Puzzle
Puzzle
Puzzle
Solution:
The hare and the tortoise are together covering the distance at 13 miles per
hour (i.e., on adding their speeds).
So, they will cover the distance of 52 miles in 4 hours.
Thus, in 4 hours, they will meet and the hare will have traveled 40 miles.
Let t be the time before the hare and the tortoise meet.
In t hours, the hare will travel 10 t miles.
In t hours, the tortoise will travel 3 t miles.
Now,
10 t + 3 t = 52
So, t = 52 ⁄ 13 = 4 hours.
The problem may also be solved by setting up the following equation: a/4
+ a/8 + a/2 + 9 = a
where a denotes Man Wrinkle's age in years.
The equation may be solved as shown below.
7a/8 + 9 = a
9 = a − 7a/8 = a/8
a/8 = 9 or a = 72.
Hint:
If you pick 2 gloves blindly, can they be of different colors?
If you pick 3 gloves blindly, can they be of different colors?
Solution:
To find a pair, Mr. Brown must pick at least 2 gloves. But, if he picks 2 gloves
blindly, then they may be of different colors. If he picks 3 gloves blindly, then
there are only 2 possibilities: all 3 gloves are of the same color, or 2 gloves
are of the same color and 1 is of a different color. Both these possibilities
guarantee Mr. Brown a pair of gloves of the same color. Thus, Mr. Brown
should minimally pick 3 gloves to be certain to find a pair of gloves of the
same color.
Would the problem change significantly if the word "gloves" was replaced by
"shoes" in the problem statement? Does it matter that there are "left" and
"right" shoes?
Assuming 2 wheels for each cycle, 19 cycles will have 38 wheels. But, there
are 48 − 38 = 10 extra wheels.
As bicycles have 2 wheels and tricycles have 3 wheels, there is 1 extra wheel
per tricycle in the park. Thus, the 10 extra wheels belong to 10 tricycles.
How many minutes does it take one monkey to eat one banana?
Solution:
Does one assume that 7 monkeys take 1 minute to eat 1 banana and that all
bananas are consumed at the same pace?
Or does one assume that 1 monkey takes 7 minutes to eat 1 banana and that
all monkeys eat at the same pace?
A pillar 9 feet tall casts a shadow 3 feet long on the ground. If the pillar was 21
feet tall, how many feet in length would the shadow be ?
The lengths of the shadows are to one another as the heights of the
pillars.
Solution:
The lengths of the shadows are to one another as the heights of the pillars. Thus,
What other factor(s) does the length of a shadow depend on? Does the time of the day or the
position of the sun determine the length of the shadow?
Your teacher has a total of 49 chalks. When a chalk reduces to 1/7 of its original size, it gets
too small for her to hold for writing and hence she keeps it aside. But your teacher hates
wasting things and so, when she realizes that she has enough of these small pieces to join
and make another chalk of the same size, she joins them and uses the new chalkstick. If she
uses one chalk each day, how many days would the 49 chalks last?
The chalks that are made by joining pieces together will again
57
leave behind pieces!
Hint
Solution:
Your teacher uses one chalk each day. Hence the total number of days she uses 49 chalks is 49.
Each chalk leaves a fraction of 1/7 its size... so 49 such fractions remain. Since 7 such fractions
are joined to give a new chalk, your teacher combines all the fractions to get 7 chalks which can
again be used for 7 days. Hence, she has managed to use 49 chalks for (49 + 7) days!
But, what about the leftovers of the chalks used over the last 7 days?? They can be joined to form
yet another chalk... which means another day! So, your teacher uses the 49 chalks for a total of 57
days.
Does the teacher actually use one chalk each day or 6/7 each day? Is there any ambiguity (or lack
of clarity) in the problem statement? Interpreting the question posed is an important first step in
problem-solving. Re-reading the problem statement often helps!
A snail creeps 5 ft up a wall during the daytime. After all the labor it does
throughout the day, it stops to rest a while... but falls asleep!! The next
morning it wakes up and discovers that it has slipped down 2 ft while sleeping.
If this happens every day, how many days will the snail take to reach the top
of a wall 44 ft in height?
On the "last" day, the snail will reach the top and there will not be
any question of slipping down.
Solution:
On the first day, the snail climbs up 5 ft and slips down 2 ft while sleeping. So,
next morning, it is 3 ft from where it started. The snail thus travels 3 ft upwards
every day. Therefore, in 13 days, it has traveled a distance of 39 ft from the
bottom.
Here lies the catch to the problem! On the last day, the snail travels 5 ft
upwards and hence reaches the top of the wall in a total of 14 days.
Let x be the number of days the snail takes to reach the top of the wall 44 ft in
height.
On the last day, the snail will reach the top by traveling 5 ft upwards and there
will not be any question of slipping down.
The number of remaining days excluding the last day are (x − 1). Since the
snail climbs up 5 ft and slips down 2 ft while sleeping, it travels 3 ft upwards
on each of these remaining days. Thus,
Distance traveled on last day + Distance traveled on remaining days = Wall
height; or
5 + 3 (x − 1) = 44
3 (x − 1) = 44 − 5 = 39; or
x = (39 / 3) + 1 = 14.
Last vacation, my cousin came over to stay at my home. We made the most of her stay at my
place... and I even earned a few chocolates.
Everyday, we would play a game of chess. Whoever lost the game owed a chocolate to the other.
After the last game we played (that was the day she was to leave), we counted the number of
games each of us had won and lost. Wow! I had won more than her. So, she handed me 6
chocolates... though she herself was the winner in 13 games.
A rich merchant had collected many gold coins. He did not want anybody to
know about them. One day, his wife asked, "How many gold coins do we
have?"
After pausing a moment, he replied, "Well! If I divide the coins into two
unequal numbers, then 31 times the difference between the two numbers
equals the difference between the squares of the two numbers."
The wife looked puzzled. Can you help the merchant's wife by finding out
how many gold coins they have?
(a + b) (a − b) = ...
The merchant has 31 gold coins.
It is easy to check this... Let's divide the 31 coins into two unequal numbers,
say, 25 and 6. Then,
a2 − b2 = (a + b) (a − b)
It was Diane's first day at school. The teacher suggested that it would be a good idea for each
child to meet every other child in the class. The teacher said, "When you meet, please shake
hands and introduce yourself by name."
If there were 10 children in the class, how many total handshakes were there?
Each child shakes hands with every OTHER child once and only
once.
Solution:
The class has 10 children. The first child shakes hands with the other 9
children. The second child has already shaken hands with the first child,
and so has to shake hands with only the other 8 children. In this manner,
the second-last child has to shake hands with only one child, and the last
child has already met all the children. Thus, the number of handshakes is
9 + 8 + ........ + 2 + 1 = 45.
It is obviously assumed that each child shakes hands with every other
child once and only once.
"I had been to the attic, my son," replied Dad. "And do you know what I saw there?
There was a big web with 28 spiders and flies on it."
"How many spiders were there?" asked the little boy with curiosity.
"Well, there were a total of 186 legs on the web," answered Dad with a smile. "Now you
can find out how many spiders were there by yourself. Can't you?"
Can you help the little boy find out how many spiders were on the web in the attic?
Hint:
Calculate the number of legs assuming 6 legs for each insect.
Then, determine the number of extra legs.
Solution:
Assuming 6 legs for each insect, 28 insects will have 168 legs.
But, there are 186 − 168 = 18 extra legs.
s + f = 28; and
8s + 6f = 186.
On solving the above two equations, we get
8s + 6 (28 − s) = 186; or
2s = 186 − (6 × 28).
Thus, s = 9.
There is a number that is 9 times the sum of its digits. What is this
number?
Look for a 2-digit number.
Solution:
Let t be the digit in the tens place and u be the digit in the units
place. Then, the number is 10 t + u, and the sum of its digits
is t + u. The following equation can be readily written:
10 t + u = 9 t + 9 u or
1 t = 8 u.
Hint:
A Venn diagram with two intersecting sets may help in visualization.
The two sets could be "days we did nothing in the morning" and "days
we stayed at home in the evening."
Solution:
Let
• x denote the number of days we jogged in the morning and
stayed at home in the evening;
• y denote the number of days we played tennis in the
evening and did nothing in the morning; and
• z denote the number of days we neither jogged nor played
tennis.
Then,
x + y + z = 16
Since there are only three types of days, the total number of days
I stayed with my cousin is their sum, i.e., 16.
Can you solve this puzzle using a Venn diagram with two
intersecting sets? Could the two sets be "days we did nothing in
the morning" and "days we stayed at home in the evening"?
Bill takes the underground train to work and uses an escalator at
the railway station. If Bill runs up 7 steps of the escalator, then it
takes him 30.0 seconds to reach the top of the escalator. If he
runs up 15 steps of the escalator, then it takes him only 18.0
seconds to reach the top.
How many seconds would it take Bill to reach the top if he did not
run up any steps of the escalator at all?
Hint:
Calculate the speed of the escalator or the time of travel for each step.
Then, determine the total steps in the escalator.
Solution:
Grandpa:
Hint:
Let g be the grandson's age in years.
Then, is grandpa's age 12g in years? Is the son's age 7g in years?
Solution:
Grandpa:
365g = 52s.
12g = m.
g + s + m = 160.
The above system of 3 equations in 3 unknowns (g, s and m) can
be solved as follows.
Elegant Solution:
7g = s.
12g = m
g + s + m = 160.
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a
head but never weeps, and has a bed but never sleeps??
A river
How can you use the letters in NEW DOOR to make one word?
one word
Idiot
A sponge
How could all of your cousins have an aunt who is not your aunt?
Turn one switch on for five mts then tur it off and turn on another
switch b4 u open the box ,one bulb will b lit, one will be cool and
another will be hot
On my way to the fair, I met 7 jugglers and a bear, every juggler had
6 cats, every cat had 5 rats, every rat had 4 houses, every house
had 3 mouses, every mouse had 2 louses, every louse had a spouse.
How many in all are going to the fair?
Just me coz all of then was the one whom ive just sawn
Quitting ur imagine
Johnny's mother had four children. The first was April, the second
was May, and the third was June. What was the name of her fourth
child?
Jonnie
You are driving a bus. Four people get on, three people get off, then
eight people get on and ten people get off, then 6 people get on and
2 more people get off. What color were the bus driver's eyes?
There was an airplane crash, every single person died, but two
people survived. How is this possible?
The peacock is a bird that does not lay eggs. How do they get baby
peacocks?
• The Mississippi River is the dividing line between Tennessee
and Arkansas. If an airplane crashed exactly in the middle of
the Mississippi River there, where would the survivors be
buried?
Take s awey s
A butcher is six foot tall, wears size 14 shoes, and has a 50 inch
waist. What does he weigh?meat
Forewards it is heavy,
backwards it is not.
What is it?ton
Answer: Option D
Explanation:
The boy in the photograph is the only son of the son of Suresh's mother i.e., the son of Suresh.
Hence, Suresh is the father of boy.
A. Brother B. Sister
C. Nephew D. Cannot be determined
Answer: Option D
Explanation:
If D is Male, the answer is Nephew.
If D is Female, the answer is Niece.
As the sex of D is not known, hence, the relation between D and A cannot be determined.
Note: Niece - A daughter of one's brother or sister, or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law. Nephew
- A son of one's brother or sister, or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
You have been imprisoned in a castle and your prison guards decide to tempt you
with freedom, but at a big risk. They show you 2 doors, each with a guard standing in
front, one door leads to the hanging gallows and the other leads directly out the castle
and into freedom.
You are told that one guard is a liar, and will always lie and the other guard will speak
only the truth.
You have no idea which guard is which, or what door is what.
Your prison guards laugh and inform you that you may only ask One question.
Impossible you think at first, but then you have a moment of inspiration. What question
do you ask?
You ask any guard "Which door would the other guard say I should open?" and then
choose the opposite!
Hypothesing and imagining that Door A leads to freedom and Door B to death. If you
ask the Truth Guard (unknowingly of course) he would say, truthfully, that the other
guard would say you should open door B.
If you ask the Lying Guard (unknowingly of course) he would lie, and say that the other
guard would show you door B.
So you must always choose the opposite of what either guard tells you.
Using only basic arithmetic operations (+ - x /) can you get 98 using only 7 sevens?
Each 7 may only be used once and you must use all 7 sevens.
7777777
(7x7x(7+7)/7)+7-7
Q: Choose the correct sentence: The yolk of an egg IS white. The yolk of an egg ARE white?
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