times, it will still have an effect and will kill the king over a prolonged duration of one
month.

The servant is able to mix poison in only one of the wines when the guards catch him. The servant
is killed and thus the truth behind which of the 1000 bottles is poisoned dies with him. The king call
up his advisor who is quite clever. He tells the king something which brightens up his face. He
summons some of his prisoners. Seeking what the advisor told him, he knows that he will not have
to murder more than ten prisoners and he will be able to enjoy the rest of the 999 bottles of wine
after a month's time.

What trick did the advisor tell the king? How will the king be able to achieve what he thinks?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Now this problem is a bit tricky. Before you start panicking about the solution let us give you a hint.
You need to think in terms of binary numbers.

There are 1000 bottles which should be labeled from 1 to 1000 first. Now write those numbers in
binary format.

Bottle Number 1 = 0000000001

Bottle number 2 = 0000000010
Bottle number 500 = 0111110100
Bottle number 1000 = 1111101000

Now the king will summon ten prisoners and label them from 1 to 10. The prisoner labeled as 1 will
take a sip from those bottles that have a 1 in its least significant bit and the prisoner labeled as 10 will
take a sip from every bottle that have a 1 in its most significant bit etcetera.

Let us frame an example. The wine from the bottle number 924 will be sipped by 10, 9, 8, 5, 4 and 3.
Thus if that bottle will be poisoned, only those 6 prisoners will die.
After a month's time, all the king need to do is line up the prisoners in order and call each living
prisoner as 0 and each dead prisoner as 1. N such a manner the number that the king will get will be
of that bottle which is poisoned.

Now also note that if there would have been 1024 or more bottles, there would have been more
prisoners required for the very same task.

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93
Jigsaw Trap Interview Puzzle

Detective Hoffman wakes up in a room to find himself in a trap set by Jigsaw. The room has two
exits i.e. two doors. One of the door leads to a chamber made by magnifying glass. If Hoffman
exits through that door, the burning sun will fry him up within moments. The second door exit
leads to a fire breathing dragon.

What is the possible way in which Detective Hoffman can set himself free from the Jigsaw trap?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

This is quite a famous interview puzzle and is usually asked as a warm up question. While you can
figure out endless possibilities, the answer is quite simple. Detective Hoffman will just have to wait till
the night. When there is no sun, he can simply walk out of the door that leads to the chamber built
with magnifying glass.

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94
Truthcity or Liarcity Interview Puzzle

You are extremely excited to finally visit Truthcity, a city where everyone speaks truth forever their
life. On way, you find a two diverging roads and there is no board to suggest which way leads to
the Truthcity. However you do know that the other road leads to Liarcity, a city where every single
person always speaks a lie. You meet a man passing by who allows you to ask one question as he
will not answer more than one. The problem is that you don't know whether the man is from
Truthcity or the Liarcity.

What is the question that you will pop up that tells you the way to Truthcity?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

We know you must be having numerous thought about it. But trust us that when you know the
solution to the problem you will regret for not thinking in that direction.

You just have to ask the person, "Which way is your city?" Just follow the path he directs you to and
you will reach Truthcity. How?

Well if the person belongs to Liarcity, he will speak lie and will tell you the direction of the Truthcity
and if the person belongs to Truthcity, he will tell the truth and will lead you to the Truthcity.

Isn't it simpler than you thought?

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95
Mislabeled Candy Boxes Interview Puzzle

A new company has launched a range of juicy candies. There are two flavors of which these juice
candies will be available for retail - Peach and Grape. The toffees are packed in three different
 boxes with one containing peach candies, one containing grape candies and one containing a
mixture of both. It is informed that the packaging person has accidentally mislabeled all the three
boxes.

If you are asked to label them correctly, how many candies will you have to pick and from which
jar in order to label every box correctly?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There are many ways in which you can think a solution for the problem. Your approach should be to
minimize the efforts. What if you took out one candy from the box labeled Peach and Grape?

What you have to consider is the fact that every box is labelled incorrectly. Thus if you pick a candy
from the box labelled with Peach and Grape, it is evident that the box will not have a mixture of both
(as it is labelled wrong). Thus you will get to know which candies are present in that box.

Suppose the candy you take out turns out to be peach flavored, then the box labeled as Grapes is the
one which contains a mixture of both peach and grapes. This is because it is labelled incorrectly and
since we have already figured out the box with Peach candies, we can be confident of the fact. And
then the jar labelled as peach will be the one containing grape flavored candies.

If the candy you take out from the mixed labeled box is Grape flavored, you can use the same logic to
find out the rest.

Consider picking a candy from the other two boxes instead of what is told in the solution and you will
find out that you will have to take out a candy from each of the boxes before being sure.

96
Gate to Heaven Interview Puzzle

Amanda dies and reaches at the gate of heaven. She has three doors in front of her out of which
only one of them leads to heaven. Out of the other two gates, one leads to hell for one day and
then back to the gate and one leads to hell for two days and then back to the gate. If she chooses
one of these two gates, the gates are shuffled when she returns back.

How long will Amanda take to reach heaven?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us simplify the question and then it will lead us to the answer easily. There are three possibilities.
Thus the probability of choosing any door is 1/3rd. 1/3 of the time the door to heaven will be chosen
by Amanda and thus 1/3 of the time it will take her zero days. 1/3 of the time, the day which leads to
hell for one day will be chosen and of those the right door will be chosen the next day. So 1/9 trips
take one day. In the similar manner, 1/9 will take to the door which takes to 2 days hell.

When that happens, the cases will be split again and again. Thus on average, it will take three days
for Amanda to reach Heaven by choosing the right gate.

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97
Hard Logic Statement Riddle

There are a hundred statements.

1st person says: At least one of the statements is incorrect.
2nd person says: At least two of the statements is incorrect.
3rd person says: At least three of the statements are incorrect.
4th person says: At least four of the statements are incorrect.
..
..
..
100th person says: At least a hundred of the statements are incorrect.

Now analyze all the statements and find out how many of them are incorrect and how many are
true?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The 100th statement for sure is incorrect because it says that at least 100 of the statements are
incorrect.

Suppose if that is correct, then 100 statements cannot be true.

This suggests that the 100th statement is incorrect and that the first statement is true.

Similarly 99 statements cannot be true because if they were true, then two statements would become
correct i.e. the 1st and the 99th.
But the 99th statement says that at least 99 are incorrect.
This suggests that the 99th statement is incorrect and that 2ndone is true.

If we keep analyzing is the same way till the end, we will find out that only the first fifty statements
are true and all the remaining ones are incorrect.

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98
Tough Two Jug Measuring Puzzle

I got two jugs of

A) 11 liter
B) 6 liter

How can I measure exactly 9 liters ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

12 steps:
Steps 11 Liter jug 6 Liter Jug
1. 11 -
2. 5 6
3. 5 0
4. 0 5
5. 11 5
6. 10 6
7. 10 0
8. 4 6
9. 4 0
10. 0 4
11. 11 4
12. 9 6 ==> i found 9 liter in 11liter jug(as required)

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99
Candle Trick Teaser Problem

Husband has prepared for a candle light dinner on the honeymoon for his wife. While they were
having the dinner, a strong breeze flew through the open window and four candles out of ten were
extinguished. After that, the husband closed the window.

How many candles were left in the end?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Four

As the window was closed it is obvious that the six candles that were not extinguished were lit till they
melted away entirely. Thus only four candles that were extinguished remain at the end.

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100
Logic Fruits Riddle

There is a box full of fruits,

all but two are grapes,
all but two are apples,
and all but two are oranges.
 How many fruits are in the box ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There are 3 fruits (1 grapes, 1 apples, and 1 oranges).

101
Warm Up Interview Question

A man pushed his car into a hotel and lost all of his fortune. How can this be possible?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This is quite a popular question and is often considered as a warmer. However, many might not be
able to answer even this warm up question as well.

The answer is quite simple. The man is playing monopoly.

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102
Hands of Clock Interview Puzzle

Can you determine how many times do the minute and hour hands of a clock overlap in a day?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

24 times is the most common answer however that is completely wrong. The right answer will be 22
times.

Let us prove it by some simple mathematics.

Assume that it takes T hours for the minute hand to complete T laps. The hour hand will complete
T/12 Laps in the same time.

Consider the situation when the hour hand and the minute hand will overlap for the first time; the
minute hand would have completed one lap extra than the hour hands.
Thus, T =T/12 + 1

Considering the above expression we know that the first overlap will take place after t = 12/11 hours
i.e. 1:05 am.

Similarly, the second overlap will take place when the minute hand would have completed two more
laps than the hour hand.

Considering there are X laps,

T = T/12 + X
Everyone knows that a day comprises of 24 hours. Putting that in the equation we get
24 = 24/12 + X
Solve it and you will get
X = 22

Hence both of the hands will overlap 22 times in 24 hours.

Let us give you with those exact timings as well.

The hands will overlap at 12:00, 1:05, 2:10, 3:15, 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, 7:35, 8:40, 9:45, and 10:50. Do
consider the fact that there will be no 11:55. It becomes 12:00.

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103
Monty Hall Interview Problem

Sarah and Michael are a loving couple. One night Sarah playfully places three identical boxes on a
table in front of Michael. Out of the three boxes, one contains a pearl and other two are empty.
Michael is then allowed to pick any one of them. Now between the two boxes that remain on the
table, at least one is empty. Sarah removes one empty box from the table. Now Michael must
choose from the box he picked or the box on the table.

What box should Michael choose?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

This puzzle is also known as Monty Hall Puzzle. If Michael choose the box on the table, the probability
of finding the pearl inside will be 2/3.

Let us consider the same thing with more boxes. If Sarah placed 100 boxes on the table with one box
that contains the pearl and Michael is allowed to pick random, 99 boxes will remain on the table. Now
at least 98 boxes in the table will be empty. Sarah will remove these 98 boxes and now Michael will
have to choose from the box on table or the box in his hand. If he chooses the box below, the
probability of finding the pearl in the box will be 99/100.

Now you must be convinced why he should pick the box on the table.

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104
Series Interview Problem
 Complete the following sequence
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, __?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Consider each term as a description of the preceding term. The first term is one '1':11. The second
term is two times '1':21.

Let us write the series in the above manner

One 1: 11
Two 1s: 21
One 2 and one 1: 1211
One 1, one 2 and two 1s: 111221
Three 1s, two 2s and one 1: 312211

Hence the next term is 312211

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105
Complete the Equation Interview Problem

In the following equation, add any standard arithmetic signs to make it true.
3136=8

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Whenever you are offered such a problem, it is wiser to think in a linear way first. We know that 3 +1
will be four which is half of the number on the right hand side.
So the equation is now
(3+1) 3 6 = 8

Now look at the other two digits 3 and 6. 3 is half of 6. Let us put a division sign in between and you
will get 1/2 as the answer.
The equation is now
(3+1) (3/6) = 8 ==> 4 1/2 = 8

Let us put a division sign in between and that will solve the problem.

(3+1) / (3/6) = 8

Solve the equation and you will get 8 = 8.

106
Empire State Building Interview Question

If you are offered a stack of pennies as tall as the Empire State Building will you be able to fit them
in a normal room?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

It is one of those problems which will keep you thinking for much time. But did you consider the fact
that that the number of pennies are not told and the question asks if the stack will fit the room or not.

Also the size of the room is not mentioned and it is left to your intuition. Now consider the Empire
State Building which is 102 stories tall or say 100 story tall on a rough note. Now that is hundred
times more than an ordinary room measured on the inside. Now you will have to break the
skyscraper-high column of pennies into about a hundred floor-to-ceiling-high columns. Now the
question becomes if you can fit approximately hundred floor-to-ceiling penny columns in a room?

Surely! It will be just a ten by ten array of penny columns. Of course, every room will have enough
space to set hundred pennies flat on the floor.

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107
Nine Hats Interview Puzzle

Nine brilliant most students were summoned by an inspecting professor. He gave them a situation
and told them that he is having nine hats. The hats are either red colored or blue colored as told by
the professor. He also tells them that he have at least one red colored hat and the number of blue
hats are greater than the red hats.

He places one hat on each of their heads. The students are not allowed to talk with each other and
no means of communication is feasible. He asks them how many hats are blue and how many are
red. He gives them half an hour to deduce and moves out of the room. Nobody is able to answer
when he returns back and thus he gives them another fifteen minutes. But when he returns, no one
can answer again. Thus he gives them final five minutes. On returning back this time, everyone
was available with an accurate answer.

How could the students have deduced the right answer? What is the right answer?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

In the first wave, let us make an assumption that there is only 1 red hat and other 8 hats are blue.
The student who can see all the other 8 blue hats on others' head will certainly be clear that there are
8 blue hats and 1 red hat since the professor told them that there is at least 1 red hat among the
nine. But no one was able to answer after the first half an hour. Thus this can't be possible and our
assumption is wrong.

Now let us assume that there are 2 red hats and 7 blue hats. The student who is having a red hat on
his head can definitely see 7 blue hats and one red hat. He can deduce that he is wearing a red hat.
But nobody was able to answer in the second interval as well. Thus our assumption is again wrong.

In the last wave of final five minutes, let us assume that there are 3 hats and 6 blue hats. The student
with a red hat can see 2 other red hats and 6 blue hats and he may deduce that he is wearing a red
hat. In this interval, everyone was able to answer which states that our assumption is correct.
Thus there are 3 red hats and 6 blue hats.

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108
Fastest Horse Interview Puzzle

You are provided with twenty five different horses and you must find out who are the fastest
horses. You can conduct a race of five horses only at one time. There is no point in the race where
you can find out the actual speed of a horse in a race.

How many races will it take to help you determine the fastest three horses?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Seven

Dividing the horses in a group of five, we will have five different groups of horses. A race will be
conducted separately for each group which will help us find the fastest three horses in every group.
We have used five different races till now.

Now we can have a race among the winners from every race which will help us determine the fastest
of them all. We have used the sixth race.

The second fastest horse can be the one who came second in the sixth race or the second fastest
horse in the finals winners' first race.

If we look at the first case, the third fastest horse can be the third fastest horse in the sixth race or
the second fastest horse in either the fastest or second fastest horse first race.
If we look at the other case, the third fastest horse may be the second fastest in the sixth race or the
third fastest in the final winners' first race.

If you calculate our assumptions, we have five more horses to race (seventh race) and determine the
second fastest and the third fastest horse.

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109
Two Eggs Interview Problem

Eggs have quite a unique property. They may be extremely fragile that they may break by mere a
drop from your hand. However, they may not break even if they are dropped from the 100th floor.
That is exactly what you have in this problem. You have two identical eggs and you have access to
a 100 story building.
 The question is how many drops you will make before you can find out the highest possible floor of
the building from which the egg can be dropped without breaking. Remember you only have two
eggs to break.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Let us first assume that the number of drops required are N.

If the egg breaks at maximum number of tries, we will have N - 1 drops till it does not break. Thus we
must drop the first egg from the height N. Now if the first drop of the first egg does not break the egg,
we can have N - 2 drops for the second egg if the first egg breaks in the second drop.

Let us put that into a valid example for better understanding. Suppose we need 16 drops. Now let us
drop the egg from the sixteenth floor, if it breaks, we will try all the floors below sixteen. Suppose it
does not breaks, then we have 15 drops left and we will drop it from 16+15+1 = 32nd floor. This is
because if it breaks at 32nd floor, we can try all the way down to 17th floor in fourteen tries making
the total tries to be 16.

Let us assume that 16 is the correct answer

1 + 15 16 if breaks at 16 checks from 1 to 15 in 15 drops

1 + 14 31 if breaks at 31 checks from 17 to 30 in 14 drops
1 + 13 45.....
1 + 12 58
1 + 11 70
1 + 10 81
1 + 9 91
1 + 8 100 we can easily do in the end as we have enough drops to complete the task.

Seeking the above case, we must note that we have achieved it in 14 or 14 drops but we still need to
find out the optimal one. We know from above that the optimal one will require 0 linear trials in the
last step.

Thus we can say that

(1+p) + (1+ (p-1)) + (1+ (p-2)) +........+ (1+0) >= 100.

Let 1+p=q which is the answer we are looking for

q (q+1)/2 >=100

q=14

Thus the optimal number of drops required are 14.

Drops will be tried at floor number 14, 27, 39, 50, 60, 69, 77, 84, 90, 95, 99, 100. How? Just move
up 14, 13, 12 ....Floor till it breaks or does not.

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110
Warden and Prisoners Interview Question

23 selected prisoners are summoned by the warden. He gives them a choice of playing a game with
him that might ensure their escape from the prison or might as well lead them towards painful
death. The prisoners think that this is the only chance for them to be free again and agrees to him.

The warden tell them that there is a room which has just two switches which are labelled 1 or 2.
The switches may be up or down and the condition is not known at present. They are not
connected to anything. The warden may select any prisoner on any day and send him to the switch
room. The prisoner will have to select any one switch and reverse its position i.e. if it is up, he will
turn it down and if it is down, he will turn it up. He can and must only flip one switch and then he
will be confined to his cell again.

The warden may choose the same prisoner more than one time and he will be choosing completely
randomly. But at a certain point of time, everyone will have visited the switch room. And at any
time, the prisoners may declare that everyone has visited the room at least once. If they will be
true, they will be set free but if they will be wrong, they will be killed.

The warden gives them an hour to plan any kind of strategy and then they will be confined to their
respective cells and will never be allowed to meet. What strategy can help them be free?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Everyone will appoint any one person as a leader. Now everyone must follow some steps. Every
prisoner will flip the first switch up at the first opportunity and also at the second opportunity. If the
first switch is already up or they have flipped it up two times already, then they will flip the second
switch. The leader however will have a different routine. He is the only one who will flip the switch
down the first switch. Suppose if the switch is already down, he will flip the second switch. Also he will
keep a count and when he has flipped the first switch down 44 times, he will declare that every
prisoner has visited the room.

This is because once the leader has flipped down the switch 44 times, he will know that everyone has
visited the room. If the switch was down initially, the other 22 prisoners will turn it up two times. If
the first switch was already up, there will be one prisoner who will flip the switch up only once and the
rest will do it twice.

Now this trick won't work when the leader has flipped the switch 23 times. Consider the fact that it is
possible that 12 prisoners randomly and the leader have been taken to the switch room 24 times and
the rest have not been taken till then. Remember that the first switch might have been up in the
beginning itself. Thus the prisoners must flip the switch up twice. If they do it just once, the leader will
never know whether to count till 22 or 23.

111
Logic Problem Brain Teaser

The world is facing a serious viral infection. The government of various countries have issued every
citizen two bottles. You as well have been given the same. Now one pill from each bottle is to be
taken every day for a month to become immune to the virus. The problem is that if you take just
one, or if you take two from the same bottle, you will die a painful death.

While using it, you hurriedly open the bottles and pour the tablets in your hand. Three tablets come
down in your hand and you realize they look exactly the same and have same characteristics. You
can't throw away the pill as they are limited and you can'tput them back or you may put it wrong
and may die someday.

How will you ensure that you are taking the right pill?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

You must put labels on the tablets as A and B before using. In that case, if you pour tablets together,
you will get 3A, 2A 1B, 1A 2B or 3B. If they are from the same bottles you can take one from another
bottle and save the remaining two for another day. If you get two from same and one from other, you
can draw one from another bottle and you will have two pairs of which you can eat one and save the
other.

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112
Famous Lion Tamer Interesting Puzzle

You are trapped with a lion in a cage with 1 unit as its radius. Both you and the lion can run
effortlessly at the speed of one unit.

1) The lion is quite hungry and all he wants is to catch you and eat you up. Will he be able to do
that?
2) If yes, how long do you have till he does that?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There can be two possibilities for the given situation.

One is if I run on the perimeter. Then, the lion will eventually catch me as the lion can follow my
radius and then his trajectory will be half of the circle and not a spiral. Therefore, the lion will
subsequently catch me in a finite amount of time.

Secondly if I don't run on the perimeter, then clearly, I have an infinite amount of time before the lion
catches me.

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113
Inspector Montalbano Mystery Puzzle

Before going to work, Inspector Montalbano got into the fight with his wife. After coming back from
the work he found out that the police was in the home and his wife had just killed a burglar.
The police told that she killed the burglar in self-defense. She told her husband the story that she
 heard a doorbell and thought that it was me and as soon as she opened the door, the burglar
jumped into her and she was so scared that she killed burglar immediately with the knife. Inspector
Montalbano asked the police to arrest her wife for murder conspiracy. Why?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Since the knife was in her hand which implies that she was planning to kill her husband "Inspector
Montalbano".

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114
Whats The Temperature Rebus

Below rebus represents the current Temperature.

0
=========
B.Sc
LLB

What is the current Temperature ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

2 degree below zero

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115
Spatial Trivia Physics Puzzle

As shown in picture, there are four gears with the following specification
* Gear A has 60 teeth
* Gear B has 40 teeth
* Gear C has 20 teeth
* Gear D has 60 teeth
* Every minute, Gear B makes 15 complete turns.
 What is the relative speed of Gear A and Gear B?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Both will rotate at Same speed.

Explanation:
Gears of the same size will always rotate at constant speeds despite any smaller or larger gears in
between them.

116
Knockout Matches Logical Problem

Let us say that a table tennis tournament was going on with knock out terms which means the one
who loses the match is out of the tournament. 100 players took part in that tournament.

How many matches were played?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

99 matches.

The number of matches will always sum up to one less than the number of players in a knock out
tournament. You may calculate it in any manner. Thus 99 matches were played.

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117
Logic Interview Riddle

prinka and tanu organized a small kitty party at home. They purchased a barrel of fruit juice.
 Tanu told to prinka 'I bet this barrel of fruit juice is more than half full'.
'No, its less than half full' prinka replied.

I don't have any measuring instrument and without removing fruit juice from it , how can i
determine which of us is right ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Tilt the barrel until the fruit juice barely touches the lip of the barrel. If the bottom of the barrel is
visible then it is less than half full.If the barrel bottom is still completely covered by the fruit juice,
then it is more than half full.

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118
Water Measurement Riddle

A barman is having a 12 liters jug full of beer. He needs to divide or split that beer into two equal
parts. All he has is two empty jugs of capacity 8 liters and 5 liters.

How will he do it using them?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

First fill the 8 liters jug complete - 4, 8, 0

Fill the 5 liters jug with 8 liters jug - 4, 3, 5
Pour back the beer from 5 liters jug to 12 liters jug - 9, 3, 0
Pour the 3 liters from 8 liters jug to 5 liters jug - 9, 0, 3
Fill the 8 liters jug completely from 12 liters jug - 1, 8, 3
Fill the 5 liters jug from the 8 liters jug - 1, 6, 5
Pour the entire 5 liters jug back in 12 liters jug - 6, 6, 0

You have successfully split the beer into two equal parts.

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119
Hard Logic Puzzle
 A great meeting is held by a great logician where all the other logicians are called upon. The master
logician takes them in a room and makes them sit in circle. A hat is placed on each of their heads.
Now all of them can see the color of hats others are wearing but can't see his own. They are told
that there different colors of hats.

The master logician explains that a bell will be rung at regular intervals and the moment when a
logician knows the color of his hat, he will leave on the next bell. If anyone leaves at the wrong
bell, he will be disqualified and sent home.

All of them are assured of one thing that the puzzle will not be impossible for anyone of them. How
will they manage the situation?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The first step that they will take will be a leap of logic. What it means is that they will deduce that
every color must appear twice at least. Why? Because the master logician has assured them that the
puzzle will not be impossible for anyone of them. And if a color appears only once in the circle, the
person wearing it will have no clue about that color which will not be fair for him.

Then the logicians will follow the same and look for all the colors of hats in the circle. If one of them
sees a color just once, he can safely assume that he is also wearing the hat of the same color as by
leap of logic, no color can appear just once. Thus when the bell is rung, he will leave.

In the similar fashion, if anyone sees another color just once, he can determine that he is wearing the
hat of the same color and will leave when the bell rings or will be disqualified and sent home.
Unvaryingly, if a color is seen twice, they will be eliminated after the first bell. Hence, there must be
at least three hats of any of the remaining color.

Assume that you are sitting in the circle and you don't see a color once but see it twice. Then if they
were the only two hats of the same color, the logicians must have left at the first bell already. But
they did not. Which means that there are three hats of that color and you are wearing one. Thus you
will leave after the second bell.

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120
Math IQ Question

Adam is one of the finalist in an IQ championship. As the final test, he is provided with two
hourglass. One of them can measure eleven minutes while the other one can measure thirteen
minutes.
He is asked to measure exactly fifteen minutes using those two hourglasses. How will he do it ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
Fifteen minutes can easily be measure using these two hour glasses.

Step 1: He will start both the hourglass.

Step 2: The moment the eleven minute hourglass is empty, he will invert it.

Step 3: When the thirteen minutes hourglass is empty, he will invert the eleven minute hourglass.
In step 3, we will have counted thirteen minutes. Since we inverted the eleven minute hourglass in
step 2, it started from fresh and was inverted just for two minutes (13-11=2). In this manner when it
is reversed when the thirteen minute hourglass is finished, it will have two minutes of sand left. This
time when the sand finishes, he will have measured fifteen minutes. (13+2=15)

121
Measure Water Supply Brain Teaser

You had an infinite supply of water and a 5 ml and 3 ml gallons.

How would you measure exactly 4 ml in least number of steps ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

A) Fill 5 ml gallon ( 5mlGallon - 5, 3mlGallon - 0)

B) Transfer to 3 ml gallon (5mlGallon - 2, 3mlGallon - 3)
C) Empty 3 ml gallon ( 5mlGallon - 2, 3mlGallon - 0)
D) Transfer 2 ml from 5 ml gallon to 3 ml gallon (5mlGallon - 0, 3mlGallon - 2)
E) Fill 5 ml gallon(5mlGallon - 5, 3mlGallon - 2)
F) Transfer 1 ml from 5 ml gallon to 3 ml gallons(5mlGallon - 4, 3mlGallon - 3)

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122
Candle Trick Teaser Problem

Husband has prepared for a candle light dinner on the honeymoon for his wife. While they were
having the dinner, a strong breeze flew through the open window and four candles out of ten were
extinguished. After that, the husband closed the window.

How many candles were left in the end?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Four

As the window was closed it is obvious that the six candles that were not extinguished were lit till they
melted away entirely. Thus only four candles that were extinguished remain at the end.
Answer
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123
Awesome Probability Logic Riddle

You need to divide 50 marbles(25-red and 25-blue) into two boxes such that the probability of
picking red marble is maximized.

Following conditions need to hold true :

1. None of box is empty
2. All the marbles must be in one of two boxes.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Put one red marble in one box and all other marbles in the 2nd box.

Probability :
50 + 24/49

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124
Tricky Math Race Riddle

Rooney, Hernandez, and Robin race each other in a 100 meters race. All of them run at a constant
speed throughout the race.

Rooney beats Hernandez by 20 meters.

Hernandez beats Robin by 20 meters.

How many meters does Rooney beat Robin by ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

36 meters.

100/v1 = 80/v2
100/v2 = 80/v3
20+(20/v2)*v3=20+16 = 36

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125
Very Hard Math Question

There stand nine temples in a row in a holy place. All the nine temples have 100 steps climb. A
fellow devotee comes to visit the temples. He drops a Re. 1 coin while climbing each of the 100
steps up. Then he offers half of the money he has in his pocket to the god. After that, he again
drops Re. 1 coin while climbing down each of the 100 steps of the temple.

If he repeats the same process at each temple, he is left with no money after climbing down the
ninth temple. Can you find out the total money he had with him initially?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

146900

Explanation:
Whenever you face such type of questions, it is wise to begin from the last thing. Here in this question
the last thing will be the 9th temple. He climbed down 100 steps and thus you know, he had Rs. 100
before beginning climbing down. Thus, he must have offered Rs. 100 to the god in that temple too (he
offered half of the total amount). Also, he must have dropped Rs. 100 while climbing the steps of the
ninth temple. This means that he had Rs. 300 before he begand climbing the steps of the ninth
temple.

Now, we will calculate in the similar manner for each of the temples backwards.
Before the devotee climbed the eight temple: (300+100)*2 + 100 = 900
Before the devotee climbed the seventh temple: (900+100)*2 + 100 = 2100
Before the devotee climbed the Sixth temple: (2100+100)*2 + 100 = 4300
Before the devotee climbed the fifth temple: (4300+100)*2 + 100 = 8900
Before the devotee climbed the fourth temple: (8900+100)*2 + 100 = 18100
Before the devotee climbed the third temple: (18100+100)*2 + 100 = 36,500
Before the devotee climbed the second temple: (36500+100)*2 + 100 = 73300
Before the devotee climbed the first temple: (73300+100)*2 + 100 = 146900

Therefore, the devotee had Rs. 146900 with him initially.

126
Tough Two Jug Measuring Puzzle

I got two jugs of

A) 11 liter
B) 6 liter

How can I measure exactly 9 liters ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

12 steps:

Steps 11 Liter jug 6 Liter Jug

1. 11 -
2. 5 6
3. 5 0
4. 0 5
5. 11 5
6. 10 6
7. 10 0
8. 4 6
9. 4 0
10. 0 4
11. 11 4
12. 9 6 ==> i found 9 liter in 11liter jug(as required)

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127
Logical Interview Problem

Jonathan has three boxes containing milk chocolates and dark chocolates. The problem is that all of
them have been labeled incorrectly as follows.
Box1: Dark Chocolates
Box2: Milk Chocolates
Box3: Dark Chocolates and Milk Chocolates

How will he label all the boxes correctly by just opening one box?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

It has been clearly mentioned that all the boxes are labeled incorrectly. If he opens the Box3, then he
will get either Dark Chocolates or Milk Chocolates as it is labeled incorrectly. Let us suppose he finds
Dark Chocolates in there. Now since all are labeled incorrectly, Box B A must contain Milk Chocolates
and Box B must contain Milk Chocolates and Dark Chocolates.

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128
Famous 13 Cave Logic Problem

A thief was running from the police after the biggest theft the town saw. He took his guard in one
of the thirteen caves arranged in a circle. Each day, the thief moves either to the adjacent cave or
stay in the same cave. Two cops goes there daily and have enough time to enter any two of the
caves out of them.

How will the cop make sure to catch the thief in minimum number of days and what are the
minimum number of days?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

One of the cop will move clockwise while the other will move anti-clockwise every day. In such a
manner, they will catch the thief in minimum seven days.

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129
Unique Brain Teaser

It takes ten minutes to fry a steak (five minutes for each side). You are frying the steaks in a pan
that can accommodate only two steaks at one time. What is the least amount of time by which you
can fry all the three steaks you have?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Fifteen Minutes.

After frying for five minutes, you can take out one steak and put the third one inside while turning the
other one inside. After five more minutes, one steak is fried from both sides and you can take it out.
Now put in the steak that we removed and turn the other one inside. After five more minutes, they
both will also be fried from both sides.

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130
Tricky Logic Question
 A claustrophobic person boards a train that is just about to enter a tunnel.

Which place will be the best for him to sit?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

It is best if the person sits on the back of the train. After the stop, the train will be accelerating as it
goes into the tunnel. Thus the train will be much master when the back of the train enters the tunnel.
In this way, he will have to spend much less time in the tunnel.

31
Logic Interview Riddle

prinka and tanu organized a small kitty party at home. They purchased a barrel of fruit juice.

Tanu told to prinka 'I bet this barrel of fruit juice is more than half full'.
'No, its less than half full' prinka replied.

I don't have any measuring instrument and without removing fruit juice from it , how can i
determine which of us is right ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Tilt the barrel until the fruit juice barely touches the lip of the barrel. If the bottom of the barrel is
visible then it is less than half full.If the barrel bottom is still completely covered by the fruit juice,
then it is more than half full.

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132
3 Gallon Brain Teaser

You have been given three jars of 3 liters, 5 liters and 8 liters capacity out of which the 8 liters jar
is filled completely with water. Now you have to use these three jars to divide the water into two
parts of 4 liters each.

How can you do it making the least amount of transfers?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

8 liters jar: 8; 5 liters jar: 0; 3 liters jar: 0

Fill 5 liters jar entirely.
8 liters jar: 3; 5 liters jar: 5; 3 liters jar: 0
Fill 3 liters jar with 5 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 3; 5 liters jar: 2; 3 liters jar: 3
Pour entirely from 3 liters jar to 8 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 6; 5 liters jar: 2; 3 liters jar: 0
Pour entirely from 5 liters jar to 3 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 6; 5 liters jar: 0; 3 liters jar: 2
Fill 5 liters jar with water from 8 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 1; 5 liters jar: 5; 3 liters jar: 2
Fill the 3 liters jar with water from the 5 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 1; 5 liters jar: 4; 3 liters jar: 3
Empty 3 liters jar in 8 liters jar.
8 liters jar: 4; 5 liters jar: 4; 3 liters jar: 0

Now you have 4 liters of water in 8 liters jar as well as 5 liters jar.

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133
Interview Marble Logic Puzzle

You are given a set of scales and 12 marbles. The scales are of the old balance variety. That is, a
small dish hangs from each end of a rod that is balanced in the middle. The device enables you to
conclude either that the contents of the dishes weigh the same or that the dish that falls lower has
heavier contents than the other.
The 12 marbles appear to be identical. In fact, 11 of them are identical, and one is of a different
weight. Your task is to identify the unusual marble and discard it. You are allowed to use the scales
three times if you wish, but no more.

Note that the unusual marble may be heavier or lighter than the others. You are asked to both
identify it and determine whether it is heavy or light.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

So that the following plan can be followed, let us number the coins from 1 to 12. For the first weighing
let us put on the left pan coins 1,2,3,4 and on the right pan coins 5,6,7,8.

There are two possibilities. Either they balance, or they don't. If they balance, then the different coin
is in the group 9,10,11,12. So for our second one possibility is to weigh 9,10,11 against 1,2,3

(1) They balance, in which case you know 12 is the different coin, and you just weigh it against any
other to determine whether it is heavy or light.
(2) 9,10,11 is heavy. In this case, you know that the different coin is 9, 10, or 11, and that that coin
is heavy. Simply weigh 9 against 10; if they balance, 11 is the heavy coin. If not, the heavier one is
the heavy coin.
(3) 9,10,11 is light. Proceed as in the step above, but the coin you're looking for is the light one.

That was the easy part.

What if the first weighing 1,2,3,4 vs 5,6,7,8 does not balance? Then any one of these coins could be
the different coin. Now, in order to proceed, we must keep track of which side is heavy for each of the
following weighings.
Suppose that 5,6,7,8 is the heavy side. We now weigh 1,5,6 against 2,7,8. If they balance, then the
different coin is either 3 or 4. Weigh 4 against 9, a known good coin. If they balance then the different
coin is 3, otherwise it is 4. The direction of the tilts can tell us whwther the offending coin is heavier or
lighter.

Now, if 1,5,6 vs 2,7,8 does not balance, and 2,7,8 is the heavy side, then either 7 or 8 is a different,
heavy coin, or 1 is a different, light coin.

For the third weighing, weigh 7 against 8. Whichever side is heavy is the different coin. If they
balance, then 1 is the different coin. Should the weighing of 1,5, 6 vs 2,7,8 show 1,5,6 to be the
heavy side, then either 5 or 6 is a different heavy coin or 2 is a light different coin. Weigh 5 against 6.
The heavier one is the different coin. If they balance, then 2 is a different light coin.

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134
Cool Equation Riddle

If 1 + 9 + 11 = 1, Then what is the value of

12 + 11 + 9 = ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

10

Explanation:
Equation 1 + 9 + 11 = 1 can be derived from
One (o) + nine (n) + eleven (e) = one => 1

Similarly for equation,

12 + 11 + 9
Twelve (t) + eleven (e) + nine (n) => ten (10)

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135
Crossing Bridge Brain Teaser
 Four friends need to cross a dangerous bridge at night. Unfortunately, they have only one torch
and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without one. The bridge is only strong enough to support
two people at a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person:
1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross
the bridge?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

17 mins

The initial solution most people will think of is to use the fastest person as an usher to guide everyone
across. How long would that take? 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins. Is that it? No. That would make this
question too simple even as a warm up question.

Let's brainstorm a little further. To reduce the amount of time, we should find a way for 10 and 7 to
go together. If they cross together, then we need one of them to come back to get the others. That
would not be ideal. How do we get around that? Maybe we can have 1 waiting on the other side to
bring the torch back. Ahaa, we are getting closer. The fastest way to get 1 across and be back is to
use 2 to usher 1 across. So let's put all this together.

1 and 2 go cross
2 comes back
7 and 10 go across
1 comes back
1 and 2 go across (done)

Total time = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins

136
Difficult Brain Twister

A strange tradition is followed in an orthodox and undeveloped village. The chief of the village
collects taxes from all the males of the village yearly. But it is the method of taking taxes that is
interesting.

The taxes paid in the form of grains and every male should pay equal pounds corresponding to his
age. In simpler terms, a man aged 10 years will have to pay 10 pounds of grains and a 20 years
old will be paying 20 pounds of grain.

The chief stands on a riser containing 7 different weights next to a large 2 pan scale. As per the
interesting custom, the chief can only weigh using three of the seven weights.

In such a scenario, can you calculate what must be the weights of the seven weights each and who
is the oldest man the chief can measure using those weights?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

What must be kept in mind before you start calculating through any method is that the weights can be
put on both the pans.

So the weights - 1, 3, 7, 12, 43, 76, 102

The oldest man that can be weighed using these weights is a man aged 122 years
Answer
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137
Funny Brain Twister

We all know that New Year occurs after a week from Christmas and thus it falls on the same day as
of Christmas. But this will not happen in 2050. In 2050, Christmas will appear on Sunday while
New Year will appear on Saturday.

How can this be possible ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Read the question carefully again. New Year do falls after Christmas but that happens if two different
years. The question is put up against the year 2050 and thus there will be 51 weeks and 2 days in
between them as New Year will appear on 1 January 2050 and Christmas will happen on 25 December
2050.

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138
Popular Deductive Logic Problem

Eight Brothers lives in an old house where there is no electricity and no computers or any any other
gadget.

Brother-1: Reading Comics

Brother-2: Playing Chess
Brother-3: Writing
Brother-4: making food for the family
Brother-5: sleeping and snoring
Brother-6: cleaning house
Brother-7: watering the plants

what is Brother-8 doing ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
Playing chess

Game needs two players so Brother-8 is playing chess with Brother-2

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139
Induction Brain Teasers

Three college toppers are summoned by the inspecting faculty. To identify the best from them, the
faculty takes them into a room and places one hat on each of their heads. Now all of them can see
the hats on other’s heads but can’t see his own. There are two colored hats – green and
red.

Now the faculty announces that he had made sure that the competition is extremely fair to all three
of them. He also gives them a hint that at least one of them is wearing a red hat. Now the first one
who is able to deduce his own hat color will be awarded the most intelligent student of all award.
After a few minutes, one of them raises his hand and is able to deduce the color correctly.

How?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There are two things to keep in mind:

Firstly there is at least one red hat. (There can be two or three as well).
Secondly the competition is fair for everyone.

Thus if there is only one red hat, that person will see two green hats on other heads and will be able
to deduce his own color as red. However the other students will see one red and one green hat and
can never be sure. In such manner, the competition will prove to be partial for one student.

Suppose if there are two red hats. Then the students who are wearing red hats will see one red and
one green hat on others. Now they must have deduced that there can’t be just one red hat. Thus
they will know that they are also wearing a red hat. But the one who is wearing a green hat will see
two red hats and can never be sure of his own color. In this case as well, the competition will not be
fair.

Thus the only possible and fair means is if all of them are wearing a red hat. The one who is able to
deduce the situation first, will raise his hand and will tell the correct answer.

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140
Move 3 MatchSticks Puzzle

You need to divide area in the picture below into two equal parts by using exactly three match
sticks. Can you do it?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

It can be down as shown below.

141
Cool Equation Riddle

If 1 + 9 + 11 = 1, Then what is the value of

12 + 11 + 9 = ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

10

Explanation:
Equation 1 + 9 + 11 = 1 can be derived from
One (o) + nine (n) + eleven (e) = one => 1

Similarly for equation,

12 + 11 + 9
Twelve (t) + eleven (e) + nine (n) => ten (10)

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142
Awesome Probability Logic Riddle
 You need to divide 50 marbles(25-red and 25-blue) into two boxes such that the probability of
picking red marble is maximized.

Following conditions need to hold true :

1. None of box is empty
2. All the marbles must be in one of two boxes.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Put one red marble in one box and all other marbles in the 2nd box.

Probability :
50 + 24/49

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143
Infoedge Interview Aptitude Problem

On a magical-intellectual land of gpuzzles , all the animal are rational(real smart).

There are six leopards and one sheep.

Leopard can eat sheep but since as the land is magical, the leopards who eats the sheep , turns
into sheep and then can be eaten by the remaining leopard(s).

If we leave them for some time then how many sheep and leopard will be there , when we come
back ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

5 leopard and one sheep

since all animal are rational , once 1st leopard eats the sheep all the rest of leopard would know about
this.

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144
Logical Interview Problem
 Jonathan has three boxes containing milk chocolates and dark chocolates. The problem is that all of
them have been labeled incorrectly as follows.
Box1: Dark Chocolates
Box2: Milk Chocolates
Box3: Dark Chocolates and Milk Chocolates

How will he label all the boxes correctly by just opening one box?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

It has been clearly mentioned that all the boxes are labeled incorrectly. If he opens the Box3, then he
will get either Dark Chocolates or Milk Chocolates as it is labeled incorrectly. Let us suppose he finds
Dark Chocolates in there. Now since all are labeled incorrectly, Box B A must contain Milk Chocolates
and Box B must contain Milk Chocolates and Dark Chocolates.

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145
Box Ball Logic Problem

here are three bags.The first bag has two blue rocks. The second bag has two red rocks. The third
bag has a blue and a red rock. All bags are labeled but all labels are wrong.You are allowed to open
one bag, pick one rock at random, see its color and put it back into the bag, without seeing the
color of the other rock.

How many such operations are necessary to correctly label the bags ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Just One!

example
If u get Blue rock with label as "blue+red" => this is red as all labels are wrong.
In this way u can logically solve this puzzle.

146
Interview Balls Puzzle

In a closed jar, there are three strawberry candies, two mango candies and five pineapple candies.
You can't see inside the jar. Now, how many toffees you must take out from the jar to make sure
that you have one of each flavor?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:
9

Explanation:
2<3<5
To find out the required number of candies, take one in place of the least number (i.e. take one
mango candy) and then add all the greater numbers (i.e. three strawberry and five pineapple candies)
to it.

Required number of balls = 1 + 3 + 5 = 9.

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147
Famous Lion Tamer Interesting Puzzle

You are trapped with a lion in a cage with 1 unit as its radius. Both you and the lion can run
effortlessly at the speed of one unit.

1) The lion is quite hungry and all he wants is to catch you and eat you up. Will he be able to do
that?
2) If yes, how long do you have till he does that?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

There can be two possibilities for the given situation.

One is if I run on the perimeter. Then, the lion will eventually catch me as the lion can follow my
radius and then his trajectory will be half of the circle and not a spiral. Therefore, the lion will
subsequently catch me in a finite amount of time.

Secondly if I don't run on the perimeter, then clearly, I have an infinite amount of time before the lion
catches me.

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148
Impossible Brain Teaser

In a recreational activity, you are given four different jars of 2 liters, 4 liters, 6 liters and 8 liters
respectively with an unlimited water supply. Then you are asked to measure exactly 5 liters of
water using them.
 How will you do it?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

If we have to measure precisely, it is impossible. Because we are asked to measure odd number of
liters whereas all the jars we have can contain only even liters of water.

* Tricky question asked in ias/infosys/infoedge/ibibo interview

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149
Difficult Brain Twister

A strange tradition is followed in an orthodox and undeveloped village. The chief of the village
collects taxes from all the males of the village yearly. But it is the method of taking taxes that is
interesting.

The taxes paid in the form of grains and every male should pay equal pounds corresponding to his
age. In simpler terms, a man aged 10 years will have to pay 10 pounds of grains and a 20 years
old will be paying 20 pounds of grain.

The chief stands on a riser containing 7 different weights next to a large 2 pan scale. As per the
interesting custom, the chief can only weigh using three of the seven weights.

In such a scenario, can you calculate what must be the weights of the seven weights each and who
is the oldest man the chief can measure using those weights?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

What must be kept in mind before you start calculating through any method is that the weights can be
put on both the pans.

So the weights - 1, 3, 7, 12, 43, 76, 102

The oldest man that can be weighed using these weights is a man aged 122 years

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150
Hard Ten Boxes Interview Puzzle

You have ten boxes and an electronic weighing machine. In those ten boxes, you have chocolates.
Each chocolate weigh 20 grams. But in one box the chocolates are defective and each weigh 19
grams exactly.

Now you can weigh in the electronic weighing machine but you can use that machine just once.
How will you find out which box has the defected chocolates.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

If you are thinking to hold one chocolate from each box in hand and then balancing weight in bare
hands, you are thinking all wrong.

Let us begin by labelling boxes as 1, 2, 3 and so on till 10.

Now pick one chocolate from box 1, two chocolates from box 2, three from box 3 and so on. In total,
you will have 55 chocolates now. (1 + 2 + 3 + ..... + 10)

The ideal weight of the chocolates should be 55 * 20 = 1100. However, somewhere in there are the
defected chocolate/s.

You can judge that clearly by noting down the result of 1100 - total weight of chocolates. If the weight
is less than 1 gram, the defected box is box 1, if the weight is less than 2 grams, the defected box is
box 2 and so on.

151
Hard Logic Statement Riddle

There are a hundred statements.

1st person says: At least one of the statements is incorrect.
2nd person says: At least two of the statements is incorrect.
3rd person says: At least three of the statements are incorrect.
4th person says: At least four of the statements are incorrect.
..
..

..

100th person says: At least a hundred of the statements are incorrect.

Now analyze all the statements and find out how many of them are incorrect and how many are
true?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The 100th statement for sure is incorrect because it says that at least 100 of the statements are
incorrect.

Suppose if that is correct, then 100 statements cannot be true.

This suggests that the 100th statement is incorrect and that the first statement is true.

Similarly 99 statements cannot be true because if they were true, then two statements would become
correct i.e. the 1st and the 99th.
But the 99th statement says that at least 99 are incorrect.
This suggests that the 99th statement is incorrect and that 2ndone is true.

If we keep analyzing is the same way till the end, we will find out that only the first fifty statements
are true and all the remaining ones are incorrect.

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152
Hard Logic Brain Teaser

There are 100 doors. 100 strangers have been gathered in the adjacent room. The first one goes
and opens every door. The second one goes and shuts down all the even numbered doors - second,
fourth, sixth... and so on. The third one goes and reverses the current position of every third door
(third, sixth, ninth... and so on.) i.e. if the door is open, he shuts it and if the door is shut, he
switches opens it. All the 100 strangers progresses in the similar fashion.

After the last person has done what he wanted, which doors will be left open and which ones will be
shut at the end?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Think deeply about the door number 56, people will visit it for every divisor it has. So 56 has 1 & 56, 2
& 28, 4 & 14, 7 & 8. So on pass 1, the 1st person will open the door; pass 2, 2nd one will close it;
pass 4, open; pass 7, close; pass 8, open; pass 14, close; pass 28, open; pass 56, close.
Thus we can say that the door will just end up back in its original state for each pair of divisor. But
what about the cases in which the pair of divisor has analogous number for example door number 16?
16 has the divisors 1 & 16, 2 & 8, 4&4. But 4 is recurrent because 16 is a perfect square, so you will
only visit door number 16, on pass 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16... leaving it open at the end. So only perfect
square doors will remain open at the end.

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153
Logic Birthday Puzzle

For my anniversary, I decided to surprise my wife. Since she is a voracious reader, I decided to
collect a lot of books for her. On the first day of the month, I bought one book, on the second, I
bought two and on the third, I bought three. This process went on till the anniversary and on the
day, I had 276 books with me to gift her.
 Can you calculate, on which day is our anniversary?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

23rd day

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21
+ 22 + 23 = 276

Thus our anniversary falls on the 23rd day of the month.

You can apply other formulas to shorten the process but that is the simplest way to do it.

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154
Interview Marble Logic Puzzle

You are given a set of scales and 12 marbles. The scales are of the old balance variety. That is, a
small dish hangs from each end of a rod that is balanced in the middle. The device enables you to
conclude either that the contents of the dishes weigh the same or that the dish that falls lower has
heavier contents than the other.
The 12 marbles appear to be identical. In fact, 11 of them are identical, and one is of a different
weight. Your task is to identify the unusual marble and discard it. You are allowed to use the scales
three times if you wish, but no more.

Note that the unusual marble may be heavier or lighter than the others. You are asked to both
identify it and determine whether it is heavy or light.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

So that the following plan can be followed, let us number the coins from 1 to 12. For the first weighing
let us put on the left pan coins 1,2,3,4 and on the right pan coins 5,6,7,8.

There are two possibilities. Either they balance, or they don't. If they balance, then the different coin
is in the group 9,10,11,12. So for our second one possibility is to weigh 9,10,11 against 1,2,3

(1) They balance, in which case you know 12 is the different coin, and you just weigh it against any
other to determine whether it is heavy or light.
(2) 9,10,11 is heavy. In this case, you know that the different coin is 9, 10, or 11, and that that coin
is heavy. Simply weigh 9 against 10; if they balance, 11 is the heavy coin. If not, the heavier one is
the heavy coin.
(3) 9,10,11 is light. Proceed as in the step above, but the coin you're looking for is the light one.
That was the easy part.

What if the first weighing 1,2,3,4 vs 5,6,7,8 does not balance? Then any one of these coins could be
the different coin. Now, in order to proceed, we must keep track of which side is heavy for each of the
following weighings.

Suppose that 5,6,7,8 is the heavy side. We now weigh 1,5,6 against 2,7,8. If they balance, then the
different coin is either 3 or 4. Weigh 4 against 9, a known good coin. If they balance then the different
coin is 3, otherwise it is 4. The direction of the tilts can tell us whwther the offending coin is heavier or
lighter.

Now, if 1,5,6 vs 2,7,8 does not balance, and 2,7,8 is the heavy side, then either 7 or 8 is a different,
heavy coin, or 1 is a different, light coin.

For the third weighing, weigh 7 against 8. Whichever side is heavy is the different coin. If they
balance, then 1 is the different coin. Should the weighing of 1,5, 6 vs 2,7,8 show 1,5,6 to be the
heavy side, then either 5 or 6 is a different heavy coin or 2 is a light different coin. Weigh 5 against 6.
The heavier one is the different coin. If they balance, then 2 is a different light coin.

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155
IAS Interview Problem

I need to divide numbers from 1 to 9 into two group such that sum of numbers in one group is
equal to the sum of other group.
Note : 6 cannot be flipped over to make it 9.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

1 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 8 6

Since summation of numbers 1-9(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) is 45 , so its impossible to divide into two equal
parts.
Since we cant flip over 6 to make it 9 but we can flip 9 to make it 6 and hence the solution

156
Popular Deductive Logic Problem

Eight Brothers lives in an old house where there is no electricity and no computers or any any other
gadget.

Brother-1: Reading Comics

Brother-2: Playing Chess
Brother-3: Writing
Brother-4: making food for the family
Brother-5: sleeping and snoring
Brother-6: cleaning house
Brother-7: watering the plants
 what is Brother-8 doing ?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Playing chess

Game needs two players so Brother-8 is playing chess with Brother-2

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157
Walking on Globe Interview Puzzle

If you walk one mile south, then one mile east and then one mile north, you reach the place where
you started. In such a scenario, how many points are there on the globe to make it happen?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Did you consider the southern hemisphere? If you did you must be knowing that there is a ring near
the South Pole with a circumference of one mile. Consider the situation that you are standing on one
mile north of the ring at any point. Now if you walk on the southern direction and cover one mile, you
will be standing on the ring. Traveling one mile east will bring you on the circumference of the ring.
Walking one mile north from there, you will be standing on the exact point where you started. Now if
you start counting, you will understand that while you walk 1 mile north in the end, you can reach an
infinite number of points.

In such a case, the total number of possible points possible are 1 + infinite.

Now let us consider the ring that is half a mile in circumference near the South Pole. If you walk a
mile along the ring, you would circle twice but will reach the point where you started from. In such a
case if you start from the point that is located one mile north of a half mile ring, it will also help you
reach the starting point after traveling as per asked.

Now with every possible integer N, there is a circle with radius R = 1 / 2 (2*pi*n); which is centered
at the South Pole.

If you walk along these rings, you will be circling N times and again returning to the point where you
started. You must note that the possible values for N are infinite. Also, you can have infinite ways of
selecting a starting point which is located one mile north of the rings which means that there are
(infinite * infinite) possible points.

Concluding with our statements, the possible number of points are equal to 1 + infinite * infinite
which is equal to infinite.

Thus there are infinite points possible.

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158
2 Eggs Interview Problem

We have an egg problem again. There is a 36 story building for which you have complete access.
You have two eggs and you must follow the below facts:

An egg that does not breaks on falling can be re used.

1) A broken egg will be discarded immediately

2) All the eggs will experience the same effect of the fall as all the eggs are identical.

3) Suppose if an egg breaks on falling from first floor, it will definitely break from all the floors
above the first floor.

4) If an egg does not breaks from falling from the thirty sixth floor, it will not break from all the
floor below it as well.

5) All you have to do is find out the minimum drops with which you can determine the floor which
is safe to drop eggs from.

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The minimum number of drops required are eight.

We will begin from the floor 8. And then if it does not breaks, we will continue in the following fashion

8, (8+7), (8+7+6), (8+7+6+5), (8+7+6+5+4), (8+7+6+5+4+3), (8+7+6+5+4+3+2),

(8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1)

= 8, 15, 21, 26, 30, 33, 35, 36

Suppose if the egg breaks from 20th floor

It will not break from eights
It will not break from fifteenth
It will break from twenty first
You will still have one egg remaining

Now start putting from sixteenth floor moving up one floor every time
It will not break till nineteenth and it will break of twentieth floor.

For the worst scenario possible, the maximum number of droppings will be eight only.

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159
Measure the Water Interview Question

You have infinite supply of water. You also have 5 quart and 3 quart buckets. What is the least
number of steps you will require to measure precisely 4 quarts?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

Fill the 3 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 0 quarts and 3 quart bucket has 3 quarts)

Pour it entirely in the 5 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 3 quarts and 3 quart bucket has 0 quarts)

Fill the 3 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 3 quarts and 3 quart bucket has 3 quarts)

Pour the contents to fill the 5 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 5 quarts and 3 quart bucket has 1
quart)

Empty down the 5 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 0 quarts and 3 quart bucket has 1 quart)

Pour the water from 1 quart bucket to 5 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 1 quart and 3 quart bucket
has 0 quart)

Fill the 3 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 1 quart and 3 quart bucket has 3 quarts)

Pour the contents from 3 quart bucket to 5 quart bucket (5 quart bucket has 4 quarts and 3 quart
bucket has 0 quarts)

We are done and it took us eight steps to measure exactly 4 quarts of water.

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160
Crossing Bridge Interview Puzzle

The scenario comprises of a wobbly bridge and four people. It is the night time and the people have
only one torch. Without torch one may risk his life in crossing the bridge. Also we have a condition;
the bridge is not quite strong and can hold only two persons together at one. The four people take
different time to cross the bridge - 1 min, 2 min, 7 min and 10 min.

Since the torch is a necessity and the bride can't hold more than two persons at a time, two
persons must travel at a time out of which one must return with the torch so they don't risk their
life crossing in the dark.

What is the shortest time that will be required for all of them to cross the bridge?
 Answer & Explanation
Explanation :

Solution:

Were you thinking of using the fastest person who takes one minute to travel to and fro till everyone
has reached the other end? Yes that can be done but it will take 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 minutes in
total.

If we pay attention towards finding a way to merge the one taking 7 minutes and the one taking 10
minutes, we will have to acknowledge the fact that one of them will also have to return back which will
take much more time than 21 minutes.

What if we use the person taking 2 minutes to escort the one taking 1 minutes across? Let's come to
the conclusion:

1 and 2 cross the bridge

2 returns with the torch
7 and 10 cross the bridge
1 comes back
1 and 2 cross the bridge

In such a manner, the total time taken will be

2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 minutes.

161
Box with Defective Balls Interview Question

Here is a situation. You have 10 boxes that contains balls with each of the ball weighing 10 grams
precisely. Now among the boxes, one of the box comprises of defective balls with each defective
ball weighing 9 grams. You have been provided with an electronic weighing machine but you are
allowed to use it only once.

Can you find out which box contains defective balls?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

The question can practically disarm you. But we promise by the time you read the solution, you will
find that it was way easy than you were thinking.

Let us name the boxes with a number - Box1, Box 2..., Box10. Now you must be familiar with the
weights of the balls precisely. By saying that we are not implying that you will have to take one ball
from every box and judge the weight of every ball.

What you have to do is pick one ball from Box 1, 2 balls from Box 2, 3 balls from Box 3, ...., 10 balls
from Box 10. Thus after taking balls from every box in such a manner, you will finally have 55 balls in
total. There comes the time to use the weighing machine.

If all the balls were weighing adequate, the combined weight should be 55 x 10 grams = 550 grams.
But since one of the box has defected balls, the weight will be less than that. Here is the tricky part
and explains why we took different number of balls from each box.

If the total weight is less than 1 gram, then the defective box is the Box 1 since we took 1 ball from
that box. If the Box 2 is defective, the total weight will be less than 2 grams. In similar fashion you
can identify the defective box by analyzing the total weight that is calculated by the weighing
machine.
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162
Colliding Trains Interview Puzzle

A train is moving from station A to station B at 15 mph. Another train is moving in the opposite
direction from station B to A at a speed of 20mph. A vulture is flying from Station A to station B at
25 mph. When the vulture reaches at the train moving from Station B to A, it starts flying back and
flies at the same speed till it reaches the train moving from station A to B and starts flying in the
reverse direction again. The vulture keeps flying to and fro till both the trains collide with each
other.

What is the total distance that is traveled by the vulture?

Answer & Explanation

Explanation :

Solution:

To solve this question, we will have to use the concept of relative speed.

Let us assume that the distance between the station A and B is D Miles
The relative speed at which the train are approaching each other is 20 + 15 = 35 mph
When the train collides with each other, the sum of the distance covered will be the distance between
the stations i.e. D.
Now Speed = Distance/Time
Which means that the trains will collide in d/35 hours after their start

Another constant things we have here is the speed of the vulture i.e. 25 mph.
Thus by the time the trains collide, the vulture would have covered
25*(D/35) miles = 5D/7 Miles