IQ Questions and Answers (60 Pages)

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Problem 1: Imagine an analog clock set to 12 o'clock.

Note that the hour and minute hands


overlap. How many times each day do both the hour and minute hands overlap? How would
you determine the exact times of the day that this occurs?

Answer: After 12 o'clock, the minute hand races ahead of the hour hand. By the time the
minute hand has gone all the way round the clock and is back at 12, one hour later (i.e., at 1
o'clock), the hour hand has moved to indicate 1. Five minutes later, the minute hand reaches 1
and is almost on top of the hour hand, but not quite, since by then the hour hand has moved
ahead a tiny amount more. So the next time after 12 that the minute hand is directly over the
hour hand is a bit after 1:05. Similarly, the next time it happens is a bit after 2:10. Then a bit
after 3:15, and so on. The eleventh time this happens, a bit after 11:55, has to be 12 o'clock
again, since we know what the clock looks like at that time. So the two hands are superimposed
exactly 12 times in each 12 hour period.

To answer the second part of the puzzle, you have to figure out those little bits of timer you
have to keep adding on. Well, after 12 o'clock there are eleven occasions when the two hands
match up, and since the clock hands move at constant speeds, those 11 events are spread
equally apart around the clock face, so they are 1/11th of an hour apart. That's 5.454545
minutes apart, so the little bit you keep adding is in fact 0.454545 minutes. The precise times of
the superpositions are, in hours, 1 + 1/11, 2 + 2/11, 3+ 3/11, all the way up to 11 + 11/11, which
is 12 o'clock again.

Want more? Devlin has provided three additional puzzles in the right-hand column of this page.
If you think you know answers to any of these problems, send your replies to wesat@npr.org.
How many times do a clock's hands overlap in a day?

22 times a day if you only count the minute and hour hands overlapping. The approximate
times are listed below. (For the precise times, see the related question.)
2 times a day if you only count when all three hands overlap. This occurs at midnight and noon.

am
12:00
1:05
2:11
3:16
4:22
5:27
6:33
7:38
8:44
9:49
10:55  

pm
12:00
1:05
2:11
3:16
4:22
5:27
6:33
7:38
8:44
9:49
10:55
A really simple way to see this is to imagine that the two hands are racing each other around a
track. Every time the minute hand 'laps' the hour hand, we have the overlaps we want.
So, we can say that the number of laps completed by the minute hand every T hours, Lm = T
laps. Since there are 12hours in a full rotation of the hour hand, that hand only rotates Lh =
T/12 laps.
In order for the first 'lapping' to occur, the minute hand must do one more lap than the hour
hand: Lm = Lh +1, so we get T = T/12 + 1 and that tells us that the first overlap happens after T =
(12/11) hours. Similarly, the 2nd lapping will occur when Lm = Lh + 2.
In general, the 'Nth' lapping will occur when Lm = Lh +N, which means every N*(12/11) hours
(for N = 0,1,2,3...). In other words, it will happen approximately every 1hr5mins27secs, starting
at 00:00. In 24hours, this occurs a total of 24/(12/11) = 22 times.

Question : Classic brain teaser: a fork in the road and truth-tellers


You are traveling down a street and come to a fork in the road. Two guys are standing there,
and one of them will always tell you a lie, and one of them will always tell you the truth.

Unfortunately, you don’t know which guy is which, and only one of the two roads leads to the
town you need to get to.

Assuming both guys know which road leads to the town, what one question can you ask to
find out which path to take?

As always, will try to unmask answers in a day or 2…

(Q. You come to a fork in the road. One road leads to Hell, the other to Heaven. On both sides
of the road there is a person. One is a pathological liar (everything he says is false), the other
a pathalogical truth teller (everything he says is true). If you get to ask a single question to
one of them, what would you ask to choose which road you will continue your journey on? )

Answer : the answer is ask which door would the other guy point to heaven and go to the
opposite door. the liar will point to the door to hell because he’ll never tell the truth. and the
truth teller will point to the door to hell so thats the door to avoid.

Question: You need to get to the city but lost your way and come to a fork in the road where
there are 2 people/brothers. One always tells the truth, the other always lies.You don't know
who is the truth teller or who is the liar.

THE ANSWER: Ask one of the two 'which way' will the other guy tell you to go.The take the
opposite road!

The truth teller will tell the truth that the LIAR would give you the WRONG WAY..if you asked
the liar, he would tell youthe wrong way anyway.
Brick
One brick is one kilogram and half a brick heavy.
What is the weight of one brick?
(This is an easy, yet entertaning and cool math game.)

Brick - solution
There is an easy equation which can help:
1 brick = 1 kg + 1/2 brick
And so 1 brick is 2 kg heavy.

Fly
Two trains, 200 km apart, are moving toward each other at the speed of 50 km/hour each. A fly
takes off from one train flying straight toward the other at the speed of 75 km/hour. Having
reached the other train, the fly bounces off it and flies back to the first train. The fly repeats the
trip until the trains collide and the bug is squashed.
What distance has the fly traveled until its death?
(There is a complicated and an easy way to solve this cool math game.)

Fly - solution
There is a complicated way counting a sequence. Or simply knowing that if the fly is flying the 2 hours
still at the same speed of 75 km/h then it flies a distance of 150 km.
 

Trains
A passenger train leaves New York for Boston traveling at the speed of 80 km/hr. In half an hour
a freight train leaves Boston for New York traveling at the speed of 60 km/hr.
Which train will be further from New York when they meet?
(Kids might know the answer faster than the adults :-)

Trains - solution
Of course, when the trains encounter, they will be approximately the same distance away from
New York. The New York train will be closer to New York by approximately one train length
because they're coming from different directions. That is, unless you take "meet" to mean
"perfectly overlap".

Speeding up
If I went halfway to a town 60 km away at the speed of 30 km/hour, how fast do I have to go
the rest of the way to have an average speed of 60 km/hour over the entire trip?

Speeding up - solution
This one has no solution. Unless we are complicating it with relativity theory - time and space. But to
keep it simple, you can't reach the desired average speed under the given circumstances.

Wired Equator
The circumference of the Earth is approximately 40,000 km. If we made a circle of wire around
the globe, that is only 10 meters (0.01 km) longer than the circumference of the globe, could a
flea, a mouse, or even a man creep under it?

Wired Equator - solution


It is easy to compare R and new R (original perimeter = 2xPIxR, length of wire = 2xPIx(new R)) and find
out that the result is about 1.6 m. So a smaller man can go under it and a bigger man ducks.

Cool Math Game by Diophantus


We know little about this Greek mathematician from Alexandria, called the father of algebra,
except that he lived around 3rd century A.D. Thanks to an admirer of his, who described his life
by means of an algebraic riddle, we know at least something about his life.
Diophantus's youth lasted 1/6 of his life. He had his first beard in the next 1/12 of his life. At the
end of the following 1/7 of his life Diophantus got married. Five years from then his son was
born. His son lived exactly 1/2 of Diophantus's life. Diophantus died 4 years after the death of
his son.
How long did Diophantus live?

Diophantus - solution
There is an easy equation to reflect the several ages of Diophantus:
1/6x + 1/12x + 1/7x + 5 + 1/2x + 4 = x
So the solution (x) is 84 years.

Ahmes's Papyrus
About 1650 B. C., Egyptian scribe Ahmes, made a transcript of even more ancient mathematical
scriptures dating to the reign of the Pharaoh Amenemhat III. In 1858 Scottish antiquarian,
Henry Rhind came into possession of Ahmes's papyrus. The papyrus is a scroll 33 cm wide and
about 5.25 m long filled with funny math riddles. One of the problems is as follows:
100 measures of corn must be divided among 5 workers, so that the second worker gets as
many measures more than the first worker, as the third gets more than the second, as the
fourth gets more than the third, and as the fifth gets more than the fourth. The first two
workers shall get seven times less measures of corn than the three others.
How many measures of corn shall each worker get? (You can have fractional measures of corn.)

Ahmes's Papyrus - solution


2 equations give a clear answer to the given question:
5w + 10d = 100
7*(2w + d) = 3w + 9d
Where w is amount of corn for the first worker, d is the difference (amount of corn) between
two consecutive workers. So this is the solution:
1st worker = 10/6 measures of corn
2nd worker = 65/6 measures of corn
3rd worker = 120/6 (20) measures of corn
4th worker = 175/6 measures of corn
5th worker = 230/6 measures of corn

Midnight
If it were two hours later, it would be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an
hour later.
What time is it now?

Midnight - solution
9 p.m.

Clock
At noon the hour, minute, and second hands coincide. In about one hour and five minutes the
minute and hour hands will coincide again.
What is the exact time (to the millisecond) when this occurs, and what angle will they form with
the second hand?
(Assume that the clock hands move continuously.)

Clock - solution
There are a few ways of solving this one. I like the following simple way of thinking. The given situation
(when the hour and minute hands overlay) occurs in 12 hours exactly 11 times after the same time. So
it’s easy to figure out that 1/11 of the clock circle is at the time 1:05:27,273 and so the seconds hand is
right on 27,273 seconds. There is no problem proving that the angle between the hours hand and the
seconds hand is 131 degrees.

Filling the Pool


A swimming pool has four faucets. The first can fill the entire pool with water in two days, the
second – in three days, the third – in four days, and the last one can fill the pool in 6 hours.
How long will it take to fill the pool using all 4 faucets together?

Reservoir - solution
Because there are 24 hours in one day, in one hour fills the first tap 1/48, the second tap 1/72, the third
tap 1/96 and the fourth tap fills 1/6 of the reservoir. That is all together (6+4+3+48) / 288 = 61/288. The
reservoir will be full in 288/61 hours, which is 4 hours 43 minutes and about 17 seconds.

Airplanes
A distant planet “X” has only one airport located at the planet’s North Pole. There are only 3
airplanes and lots of fuel at the airport. Each airplane has just enough fuel capacity to get to the
South Pole. The airplanes can transfer their fuel to one another.
Your mission is to fly around the globe above the South Pole with at least one airplane, and in
the end, all the airplanes must return to the airport.

Aeroplane - solution
Divide the way from pole to pole to 3 thirds (from the North Pole to the South Pole 3 thirds and from the
South Pole to the North Pole 3 thirds).

1st step - 2 aeroplanes to the first third, fuel up one aeroplane which continues to the second
third and the first aeroplane goes back to the airport.

2nd step - 2 aeroplanes fly again from the airport to the first third, fuel up one aeroplane which
continues to the second third and the first aeroplane goes back to the airport.

3rd step - So there are 2 aeroplanes on the second third, each having 2/3 of fuel. One of them
fuels up the second one and goes back to the first third, where it meets the third aeroplane
which comes from the airport to support it with 1/3 of fuel so that they both can return to the
airport. In the meantime, the aeroplane at the second third having full tank flies as far as it can
(so over the South Pole to the last third before the airport).

4th step - The rest is clear – one (of the two) aeroplane from the airport goes to the first third
(the opposite direction as before), shares its 1/3 of fuel and both aeroplanes safely land back at
the airport.
Magic Belt
A magic wish-granting rectangular belt always shrinks to 1/2 its length and 1/3 its width
whenever its owner makes a wish. After three wishes, the surface area of the belt’s front side
was 4 cm2.
What was the original length, if the original width was 9 cm?

Belt - solution
The original length of belt was 96 cm.

What is Correct
Is it correct that seven and five is thirteen or seven and five are thirteen?

What is Correct - solution


Of course, adding seven to five makes twelve and not thirteen.

Strange Coins
I have two US coins totaling 55 cents. One is not a nickel.
What are the coins?

Strange Coins - solution


This was just a catch question. One of the coins is really not a nickel because nickel is the other coin. So
it is a fifty cent piece and a nickel -- it said ONE isn't a nickel, but the OTHER ONE IS!

Baldyville
These are the conditions in Baldyville:

1. No two inhabitants have the same number of hairs on their head.


2. No inhabitant has exactly 518 hairs.
3. There are more inhabitants in town than hairs on any individual inhabitant's head.

What is the highest possible number of inhabitants?

Baldyville - solution
There can live maximum of 518 people in the town. By the way, it is clear that one inhabitant must by
baldy, otherwise there wouldn’t be a single man in the town.
Unfaithful Wives
An anthropologist studying a primitive tribe in a remote location in the Amazon basin, had
uncovered a strange tribal custom. Whereby, if a husband found out his wife was unfaithful to
him, he must execute her in a public ceremony in front of the whole tribe on the same day at
midnight. It so happened that every man in the tribe knew about every cheating wife except his
own, since telling a man about his cheating wife was against the tribal honor code. On the day
of his departure, the anthropologist held a tribal meeting and made the announcement: “I
know there are unfaithful wives in this tribe.” On the ninth day thereafter all cheating wives
were executed at the same time.
How many unfaithful wives were there?

Josephine - solution
The two questions for scroll #1 were:
1. How many husbands were shot on that fateful night?
2. Why is Queen Henrietta I revered in Mamajorca?
The answers are:
If there are n unfaithful husbands (UHs), every wife of an UH knows of n-1 UH's while every wife of a
faithful husband knows of n UHs. [this because everyone has perfect information about everything
except the fidelity of their own husband]. Now we do a simple induction: Assume that there is only one
UH. Then all the wives but one know that there is just one UH, but the wife of the UH thinks that
everyone is faithful. Upon hearing that "there is at least one UH", the wife realizes that the only husband
it can be is her own, and so shoots him. Now, imagine that there are just two UH's. Each wife of an UH
assumes that the situation is "only one UH in town" and so waits to hear the other wife (she knows who
it is, of course) shoot her husband on the first night. When no one is shot, that can only be because her
OWN husband was a second UH. The wife of the second UH makes the same deduction when no shot is
fired the first night (she was waiting, and expecting the other to shoot, too). So they both figure it out
after the first night, and shoot their husbands the second night. It is easy to tidy up the induction to
show that the n UHs will all be shot just on the n'th midnight.

Why 1 = 2
Find the mistake in these mathematical equations.

x=2
x(x-1) = 2(x-1)
x -x = 2x-2
2

x -2x = x-2
2

x(x-2) = x-2
x=1
Why 1 = 2 - solution
The equation is solved the right way, apart from one little detail. There must be stated that x does not
equal y, because there would be dividing by zero, which is not defined in maths.
Open polygon
Connect all 9 dots with 4 straight lines without lifting the pencil off the paper, and without
going over the same line twice.

Solution

Bulbs
This is one of my favorite free printable logic puzzles with a real life solution.
There are three switches downstairs. Each corresponds to one of the three light bulbs in the
attic. You can turn the switches on and off and leave them in any position.
How would you identify which switch corresponds to which light bulb, if you are only allowed
one trip upstairs?

Bulbs - solution
Keep the first bulb switched on for a few minutes. It gets warm, right? So all you have to do then is ...
switch it off, switch another one on, walk into the room with bulbs, touch them and tell which one was
switched on as the first one (the warm one) and the others can be easily identified ...

A Ping-Pong Ball in a Hole


Your last good ping-pong ball fell down into a narrow metal pipe imbedded in concrete one foot
deep.
How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, your shoe-
laces, and your plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?

Ball in a Hole - solution


All you have to do is pour some water into the pipe so that the ball swims up on the surface.

Edit:
oysterboy22's wording solution: none of those random things are going to help you, but the whole point
is the person thinks they have to use the tools, while what they really have to do is urinate in the hole.

A Man in an Elevator
A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and
goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people
in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks
up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?
(This is one of the more popular and most celebrated of all lateral thinking logic puzzles. It is a
true classic. Although there are many possible solutions that fit the conditions, only the
canonical answer is truly satisfying.)

The Man in the Elevator - solution


The man is a of short stature. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push
them for him. He can also push them with his umbrella.

The Ball
How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't
bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back
to you.

Ball - solution
Throw the ball straight up in the air.

The Magnet
This logic puzzle was published in Martin Gardner's column in the Scientific American.
You are in a room with no metal objects except for two iron rods. Only one of them is a magnet.
How can you identify which one is a magnet?

Magnet - solution
You can hang the iron rods on a string and watch which one turns to the north (or hang just one rod).
Gardner gives one more solution: take one rod and touch with its end the middle of the second rod. If
they get closer, then you have a magnet in your hand.
The real magnet will have a magnetic field at its poles, but not at its center. So as previously mentioned,
if you take the iron bar and touch its tip to the magnet's center, the iron bar will not be attracted. This is
assuming that the magnet's poles are at its ends. If the poles run through the length of the magnet, then
it would be much harder to use this method.
In that case, rotate one rod around its axis while holding an end of the other to its middle. If the rotating
rod is the magnet, the force will fluctuate as the rod rotates. If the rotating rod is not magnetic, the
force is constant (provided you can keep their positions steady).

The Castle
A square medieval castle on a square island is under siege. All around the castle there is a
square moat 10 meters wide. Due to a regrettable miscalculation the raiders have brought
footbridges, which are only 9.5 meters long. The invaders cannot abandon their campaign and
return empty-handed.
How can the assailants resolve their predicament?
Castle - solution
You can put one foot-bridge over one corner (thus a triangle is created). Then from the middle of this
foot-bridge lay another foot-bridge to the edge (corner) of the castle. You can make a few easy
equations confirming that this is enough.

Virile Microbes
A Petri dish hosts a healthy colony of bacteria. Once a minute every bacterium divides into two.
The colony was founded by a single cell at noon. At exactly 12:43 (43 minutes later) the Petri
dish was half full.
At what time will the dish be full?

Biology - solution
The dish will be full at 12:44.

Answer for old wording:


The saucer was half full at 11.59 - the next minute there will be twice as many of them there (so full at
12.00).

Sheikh's Inheritance
An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his
fortune. The one whose camel is slower wins. After wandering aimlessly for days, the brothers
ask a wise man for guidance. Upon receiving the advice, they jump on the camels and race to
the city as fast as they can.
What did the wise man say to them?

Sheikh’s Heritage - solution


The wise man told them to switch camels.

Masters of Logic Puzzles (dots)


Three Masters of Logic wanted to find out who was the wisest amongst them. So they turned to
their Grand Master, asking to resolve their dispute. “Easy,” the old sage said. "I will blindfold
you and paint either red, or blue dot on each man’s forehead. When I take your blindfolds off, if
you see at least one red dot, raise your hand. The one, who guesses the color of the dot on his
forehead first, wins." And so it was said, and so it was done. The Grand Master blindfolded the
three contestants and painted red dots on every one. When he took their blindfolds off, all
three men raised their hands as the rules required, and sat in silence pondering. Finally, one of
them said: "I have a red dot on my forehead."
How did he guess?

Masters of Logic Puzzles I. (dots) - solution


The wisest one must have thought like this:
I see all hands up and 2 red dots, so I can have either a blue or a red dot. If I had a blue one, the
other 2 guys would see all hands up and one red and one blue dot. So they would have to think
that if the second one of them (the other with red dot) sees the same blue dot, then he must
see a red dot on the first one with red dot. However, they were both silent (and they are wise),
so I have a red dot on my forehead.

HERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO EXPLAIN IT:


All three of us (A, B, and C (me)) see everyone's hand up, which means that everyone can see at
least one red dot on someone's head. If C has a blue dot on his head then both A and B see
three hands up, one red dot (the only way they can raise their hands), and one blue dot (on C's,
my, head). Therefore, A and B would both think this way: if the other guys' hands are up, and I
see one blue dot and one red dot, then the guy with the red dot must raise his hand because he
sees a red dot somewhere, and that can only mean that he sees it on my head, which would
mean that I have a red dot on my head. But neither A nor B say anything, which means that
they cannot be so sure, as they would be if they saw a blue dot on my head. If they do not see a
blue dot on my head, then they see a red dot. So I have a red dot on my forehead.

Masters of Logic Puzzles II. (hats)


After losing the “Spot on the Forehead” contest, the two defeated Puzzle Masters complained
that the winner had made a slight pause before raising his hand, thus derailing their deductive
reasoning train of thought. And so the Grand Master vowed to set up a truly fair test to reveal
the best logician amongst them. He showed the three men 5 hats – two white and three black.
Then he turned off the lights in the room and put a hat on each Puzzle Master’s head. After that
the old sage hid the remaining two hats, but before he could turn the lights on, one of the
Masters, as chance would have it, the winner of the previous contest, announced the color of
his hat. And he was right once again.
What color was his hat? What could have been his reasoning?

Masters of Logic Puzzles II. (hats) - solution


The important thing in this riddle is that all masters had equal chances to win. If one of them had been
given a black hat and the other white hats, the one with black hat would immediately have known his
color (unlike the others). So 1 black and 2 white hats is not a fair distribution.
If there had been one white and two black hats distributed, then the two with black hats would have
had advantage. They would have been able to see one black and one white hat and supposing they had
been given white hat, then the one with black hat must at once react as in the previous situation.
However, if he had remained silent, then the guys with black hats would have known that they wear
black hats, whereas the one with white hat would have been forced to eternal thinking with no clear
answer. So neither this is a fair situation.
That’s why the only way of giving each master an equal chance is to distribute hats of one color – so 3
black hats.
I hope this is clear enough.
Masters of Logic Puzzles III. (stamps)
Try this. The Grand Master takes a set of 8 stamps, 4 red and 4 green, known to the logicians,
and loosely affixes two to the forehead of each logician so that each logician can see all the
other stamps except those 2 in the Grand Master's pocket and the two on her own forehead.
He asks them in turn if they know the colors of their own stamps:
A: "No."
B: "No."
C: "No."
A: "No."
B: "Yes."
What color stamps does B have?

Masters of Logic Puzzles III. (stamps) - solution


B says: "Suppose I have red-red. A would have said on her second turn: 'I see that B has red-red. If I also
have red-red, then all four reds would be used, and C would have realized that she had green-green. But
C didn't, so I don't have red-red. Suppose I have green-green. In that case, C would have realized that if
she had red-red, I would have seen four reds and I would have answered that I had green-green on my
first turn. On the other hand, if she also has green-green [we assume that A can see C; this line is only
for completeness], then B would have seen four greens and she would have answered that she had two
reds. So C would have realized that, if I have green-green and B has red-red, and if neither of us
answered on our first turn, then she must have green-red.
"'But she didn't. So I can't have green-green either, and if I can't have green-green or red-red, then I
must have green-red.'
So B continues:
"But she (A) didn't say that she had green-red, so the supposition that I have red-red must be wrong.
And as my logic applies to green-green as well, then I must have green-red."
So B had green-red, and we don't know the distribution of the others certainly.
(Actually, it is possible to take the last step first, and deduce that the person who answered YES must
have a solution which would work if the greens and reds were switched -- red-green.)

Head Bands
Three Palefaces were taken captive by a hostile Indian tribe. According to tribe’s custom they
had to pass an intelligence test, or die. The chieftain showed 5 headbands – 2 red and 3 white.
The 3 men were blindfolded and positioned one after another, face to back. The chief put a
headband on each of their heads, hid two remaining headbands, and removed their blindfolds.
So the third man could see the headbands on the two men in front of him, the second man
could see the headband on the first, and the first could not see any headbands at all.
According to the rules any one of the three men could speak first and try to guess his headband
color. And if he guessed correctly – they passed the test and could go free, if not – they failed. It
so happened that all 3 Palefaces were prominent logicians from a nearby academy. So after a
few moments of silence, the first man in the line said: "My headband is ...".
What color was his head band? Why?
Head Bands - solution
The first one (he did not see any head bands) thought this way:
The last one is silent, which means, he does not know, ergo at least one of head bands he sees is white.
The one in the middle is silent too even though he knows what I already mentioned. If I had a red head
band, the second one would have known that he had a white head band. However, nobody says
anything, so my head band is not red – my head band is white.

Christmas Tree
Four angels sat on the Christmas tree amidst other ornaments. Two had blue halos and two –
yellow. However, none of them could see above his head. Angel A sat on the top branch and
could see the angels B and C, who sat below him. Angel B, could see angel C who sat on the
lower branch. And angel D stood at the base of the tree obscured from view by a thicket of
branches, so no one could see him and he could not see anyone either.
Which one of them could be the first to guess the color of his halo and speak it out loud for all
other angels to hear?

Christmas Tree - solution


There are 2 possible solutions:
1. if angels B and C had aureole of the same color, then angel A must have immediately said his own
color (other then theirs),
2. if angels B and C had different colors, then angel A must have been silent and that would have been a
signal for angel B, who could know (looking at angel C) what his own color is (the other one then C had).

Pears
There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical).
But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground.
How come?

Pears - solution
At first, there were 2 pears on the tree. After the wind blew, one pear fell on the ground. So there where
no pears on the tree and there were no pears on the ground.
Another possible solutions: The wind blew so hard that the pears fell of the tree and blew along the
ground into the water or hovering in the air in a tornado.

Apples
A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them among 5 kids so that each one has
an apple and one apple stays in the basket?
Apples - solution
4 kids get an apple (one apple for each one of them) and the fifth kid gets an apple with the basket still
containing the apple.

Sack
A poor farmer went to the market to sell some peas and lentils. However, as he had only one
sack and didn't want to mix peas and lentils, he poured in the peas first, tied the sack in the
middle, and then filled the top portion of the sack with the lentils. At the market a rich
innkeeper happened by with his own sack. He wanted to buy the peas, but he did not want the
lentils.
Pouring the seed anywhere else but the sacks is considered soiling. Trading sacks is not allowed.
The farmer can’t cut a hole in his sack.
How would you transfer the peas to the innkeeper’s sack, which he wants to keep, without
soiling the produce?

Sack - solution
Pour the lentils into the innkeeper’s sack, bind it and turn inside out. Pour in the peas. Then
unbind the sack a pour the lentils back to your sack.

Sea Tales
The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We traveled the sea far and wide. At
one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west
and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly."
How can that be possible?

Marine - solution
The marines were standing back to the edge of the ship so they were looking at each other. It does not
matter where the ship is (of course it does not apply to the north and South Pole).

Ship Ladder
A ladder hangs over the side of a ship anchored in a port. The bottom rung touches the water.
The distance between rungs is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at
the rate of 15 cm each hour.
When will the water reach the seventh rung from the top?

Ship Ladder - solution


If the tide is raising water, then it is raising the ship on water, too. So water will reach still the first rung.
Hotel Bill
Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The
manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives the bellboy $5 to return to the guests. On
the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to split among three people
so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So
they paid $9 each, totaling $27. The bellboy has another $2, adding up to $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?

Hotel Bill - solution


This is a nice nonsense. Each guest paid $9 because they gave $30 and they were given back $3. The
manager got $25 and the difference ($2) has the bellboy. So it is nonsense to add the $2 to the $27,
since the bellboy kept the $2.

Small Hotel
13 people came into a hotel with 12 rooms and each guest wanted his own room. The bellboy
solved this problem.
He asked the thirteenth guest to wait a little with the first guest in room number 1. So in the
first room there were two people. The bellboy took the third guest to room number 2, the
fourth to number 3, ..., and the twelfth guest to room number 11. Then he returned to room
number 1 and took the thirteenth guest to room number 12, still vacant.
How can everybody have his own room?

Hotel - solution
Of course, it is impossible. Into the second room should have gone the 2nd guest, because the 13th
guest was waiting in room number 1.

Puzzling Prattle (by Sam Loyd)


Two children, who were all tangled up in their reckoning of the days of the week, paused on
their way to school to straighten matters out. "When the day after tomorrow is yesterday," said
Priscilla, “then 'today' will be as far from Sunday as that day was which was 'today' when the
day before yesterday was tomorrow!"
On which day of the week did this puzzling prattle occur?

Puzzling Prattle - solution


The two children were so befogged over the calendar that they had started on their way to
school on Sunday morning!
Twins
Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same
month and year and yet they're not twins.
How can this be?

Twins - solution
The two babies are two of a set of triplets.

Photograph
I am looking at somebody's photo. Who is it I am looking at, if I don't have any brothers or
sisters and the father of the man in the photo is the son of my father?

Photograph - solution
I am looking at my son.

One-Way Street
A girl who was just learning to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction, but
didn't break the law.
How come?

One-Way Street - solution


She was walking.

Cost of War
Here's a variation on a famous puzzle by Lewis Carroll, who wrote Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland.
A group of 100 soldiers suffered the following injuries in a battle: 70 soldiers lost an eye, 75 lost
an ear, 85 lost a leg, and 80 lost an arm.
What is the minimum number of soldiers who must have lost all 4?

Add up all the injuries, and you find that 100 soldiers suffered a total of 310 injuries. That total means
that, at a minimum, 100 soldiers (Edit: it is, of course, not 100 soldiers, but 100 as calculation from 310
person-injuries out of 400 possible) lost 3 body parts, and 10 (the remainder when dividing 310 by 100)
must have lost all 4 body parts. (In reality, as many as 70 may have lost all 4 body parts.)

Edit: another way to solve it is to draw a line of 100 parts and compare injuries from opposite ends of
the line, finding the intersection part of all 4 injuries. If left side of line (LS), right side (RS) and
intersection (I), then:
70 (LS) and 75 (RS), then 45 (I)
45 (LS) and 85 (RS), then 30 (I)
30 (LS) and 80 (RS), then 10 (I) soldiers must have lost all 4 parts

Bavarian
One glass has 10 cl of tonic water and another 10 cl of fernet. Pour 3 cl of tonic into the glass
with fernet and after mixing thoroughly, pour 3 cl of the mixture back into the glass with tonic
water.
Is there more tonic in the glass of fernet or more fernet in the glass of tonic?
(Ignore the chemical composition!)

Bavarian - solution
There is exactly as much tonic in the glass of fernet as there is fernet in the glass of tonic.

Just in Time
What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?

Just in Time - solution


The letter m.

Short Riddles
 Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada?
 Is it legal for a man in California to marry his widow's sister? Why?
 A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All the sides have southern exposure. A big
bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why? (similar to the Bear riddle in the section
Einstein's Riddles)
 If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
 How far can a dog run into the woods?
 One big hockey fan claimed to be able to tell the score before any game. How did he do
it?
 You can start a fire if you have alcohol, petrol, kerosene, paper, candle, coke, a full
matchbox and a piece of cotton wool. What is the first thing you light?
 Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men do?
 What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?

The Short Ones - solutions


• Why should a living man be buried?
• No, it is not legal to get married if you are dead.
• The bear is white since the house is built on the North Pole.
• If you take 2 apples, than you have of course 2.
• The dog can run into the woods only to the half of the wood – than it would run out of the woods.
• The score before any hockey game should be 0:0, shouldn’t it?
• A match, of course.
• There are more Chinese men than Japanese men.
• Normal – I wouldn’t be very happy if I had all my fingers (10) on one hand.

Honestants and Swindlecants I


These are typical logic problems which can be solved by using classic logic operations.
There are two kinds of people on a mysterious island. There are so-called Honestants who
speak always the truth, and the others are Swindlecants who always lie.
Three fellows (A, B and C) are having a quarrel at the market. A gringo goes by and asks the A
fellow: "Are you an Honestant or a Swindlecant?" The answer is incomprehensible so the gringo
asks B: "What did A say?" B answers: "A said that he is a Swindlecant." And to that says the
fellow C: "Do not believe B, he is lying!"
Who is B and C?

Honestants and Swindlecants I. - solution


It is impossible that any inhabitant of such an island says: „I am a liar.“ An honestant would thus be lying
and a swindlecant would be speaking truth. So B must have been lying and therefore he is a
swindlecant. And that means that C was right saying B is lying – so C is an honestant. However, it is not
clear what is A. 

Honestants and Swindlecants II


Afterwards he meets another two aborigines. One says: "I am a Swindlecant or the other one is
an Honestant."
Who are they?

Honestants and Swindlecants II. - solution


Logical disjunction is a statement "P or Q". Such a disjunction is false if both P and Q are false. In all
other cases it is true. Note that in everyday language, use of the word "or" can sometimes mean "either,
but not both" (e.g., "would you like tea or coffee?"). In logic, this is called an "exclusive disjunction" or
"exclusive or" (xor).
So if A was a swindlecant, then his statement would be false (thus A would have to be an honestant and
B would have to be a swindlecant). However, that would cause a conflict which implicates that A must
be an honestant. In that case at least one part of his statement is true and as it can’t be the first one, B
must be an honestant, too.

Honestants and Swindlecants III


Our gringo displeased the sovereign with his intrusive questions and was condemned to death.
But there was also a chance to save himself by solving the following logic problem. The gringo
was shown two doors - one leading to a scaffold and the second one to freedom (both doors
were the same) and only the door guards knew what was behind the doors. The sovereign let
the gringo put one question to one guard. And because the sovereign was an honest man he
warned that one guard is a Swindlecant.
What question can save the gringo's life?

Honestants and Swindlecants III. - solution


There are a few types of questions:
Indirect question: „Hey you, what would the other guard say, if I asked him where this
door leads?“ The answer is always negated.

Tricky question: „Hey you, does an honestant stand at the door to freedom?“ The
answer will be YES, if I am asking an honestant who is standing at the door to freedom,
or if I am asking a swindlecant standing again at the same door. So I can walk through
the door. A similar deduction can be made for negative answer.

Complicated question: „Hey you, what would you say, if I asked you ...?“ An honestant
is clear, but a swindlecant should lie. However, he is forced by the question to lie two
times and thus speak the truth.

Honestants and Swindlecants IV


Our gringo was lucky and survived. On his way to the pub he met three aborigines. One made
this statement: "We are all Swindlecants." The second one concluded: "Just one of us is an
honest man."
Who are they?

Honestants and Swindlecants IV. - solution


The first one must be a swindlecant (otherwise he would bring himself into a liar paradox), and
so (knowing that the first one is lying) there must be at least one honestant among them. If the
second one is lying, then (as the first one stated) the third one is an honestant, but that would
make the second one speak the truth. So the second one is an honestant and C is a swindlecant.

Honestants and Swindlecants V


In the pub the gringo met a funny guy who said: "If my wife is an Honestant, then I am
Swindlecant."
Who is this couple?

Honestants and Swindlecants V. - solution


It is important to explore the statement as a whole. Truth table of any implication is as follows:

P Q P=>Q
truth truth truth
truth lie lie
lie truth truth
lie lie truth

In this logical conditional („if-then“ statement) p is a hypothesis (or antecedent) and q is a


conclusion (or consequent).
It is obvious, that the husband is not a Swindlecant, because in that case one part of the
statement (Q) „ ... then I am Swindlecant.“ would have to be a lie, which is a conflict. And since
A is an Honestant, the whole statement is true.
If his wife was an Honestant too, then the second part of statement (Q) „ ... then I am
Swindlecant.“ would have to be true, which is a conflict again. Therefore the man is an
Honestant and his wife is a Swindlecant. Or is it a paradox?

Honestants and Swindlecants VI


When the gringo wanted to pay and leave the pub, the bartender told him how much his drink
costed. It was quite expensive, so he asked the bartender if he spoke the truth. But the gringo
did not hear the whispered answer so he asked a man sitting next to him about it. And the man
said: "The bartender said yes, but he is a big liar."
Who are they?

Honestants and Swindlecants VI. - solution


This one seems not clear to me. However, the bartender and the man sitting next to the gringo
must be one honestant and one swindlecant (not knowing who is who).
1. the bartender must have said: "Yes, I speak the truth" (no matter who he is)
2. the man sitting next to gringo said: "The bartender said yes, but he is a big liar.", which is true
only if BOTH parts of the sentence are true (for logical conjuction see
http://en.wikipedia....al_conjunction)
o if it's true - the man is an honestant and the bartender a swindlecant,

o if it's false = "he is a big liar" is false - bartender is an honestant and the man is a
swindlecant.

Honestants and Swindlecants VII


Going out of the pub, the gringo heard about a fantastic buried treasure. He wanted to be sure
so he asked another man who replied:
"On this island is a treasure, only if I am an honest man."
So shall he go and find the treasure?
Honestants and Swindlecants VII. - solution
It is important to explore the statement as a whole. Truth table of any logical equivalence is as
follows:

P Q P<=>Q
truth truth truth
truth lie lie
lie truth lie
lie lie truth

If the man is an Honestant, then the whole statement must be true. One part of it, where he
said that he is an honest man is true then and so the other part (about the treasure) must be
true, too. However, if he is a Swindlecant, the whole statement is a lie. The part mentioning
that he is an honest man is in that case of course a lie. Thus the other part must be truth. So
there must be a treasure on the island, no matter what kind of man said the sentence.

Honestants and Swindlecants VIII


Thinking about the treasure, the gringo forgot what day it was, so he asked four aborigines and
got these answers:
A: Yesterday was Wednesday.
B: Tomorrow will be Sunday.
C: Today is Friday.
D: The day before yesterday was Thursday.
Because everything you need to know is how many people lied, I will not tell. What day of the
week was it?

Honestants and Swindlecants VIII. - solution


The important thing was what we did not need to know. So if we knew how many people lied we would
know the answer. And one more thing – B and D said the same.
If all of them lied, there would be 4 possible days to choose from (which one is not clear).
If only one of them spoke the truth, it could be A or C, so 2 possible days (not clear again).
If two of them were honest, it would have to be B and D saying that it was Saturday.
Neither 3 nor all 4 could have been honest because of an obvious conflict.
So it was Saturday.

Honestants and Swindlecants IX


After a hard day the gringo wanted some time to relax. But a few minutes later two aborigines
wanted to talk to him. To make things clear, the gringo asked: "Is at least one of you an
honestant?" After the answer, there was no doubt.
Who are they and who answered?
Honestants and Swindlecants IX. - solution
If the aborigine answered „Yes.”, the gringo would not have been able to identify them. That means, the
answer had to be „No.“, and the one who said that was a liar and the other one was an honest man.

Honestants and Swindlecants X


There was a girl on this island, and everybody wanted her. However, she wanted just a rich
swindlecant. If you were a rich swindlecant, how would you convince her saying only one
sentence? And what if she wanted a rich honestant (and if you were one). Let us assume for
this logic problem that there are only rich or poor people on the island.

Honestants and Swindlecants X. - solution


„I am a poor swindlecant.“ An honestant can not say such a sentence, so it is a lie. And that’s why only a
rich swindlecant can say that.
„I am not a poor honestant.“ A swindlecant can not say that, because it would be true. And that’s why
an honestant who is not poor (a rich one) said that.

Logic Problems In the Court of Law I


And now a few cases from the island of honestants and swindlecants. A prisoner at the bar was
allowed to say one sentence to defend himself. After a while he said: "A swindlecant committed
the crime."
Did it rescue him?

Logic Problems at the Court I. - solution


Yes, the statement helped him. If he is an honestant, then a swindlecant committed the crime. If he is a
swindlecant, then his statement points to an honestant who is guilty. Thus he is again innocent
regarding the statement.

Logic Problems In the Court of Law II


A man accused of a crime, hired an attorney whose statements were always admitted by the
court as undisputable truth. The following exchange took place in court.
Prosecutor: “If the accused committed the crime, he had an accomplice.”
Defender: “That is not true!”
Did the attorney help his client?

Logic Problems at the Court II. - solution


The statement of plaintiff is a lie only if the hypothesis (or antecedent) is true and conclusion (or
consequent) is not true. So the solicitor did not help his client at all. He actually said that his client was
guilty and there was no accomplice.

Answer presented by Naruki (for explanation see below):


The correct answer is either "not enough information" or "invalid question".
Logic Problems In the Court of Law III
You live on an island where there are only two kinds of people: the ones who always tell the
truth (truth tellers) and those who always lie (liars). You are accused of crime and brought
before the court, where you are allowed to speak only one sentence in your defense. What do
you say in each of the following situations?

 If you were a liar (the court does not know that) and you were innocent. And it is an
established fact that a liar committed the crime.
 Same situation as above, but you are the one who committed the crime.
 If you were a truth teller (the court does not know that) and you were innocent. And it is
an established fact that a truth teller committed the crime.
 If you were innocent and it is an established fact that the crime was not committed by a
“normal” person. Normal people are that new immigrant group who sometimes lie and
sometimes speak the truth. What sentence, no matter whether you were a truth teller,
liar, or normal, can prove your innocence?

Logic Problems at the Court III. - solution


1. „I did it – I am guilty.“
2. There is no such sentence.
3. „I am innocent.“
4. „Either I am an honestant and innocent, or I am a swindlecant and guilty.“ = „I am
either an innocent honestant, or a guilty swindlecant.“ The court could think this way:
 4.1 If he is an honestant, then his statement is true and he is innocent.

 4.2 If he is a swindlecant, then his statement is a lie and he is neither an innocent
honestant nor a guilty swindlecant. This means that he is an innocent swindlecant.

 4.3 If he is normal, then he is innocent since a normal man couldn’t have done that.

Pandora's Box I
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Pandora, who wanted a bright groom so she made
up a few logic problems for the wannabe. This is one of them.
Based upon the inscriptions on the boxes (none or just one of them is true), choose one box
where the wedding ring is hidden.

Golden box
The ring is in this box.
Silver box
The ring is not in this box.
Lead box
The ring is not in the golden box.
Pandora's Box I. - solution
The given conditions indicate that only the inscription on the lead box is true. So the ring is in the silver
box.

Pandora's Box II
And here is the second test. At least one inscription is true and at least one is false. Which
means the ring is in the...

Golden box
The ring is not in the silver box.
Silver box
The ring is not in this box.
Lead box
The ring is in this box.

Pandora's Box II. - solution


The ring must be in the golden box, otherwise all the inscriptions would be either true or false.

Lion and Unicorn I


Alice came across a lion and a unicorn in a forest of forgetfulness. Those two are strange beings.
The lion lies every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the other days he speaks the truth.
The unicorn lies on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, however the other days of the week he
speaks the truth.
Lion: Yesterday I was lying.
Unicorn: So was I.
Which day did they say that?

Lion and Unicorn I. - solution


As there is no day when both of the beings would be lying, at least one of them must have spoken the
truth. They both speak the truth only on Sunday. However, the Lion would then be lying in his
statement, so it couldn’t be said on Sunday. So exactly one of them lied.
If the Unicorn was honest, then it would have to be Sunday – but previously we proved this wrong. Thus
only the Lion spoke the truth when he met Alice on Thursday and spoke with the Unicorn about
Wednesday.

Lion and Unicorn II


Lion said: Yesterday I was lying and two days after tomorrow I will be lying again.
Which day did he say that?
Lion and Unicorn II. - solution
This conjunction is true only if both parts are true. The first part is true only on Thursday, but the second
part is a lie then (Sunday is not a lying day of the Lion). So the whole statement can never be true (at
least one part is not true). Therefore the Lion could have made the statement on Monday, on Tuesday
and even on Wednesday.

Island Baal
There are people and strange monkeys on this island, and you can not tell who is who. They
speak either only the truth or only lies.
Who are the following two guys?
A: B is a lying monkey. I am human.
B: A is telling the truth.

Island Baal - solution


Conjunction used by A is true only if both parts are true. Under the assumption that B is an honest man,
then A would be honest too (B says so) and so B would be a liar as A said, which would be a conflict. So B
is a liar. And knowing that, B actually said that A is a liar, too. First statement of A is thus a lie and B is
not a lying monkey. However, B is lying which means he is not a monkey. B is a lying man. The second
statement of A indicates that A is a monkey – so A is a lying monkey.

Truth, Lie and Wisdom


Three goddesses were sitting in an old Indian temple. Their names were Truth (always telling
the truth), Lie (always lying) and Wisdom (sometimes lying). A visitor asked the one on the left:
"Who is sitting next to you?"
"Truth," she answered.
Then he asked the one in the middle: "Who are you?"
"Wisdom."
Lastly, he asked the one on the right: "Who is your neighbor?"
"Lie," she replied.
And then it became clear who is who.

Truth, Lie and Wisdom - solution


Let’s assign a letter to each goddess. We get these sentences.
1. A says: B is Truth.
2. B says: I am Wisdom.
3. C says: B is Lie.
First sentence hints that A is not Truth. Second sentence is not said by Truth either, so C is Truth. Thus
the third sentence is true. B is Lie and A is Wisdom.

In the Alps
Three tourists have an argument regarding the way they should go. Hans says that Emanuel
lies. Emanuel claims that Hans and Philip speak the same, only doesn't know whether truth or
lie.
So who is lying for sure?

In the Alps - solution


The only one who is lying for sure is Philip. Hans speaks probably the truth and Emanuel lies. It
can be also the other way, but since Hans expressed himself before Emanuel did, then
Emanuel’s remark (that he does not know whether Hans is lying) is not true.

Coins
Imagine there are 3 coins on the table: gold, silver, and copper. If you make a truthful
statement, you will get one coin. If you make a false statement, you will get nothing.
What sentence can guarantee you getting the gold coin?

Coins - solution
"You will give me neither copper nor silver coin." If it is true, then I have to get the gold coin. If it is a lie,
then the negation must be true, so "you give me either copper or silver coin", which would break the
given conditions that you get no coin when lying. So the first sentence must be true.

Slim Lover
Something to relax. A slim young man asked a girl on a date:
"I say something. If it is truthful, will you give me your photo?"
"Yes," replied miss.
"And if it is a lie, do not give me your photograph. Would you promise that?"
The girl agreed. Then the chap said such a sentence, that after a little while of thinking she
realized, that if she wanted to honor her promise, she wouldn't have to give him a photo but a
kiss.
What would you say (if you were him) to be kissed and so on?

Slim Lover - solution


You could say for instance this sentence: „You will give me neither your photo nor a kiss.“

Bear
The famous physicist allegedly made this riddle for his scholars.
A fellow encountered a bear in a wasteland. There was nobody else there. Both were
frightened and ran away. Fellow to the north, bear to the west. Suddenly the fellow stopped,
aimed his gun to the south and shot the bear. What color was the bear?
If you don't know, this may help you: if the bear ran about 3.14 times faster than the fellow
(still westwards), the fellow could have shot straight in front of him, however for the booty he
would have to go to the south.

It all happened on the North Pole. When the man shot, he must have been right on the North Pole.
Getting it? So it makes sense to assume that the only color the bear could be was WHITE.
So this is it. I've heard another logical solutions (even that there are no bears neither on the North nor
on the South Pole), but this one presented makes sense to me. And what about you?  

Einstein Puzzles

Neighbors
It is said that this quiz was made up by Albert Einstein and according to him 98% will not solve
it.
There is a row of five different color houses. Each house is occupied by a man of different
nationality. Each man has a different pet, prefers a different drink, and smokes different brand
of cigarettes.

1. The Brit lives in the Red house.


2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The Green house is next to the White house, on the left.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the Blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

Who has fish at home? Are you one of the 2%?

Green, owned by the German, drinks coffee, smokes Prince and owns Fish.
Meeting (meet this challenge)
Another hard nut to crack (just like Einstein's) was published in the QUIZ 11/1986.
Eight married couples meet to lend one another some books. Couples have the same surname,
employment and car. Each couple has a favorite color. Furthermore we know the following
facts:

1. Daniella Black and her husband work as Shop-Assistants.


2. The book "The Seadog" was brought by a couple who drive a Fiat and love the color red.
3. Owen and his wife Victoria like the color brown.
4. Stan Horricks and his wife Hannah like the color white.
5. Jenny Smith and her husband work as Warehouse Managers and they drive a Wartburg.
6. Monica and her husband Alexander borrowed the book "Grandfather Joseph".
7. Mathew and his wife like the color pink and brought the book "Mulatka Gabriela".
8. Irene and her husband Oto work as Accountants.
9. The book "We Were Five" was borrowed by a couple driving a Trabant.
10. The Cermaks are both Ticket-Collectors who brought the book "Shed Stoat".
11. Mr and Mrs Kuril are both Doctors who borrowed the book "Slovacko Judge".
12. Paul and his wife like the color green.
13. Veronica Dvorak and her husband like the color blue.
14. Rick and his wife brought the book "Slovacko Judge" and they drive a Ziguli.
15. One couple brought the book "Dame Commissar" and borrowed the book "Mulatka
Gabriela".
16. The couple who drive a Dacia, love the color violet.
17. The couple who work as Teachers borrowed the book "Dame Commissar".
18. The couple who work as Agriculturalists drive a Moskvic.
19. Pamela and her husband drive a Renault and brought the book "Grandfather Joseph".
20. Pamela and her husband borrowed the book that Mr and Mrs Zajac brought.
21. Robert and his wife like the color yellow and borrowed the book "The Modern Comedy".
22. Mr and Mrs Swain work as Shoppers.
23. "The Modern Comedy" was brought by a couple driving a Skoda.

Is it a problem to find out everything about everyone from this information?

Solution

Monica and Alexander Cermak like Violet.

Names Occupation Car Color Brought Borrowed


Daniella and Shop-Assistants Trabant pink "Mulatka "We Were Five"
Mathew Black Gabriela"
Victoria and Owen "The Modern
Doctors Skoda brown "Slovacko Judge"
Kuril Comedy"
Hannah and Stan "Dame "Mulatka
Agriculturalists Moskvic white
Horricks Commissar" Gabriela"
Jenny and Robert Warehouse "The Modern
Wartburg yellow "We Were Five"
Smith Managers Comedy"
Monica and "Grandfather
Ticket-Collectors Dacia violet "Shed Stoat"
Alexander Cermak Joseph"
Irene a Oto Zajac Accountants Fiat red "The Seadog" "Shed Stoat"
Pamela and Paul "Grandfather
Shoppers Renault green "The Seadog"
Swain Joseph"
Veronica and Rick "Dame
Teachers Ziguli blue "Slovacko Judge"
Dvorak Commissar"

Ships
There are 5 ships in a port.

1. The Greek ship leaves at six and carries coffee.


2. The ship in the middle has a black chimney.
3. The English ship leaves at nine.
4. The French ship with a blue chimney is to the left of a ship that carries coffee.
5. To the right of the ship carrying cocoa is a ship going to Marseille.
6. The Brazilian ship is heading for Manila.
7. Next to the ship carrying rice is a ship with a green chimney.
8. A ship going to Genoa leaves at five.
9. The Spanish ship leaves at seven and is to the right of the ship going to Marseille.
10. The ship with a red chimney goes to Hamburg.
11. Next to the ship leaving at seven is a ship with a white chimney.
12. The ship on the border carries corn.
13. The ship with a black chimney leaves at eight.
14. The ship carrying corn is anchored next to the ship carrying rice.
15. The ship to Hamburg leaves at six.

Which ship goes to Port Said? Which ship carries tea?

The Solution . . .
The Spanish ship goes to Port Said and the French ship carries tea. However, tea can be
carried by the Brazilian ship, too.

If you understood position 'to the right' to mean anywhere on the right side from the
given point (not only right next to).

French 5.00 tea blue Genoa


Greek 6.00 coffee red Hamburg
Brazilian 8.00 cocoa black Manila
English 9.00 rice white Marseille
Spanish 7.00 corn green Port Said

Gardens
Five friends have their gardens next to one another, where they grow three kinds of crops:
fruits (apple, pear, nut, cherry), vegetables (carrot, parsley, gourd, onion) and flowers (aster,
rose, tulip, lily).

1. They grow 12 different varieties.


2. Everybody grows exactly 4 different varieties
3. Each variety is at least in one garden.
4. Only one variety is in 4 gardens.
5. Only in one garden are all 3 kinds of crops.
6. Only in one garden are all 4 varieties of one kind of crops.
7. Pears are only in the two border gardens.
8. Paul's garden is in the middle with no lily.
9. Aster grower doesn't grow vegetables.
10. Rose grower doesn't grow parsley.
11. Nuts grower has also gourd and parsley.
12. In the first garden are apples and cherries.
13. Only in two gardens are cherries.
14. Sam has onions and cherries.
15. Luke grows exactly two kinds of fruit.
16. Tulips are only in two gardens.
17. Apples are in a single garden.
18. Only in one garden next to the Zick's is parsley.
19. Sam's garden is not on the border.
20. Hank grows neither vegetables nor asters.
21. Paul has exactly three kinds of vegetable.
Who has which garden and what is grown where?

The Solution . . .
Hank pear apple cherry rose
Sam cherry onion rose tulip
Paul carrot gourd onion rose
Zick aster rose tulip lily
Luke pear nut gourd parsley

There are 7 boys on a soccer team. Each boy has a different position, jersey number, and height. Find
out each person's height, position, and number.

* Justin is the goalie


* The right forward is #10
* The goalie is 6' 4''
* Joe is 6' 1''
* Ryan is right forward
* The person next to Ryan is #14
* The person who is 6' 4'' is #16
* #10 is 5' 8''
* The left forward is #15
* Brad is right defense
* Brendan is #20
* Michael is 7' 1''
* Miguel is #6
* Michael is left forward
* #42 is right defense
* Brad is 6' 2''
* #6 is center defense
* #15 is 7' 1''
* #20 is 6' 7''
* Miguel is 5' 10''
* #14 is 6' 1''
* The person who is 6' 7'' is left defense
* Joe is center forward
The Solution . . .
A Solution has been contributed by "frenchfry23" (a member of the forum) as follows:

Joe: center forward, 6' 1", #14

Justin: goalie, 6' 4", #16

Michael: left forward, 7' 1", #15

Brendan: left defense, 6' 7", #20

Ryan: right forward, 5' 8" , #10

Brad: right defense, 6' 2", #42

Miguel: center defense, 5' 10", #6

5 people are standing in a queue for plane tickets in Germany; each one has a name, an age, a favorite
TV program, where they live, a hairstyle and a destination.

Names: Bob, Keeley, Rachael, Eilish and Amy


TV programs: the Simpsons, coronation street, eastenders, desperate housewives and neighbors.
Destinations: France, Australia, England, Africa and Italy
Ages: 14,21,46,52 and 81
Hairstyle: Afro, long, straight, curly and bald
Where they live: A town, a city, a village, a farm and a youth hostel

* The person in the middle watches desperate housewives


* Bob is the first in the queue
* The person who watches the Simpsons is next to the person who lives in a youth hostel
* The person going to Africa is behind Rachael
* The person who lives in a village is 52
* The person who is going to Australia has straight hair
* The person travelling to Africa watches Desperate Housewives
* The 14 year old is at the end of the queue
* Amy watches eastenders
* The person heading to Italy has long hair
* Keeley lives in a village
* The 46 year old is bald
* The fourth in the queue is going to England
* The people with curly and straight hair are standing next to each other
* The person who watches coronation street stands net to the person with an afro
* A person next to Rachael has an afro
* The 21 year old lives in a youth hostel
* The person who watches corrie has long hair
* The 81 year old lives on a farm
* The person who is travelling to France lives in a town

Our Solution:

1 2 3 4 5

Name Bob Rachael Keeley Amy Eilish

Favorite TV programme The Simpsons Coronation Street Desperate Housewives Eastenders Neighbours

Destination France Italy Africa England Australia

Age 46 21 52 81 14

Where they live Town Youth Hostel Village Farm City

Hairstyle Bald Long Afro Curly Straight

There are five people - Holly, Cameron, Julieanne, Alex and Jackie. Each one stole a special cookie of
their favorite brand which was kept in a jar. Each person ate it in a particular place and drank their
flavored milk with it.

* Jackie is next to the person who eats on the lounge.


* Arnotts brand cookies are kept in a round jar.
* The person beside Cameron eats cookies at a table.
* The person who eats Oreos eats in the closet
* Julieanne likes Paradise brand cookies
* The person who drinks banana milk is in the middle and owns a tall jar
* The first person likes vanilla milk
* Holly is the person on the far right
* The person who eats in the bedroom drinks strawberry milk
* The person who owns the tall jar is next to the person who owns square jar
* Cameron drinks caramel milk
* The person who likes the Dick Smith brand is next to the person who likes the Coles brand
* The person who likes the No Frills brand is next to the person who owns a round jar
* The person who stole the 100s and 1000s cookies is next to the person who owns the brass jar
* The second person from the right eats No Frills brand and is next to the person who owns a round jar
* The first person on the left stole the choc chip cookies
* The person who eats Dick Smith brand is next to the person who eats Paradise brand
* The second from the left has a brass jar
* Julieanne is to the right of the person who drinks strawberry milk
* The person who drinks chocolate milk does it at the table
* The Paradise brand cookies are eaten in the kitchen
* The person who eats Tiny Teddies doesn't keep them in a round jar
* The Coles brand cookies are kept in a mini sized jar

(This puzzle was devised by Year 6G, Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Miranda, Australia, in November
2005)

Our Solution:

Alex Jackie Julieanne Cameron Holly


Person

Flavor Vanilla Strawberry Banana Caramel Chocolate

Cookie Jar Mini Brass Tall Square Round

Brand Coles Dick Smith Paradise No Frills Arnotts

Cookie Choc chip Tiny Teddies 100s and 1000s Oreos Anzac

Place Lounge Bedroom Kitchen Closet Table

The Puzzle: There are 5 ships in a port:


1. The Greek ship leaves at six and carries coffee.
2. The Ship in the middle has a black chimney.
3. The English ship leaves at nine.
4. The French ship with blue chimney is to the left of a ship that carries coffee.
5. To the right of the ship carrying cocoa is a ship going to Marseille.
6. The Brazilian ship is heading for Manila.
7. Next to the ship carrying rice is a ship with a green chimney.
8. A ship going to Genoa leaves at five.
9. The Spanish ship leaves at seven and is to the right of the ship going to Marseille.
10. The ship with a red chimney goes to Hamburg.
11. Next to the ship leaving at seven is a ship with a white chimney.
12. The ship on the border carries corn.
13. The ship with a black chimney leaves at eight.
14. The ship carrying corn is anchored next to the ship carrying rice.
15. The ship to Hamburg leaves at six.

Which ship goes to Port Said? Which ship carries tea?

The Solution . . .
The Spanish ship goes to Port Said and the French ship carries tea. However, tea can be
carried by the Brazilian ship, too.

If you understood position 'to the right' to mean anywhere on the right side from the
given point (not only right next to).

French 5.00 tea blue Genoa


Greek 6.00 coffee red Hamburg
Brazilian 8.00 cocoa black Manila
English 9.00 rice white Marseille
Spanish 7.00 corn green Port Said

Easy Deduction
A teacher thinks of two consecutive numbers between 1 and 10. The first student knows one
number and the second student knows the second number. The following exchange takes
place:
First: I do not know your number.
Second: Neither do I know your number.
First: Now I know.
What are the 4 solutions of this easy number puzzle?

Easy Savoury - solution


None of the students can have numbers 1 or 10, since they would guess the other one’s number with no
problems. I will describe solutions at one end of the interval of numbers 1-10 (the same can be done on
the other end).
Information that the second student does not know must be important for the first student. So the first
one must expect that the second one has 1 or 3 (if the first one has 2). And as the second student does
not know, then he has certainly not 1. So the first pair is 2 and 3.
If the first one had 3, then he would expect the other one to have either 2 or 4. But if the second one
had 2 (and the second one would have known that the first one does not have 1), then he would know
the number of the first student. However, neither the second student knows the answer – so he has 4.
The second pair of numbers is 3 and 4.
Solutions at the other end of interval are 9 and 8 or 8 and 7.  

Complex Deduction
This is definitely one of the harder number puzzles on this site.
A teacher says: I'm thinking of two natural numbers greater than 1. Try to guess what they are.
The first student knows their product and the other one knows their sum.
First: I do not know the sum.
Second: I knew that. The sum is less than 14.
First: I knew that. However, now I know the numbers.
Second: And so do I.
What were the numbers?

Savoury - solution
The numbers were 2 and 9. And here comes the entire solution.
There shall be two natural numbers bigger than 1. First student knows their product and the other one
knows their sum.
The sum is smaller than 14 (for natural numbers bigger than 1), so the following combinations are
possible:
2 2 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
2 3 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
2 4 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
2 5 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
26
2 7 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
28
29
2 10
2 11 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
3 3 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
34
3 5 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
36
3 7 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
3 8 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14 (eg. 2 + 12)
3 9 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
3 10 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
44
45
4 6 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
4 7 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
4 8 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
4 9 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
5 5 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
5 6 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
5 7 ... NO - the first student would have known the sum as well
5 8 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
6 6 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14
6 7 ... NO - the product does not have all possible sums smaller than 14

So there are the following combinations left:


2 6 ... NO – it is impossible to create any pair of numbers from the given sum, where there would be at
least one sum (created from their product) bigger than 14 (it is impossible to create a pair of numbers
from sum 8, so that the product would have an alternative sum bigger than 14 ... eg. if 4 and 4, then
there is no sum – created from their product 16 – bigger than 14 – eg. 2 + 8 = only 10)
28
29
2 10
3 4 ... NO – it is impossible to create any pair of numbers from the given sum, where there would be at
least one sum (created from their product) bigger than 14
3 6 ... NO – it is impossible to create any pair of numbers from the given sum, where there would be at
least one sum (created from their product) bigger than 14
4 4 ... NO – it is impossible to create any pair of numbers from the given sum, where there would be at
least one sum (created from their product) bigger than 14
4 5 ... NO – it is impossible to create any pair of numbers from the given sum, where there would be at
least one sum (created from their product) bigger than 14

The second student (knowing the sum) knew, that the first student (knowing the product) does not
know the sum and he thought that the first student does not know that the sum is smaller than 14.

Only 3 combinations left:


2 8 ... product = 16, sum = 10
2 9 ... product = 18, sum = 11
2 10 ... product = 20, sum = 12

Let’s eliminate the sums, which can be created using a unique combination of numbers – if the sum is
clear when knowing the product (this could have been done earlier, but it wouldn’t be so exciting) -
because the second student knew, that his sum is not created with such a pair of numbers. And so the
sum can not be 10 (because 7 and 3) – the second student knew, that the first student does not know
the sum – but if the sum was 10, then the first student could have known the sum if the pair was 7 and
3.
The same reasoning is used for eliminating sum 12 (because 5 and 7).
So we have just one possibility – the only solution – 2 and 9.
And that’s it.

Children
An easier number puzzle is as follows. Two friends are chatting:
- Peter, how old are your children?
- Well Thomas, there are three of them and the product of their ages is 36.
- That is not enough ...
- The sum of their ages is exactly the number of beers we have drunk today.
- That is still not enough.
- OK, the last thing is that my oldest child wears a red hat.
How old were each of Peter's children?

Children - solution
Let’s start with the known product – 36. Write on a sheet of paper the possible combinations
giving the product of 36. Knowing that the sum is not enough to be sure, there are two possible
combinations with the same sum (1-6-6 a 2-2-9). And as we learned further that the oldest son
wears a hat, it is clear that the correct combination of ages is 2-2-9, where there is exactly one
of them the oldest one.

Birthday
The day before yesterday I was 25 and the next year I will be 28. This is true only one day in a
year. What day is my birthday?

Birthday - solution
He was born on December 31st and spoke about it on January 1st.

Symbol
What mathematical symbol can be placed between 5 and 9, to get a number greater than 5 and
smaller than 9?
Symbol - solution
decimal point – 5.9

Fraction
Can you arrange 9 numerals - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 - (using each numeral just once) above
and below a division line, to create a fraction equaling to 1/3 (one third)?

Fraction - solution
5832/17496 = 1/3

5-digit Number
What 5-digit number has the following property? If we put numeral 1 in front of the number,
we get a number three times smaller, than if we put the numeral 1 behind this number.

5-Digit Number - solution


Using an easy equation: 3(x+100000) = 10x+1 we find out that the number is 42857.

9-digit Number
Find a 9-digit number, which you will gradually round off starting with units, then tenth,
hundred etc., until you get to the last numeral, which you do not round off. The rounding
alternates (up, down, up ...). After rounding off 8 times, the final number is 500000000. The
original number is commensurable by 6 and 7, all the numbers from 1 to 9 are used, and after
rounding four times the sum of the not rounded numerals equals 24.

9-Digit Number - solution


473816952 – if rounding changes the next numeral character

10-digit Number
 Find a 10-digit number, where the first figure defines the count of zeros in this number,
the second figure the count of numeral 1 in this number etc. At the end the tenth
numeral character expresses the count of the numeral 9 in this number.
 Find a 10-digit number, where the first numeral character expresses the count of
numeral 1 in this number, ..., the tenth numeral the count of zeros in this number.

10-Digit Number - solution


* Sum of all numerals must be ten because each numeral stands for the count of other numerals and
because this number shall have ten numerals. Beginning to choose reasonable numerals for the first
figure you can come across the correct number: 6210001000.
* 2100010006.
Cipher
Find the number if:

1. The cipher is made of 6 different numerals.


2. Even and odd digits alternate, including zero (in this case as an even number).
3. The difference between two adjacent numerals is always greater than one (in absolute
value).
4. The first two numerals (as one number) as well as the two middle numerals (as one
number) are a multiple of the last two numerals (as one number).

What is the cipher? There is more than 1 solution.

Cipher - solution
The possible 2 last numerals are as follows: 03, 05, 07, 09, 14, 16, 18, 25, 27, 29 and 30. At least two
multiples less than 100 (this condition is already accomplished), which consist of even and odd numeral
(respecting all other conditions) are for 03, 07, 09 and 18 as follows:
03 – 27, 63, 69, 81
07 – 49, 63
09 – 27, 63, 81
18 – 36, 72, 90
There are 5 numbers that can be made of these pairs of numerals to create the cipher: 692703, 816903,
496307, 816309 and 903618. (If we assume, that also in the number 903618 is accomplished the
requirement to alternate even and odd numbers, despite the opposite order.)

Master Mind
Find the four-digit number designated by asterisks, given the following:

 All four digits of the unknown number are different.


 None of the digits is zero.
 Each “0” on the right of each four-digit number below indicates that the number has a
matching digit in a non-matching position with the unknown number.
 Each “+” on the right of each four-digit number below indicates that the number has a
matching digit in a matching position with the unknown number.

6152 +0
4182 00
5314 00
5789 +
-------------
****
Solution 6741
100
Using four sevens (7) and a one (1) create the number 100. Except the five numerals you can
use the usual mathematical operations (+, -, x, :), root and brackets ().

100 - solution
100 = 177-77 = (7+7)x(7+(1:7))

Equation
Rectify the following equality 101 - 102 = 1 by moving just one digit.

Equation - solution
Move the numeral 2 half a line up to achieve 101 - 10 2 = 1.

Number Sequences
There are infinite formulas that will fit any finite series. Try to guess the following number in
each sequence (using the most simple mathematical operations, because as I mentioned, there
is more than one solution for each number sequence).

 8723, 3872, 2387, ?


 1, 4, 9, 18, 35, ?
 23, 45, 89, 177, ?
 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 3, ?
 11, 19, 14, 22, 17, 25, ?
 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, ?
 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 24, 27, ?
 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, ?
 99, 92, 86, 81, 77, ?
 0, 4, 2, 6, 4, 8, ?
 1, 2, 2, 4, 8, 11, 33, ?
 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ?
 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 20, 37, ?
 5, 7, 12, 19, 31, 50, ?
 27, 82, 41, 124, 62, 31, 94, 47, 142, 71, 214, 107, ?
 126, 63, 190, 95, 286, 143, 430, 215, 646, 323, 970, ?
 4, 7, 15, 29, 59, 117, ?
 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, ?
 4, 4, 341, 6, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 10, 4, 4, 14, 6, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 22, 4, 4, 9, 6, ?
Number Series - solution
• 8723, 3872, 2387, ? 7238 (moving of numerals)
• 1, 4, 9, 18, 35, ? 68 (x*2+2, +1, +0, -1, -2)
• 23, 45, 89, 177, ? 353 (x*2-1)
• 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 3, ? 10, 2 (two series – every second number: 7, 8, 9, 10 and 5, 4, 3, 2)
• 11, 19, 14, 22, 17, 25, ? 20, 28 (two series – every second number: 11, 14, 17, 20 and 19, 22, 25, 28)
• 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, ? 48 (x+5, +7, +9, +11, +13)
• 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 24, 27, ? 54, 58 (x*2, +1, *2, +2, *2, +3, *2, +4)
• 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, ? 29 (a+b=c, b+c=d, c+d=e …)
• 99, 92, 86, 81, 77, ? 74 (x-7, -6, -5, -4, -3)
• 0, 4, 2, 6, 4, 8, ? 6 (x+4, -2, +4, -2, +4, -2)
• 1, 2, 2, 4, 8, 11, 33, ?
• 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, ? 720 (x*2, *3, *4, *5, *6)
• 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 20, 37, ?
• 5, 7, 12, 19, 31, 50, ? 81 (a+b=c, b+c=d, c+d=e …)
• 27, 82, 41, 124, 62, 31, 94, 47, 142, 71, 214, 107, ? 322, 161 (x*3+1, /2, *3+1, /2 …)
• 126, 63, 190, 95, 286, 143, 430, 215, 646, 323, 970, ? 485, 1456 (x/2, *3+1, /2, *3+1 …)
• 4, 7, 15, 29, 59, 117, ? 235 (x*2-1, *2+1, *2-1 …)
• 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, ? 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 4,
2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5
• 4, 4, 341, 6, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 10, 4, 4, 14, 6, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 22, 4, 4, 9, 6, ? 4, 4

Pouring water I
If you had a 5-liter bowl and a 3-liter bowl, and an unlimited access to water, how would you
measure exactly 4 liters?

Pouring Water I. - solution


Fill the 5-litre bowl and overspill water to the 3-litre bowl, which you empty afterwards. From the 5-litre
bowl overspill the 2 remaining litres to the 3-litre bowl. Refill the 5-litre bowl and fill in the 3-litre bowl
(with 1 litre), so there stay the 4 required litres in the 5-litre bowl.

Pouring water II
Given three bowls: 8, 5 and 3 liters capacity, divide 8 liters in half (4 + 4 liters) with the
minimum number of water transfers. Note that the 8-liter bowl is initially filled with 8 liters of
water and the other two bowls are empty - that is all water you have.

Pouring Water II. - solution


1. pour 5 litres from the 8-litre to the 5-litre bowl,
2. pour 3 litres from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl,
3. pour these 3 litres back to the 8-litre bowl,
4. pour the remaining 2 litres from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl,
5. pour 5 litres from the 8-litre to the 5-litre bowl,
6. pour the missing 1 litre from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl (there should be 4 litres left in the 5-litre
bowl),
7. pour the 3 litres back from the 3-litre to the 8-litre bowl (and that’s it – in 8-litre bowl 4 litres).

Pouring water III


Given three bowls: 7, 4 and 3 liters capacity. Only the 7-liter is full. Pouring the water the
fewest number of times, make the quantities of 2, 2, and 3 liters.

Pouring Water III. - solution


Three numerals in each number stand for litres in each bowl:
700 - 340 - 313 - 610 - 601 - 241 - 223 (overspilling 6 times)

Pouring water IV
How can you measure 6 liters of water using only 4 and 9-liter bowls?

Pouring Water IV. - solution


First fill the 9-litre bowl. Then overspill 4 litres to the 4-litre bowl (there are 5 litres in the 9-litre bowl
afterwards) and pour out the water from the 4-litre bowl. And again overspill 4 litres to the 4-litre bowl
and empty it. Then overspill the remaining litre to the 4-litre bowl but this time keep it there. Fill the 9-
litre bowl to the top for the second time and overspill water to fill the 4-litre bowl to the top. Thus the
required 6 litres stay in the 9-litre bowl.

Pouring water V
Measure exactly 2 liters of water if you have:
1. 4 and 5-liter bowls
2. 4 and 3-liter bowls

Pouring Water V. - solution


1st Fill the 5-litre bowl, overspill water from it to fill the 4-litre bowl, which you empty afterwards.
Overspill the remaining 1 litre to the 4-litre bowl. Refill the 5-litre bowl and overspill water from it to fill
the 4-litre bowl (where there is already 1 litre). Thus you are left with 2 litres in the 5-litre bowl.
2nd The same principle – this time from the other end. Fill the 3-litre bowl and overspill all of the water
to the 4-litre bowl. Refill the 3-litre bowl and fill the 4-litre bowl to the top. And there you have 2 litres in
the 3-litre bowl.

Pouring water VI
Given three bowls: bowl A (8 liters capacity) filled with 5 liters of water; bowl B (5 liters
capacity) filled with 3 liters of water; and bowl C (3 liters capacity) filled with 2 liters of water.
Can you measure exactly 1 liter, by transferring the water only 2 times?
Pouring Water VI. - solution
1st Pour 1 litre from bowl A to bowl C. Thus 4 litres are left in the bowl A and bowl C is full (3 litres).
2nd Pour 2 litres from bowl C to bowl B. Doing that you have full bowl B (5 litres) and there is 1 litre left
in bowl C.

Weighing I
You have 10 bags with 1000 coins each. In one of the bags, all coins are forgeries. A true coin
weighs 1 gram; each counterfeit coin weighs 1.1 gram.
If you have an accurate scale, which you can use only once, how can you identify the bag with
the forgeries? And what if you didn't know how many bags contained counterfeit coins?

Weighing I. - solution
If there is only 1 bag with forgeries, then take 1 coin from the first bag, 2 coins from the second bag ...
ten coins from the tenth bag and weigh the picked coins. Find out how many grams does it weigh and
compare it to the ideal state of having all original coins. The amount of grams (the difference) is the
place of the bag with fake coins.
If there is more than 1 bag with forgeries, then there is lots of possible solution. I can offer you this one
as an example: 1, 2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000

Weighing II
A genuine gummy drop bear has a mass of 10 grams, while an imitation gummy drop bear has a
mass of 9 grams. Spike has 7 cartons of gummy drop bears, 4 of which contain real gummy drop
bears and the others – imitation.
Using a scale only once and the minimum number of gummy drop bears, how can Spike
determine which cartons contain real gummy drop bears?

Weighing II. - solution


Spike uses 51 gummy drop bears: from the 7 boxes he takes respectively 0, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, and 24 bears.
The notion is that each box of imitation bears will subtract its number of bears from the total "ideal"
weight of 510 grams (1 gram of missing weight per bear), so Spike weighs the bears, subtracts the result
from 510 to obtain a number N, and finds the unique combination of 3 numbers from the above list
(since there are 3 "imitation" boxes) that sum to N.
The trick is for the sums of all triples selected from the set S of numbers of bears to be unique. To
accomplish this, I put numbers into S one at a time in ascending order, starting with the obvious choice,
0. (Why is this obvious? If I'd started with k > 0, then I could have improved on the resulting solution by
subtracting k from each number) Each new number obviously had to be greater than any previous,
because otherwise sums are not unique, but also the sums it made when paired with any previous
number had to be distinct from all previous pairs (otherwise when this pair is combined with a third
number you can't distinguish it from the other pair)--except for the last box, where we can ignore this
point. And most obviously all the new triples had to be distinct from any old triples; it was easy to find
what the new triples were by adding the newest number to each old sum of pairs.
Now, in case you're curious, the possible weight deficits and their unique decompositions are:
3=0+1+2
5=0+1+4
6=0+2+4
7=1+2+4
8=0+1+7
9=0+2+7
10 = 1 + 2 + 7
11 = 0 + 4 + 7
12 = 1 + 4 + 7
13 = 2 + 4 + 7
14 = 0 + 1 + 13
15 = 0 + 2 + 13
16 = 1 + 2 + 13
17 = 0 + 4 + 13
18 = 1 + 4 + 13
19 = 2 + 4 + 13
20 = 0 + 7 + 13
21 = 1 + 7 + 13
22 = 2 + 7 + 13
24 = 4 + 7 + 13
25 = 0 + 1 + 24
26 = 0 + 2 + 24
27 = 1 + 2 + 24
28 = 0 + 4 + 24
29 = 1 + 4 + 24
30 = 2 + 4 + 24
31 = 0 + 7 + 24
32 = 1 + 7 + 24
33 = 2 + 7 + 24
35 = 4 + 7 + 24
37 = 0 + 13 + 24
38 = 1 + 13 + 24
39 = 2 + 13 + 24
41 = 4 + 13 + 24
44 = 7 + 13 + 24
Note that there had to be (7 choose 3) distinct values; they end up ranging from 3 to 44 inclusive with 7
numbers missing: 4, 23, 34, 36, 40, 42, and 43.

Weighing III
This puzzle goes a step further from the previous one.
You have eight bags, each of them containing 48 coins. Five of those bags contain only true
coins, the rest of them contain fake coins. A fake coin weighs 1 gram less than a real coin. You
have an accurate scale, with the precision of up to 1 gram.
Weighing only once and using the minimum number of coins, how can you find the bags
containing the fake coins?
Weighing III. - solution
Similar to the former brain teaser.
I take out 0 (no coin from the first bag), 1 (one coin from the second bag etc.), 2, 4, 7, 13, 24, 44 coins
(from the last 8th bag). Each triple is unique enabling an easy way to identify the bags with fake coins
(using only 95 coins).

Weighing IV
One of twelve tennis balls is a bit lighter or heavier (you do not know which) than the others.
How would you identify this odd ball if you could use an old two-pan balance scale only 3
times?
You can only balance one set of balls against another, so no reference weights and no weight
measurements.

Weighing IV. - solution


It is enough to use the pair of scales just 3 times. Let’s mark the balls using numbers from 1 to 12 and
these special symbols:
x? means I know nothing about ball number x;
x< means that this ball is maybe lighter then the others;
x> means that this ball is maybe heavier then the others;
x. means this ball is “normal”.
At first, I lay on the left pan balls 1? 2? 3? 4? and on the right pan balls 5? 6? 7? 8?.
If there is equilibrium, then the wrong ball is among balls 9-12. I put 1. 2. 3. on the left and 9? 10? 11? on
the right pan.
If there is equilibrium, then the wrong ball is number 12 and comparing it with another ball I find out if
it is heavier or lighter.
If the left pan is heavier, I know that 12 is normal and 9< 10< 11<. I weigh 9< and 10<.
If they are the same weight, then ball 11 is lighter then all other balls.
If they are not the same weight, then the lighter ball is the one up.
If the right pan is heavier, then 9> 10> and 11> and the procedure is similar to the former text.
If the left pan is heavier, then 1> 2> 3> 4>, 5< 6< 7< 8< and 9. 10. 11. 12. Now I lay on the left pan 1> 2>
3> 5< and on the right pan 4> 9. 10. 11.
If there is equilibrium, then the suspicious balls are 6< 7< and 8<. Identifying the wrong one is similar to
the former case of 9< 10< 11<
If the left pan is lighter, then the wrong ball can be 5< or 4>. I compare for instance 1. and 4>. If they
weigh the same, then ball 5 is lighter the all the others. Otherwise ball 4 is heavier (is down).
If the left pan is heavier, then all balls are normal except for 1> 2> and 3>. Identifying the wrong ball
among 3 balls was described earlier.

Weighing V
On a Christmas tree there were two blue, two red, and two white balls. All seemed same.
However, in each color pair, one ball was heavier. All three lighter balls weighed the same, just
like all three heavier balls.
Using a balance scale twice, identify the lighter balls.
Weighing V. - solution
Lay one red and one white ball on left pan and one blue and the other white ball on the right pan. If
there is equilibrium, then it is clear that there is one heavier and one lighter ball on each side. That’s
why comparing white balls is enough to learn everything.
However, if at first weighing one side is heavier, then there must be a heavier white ball on that side.
The next reasonable step is to compare the already weighed red ball and yet not weighed blue ball.
After that, the character of each ball is clear, isn’t it?

Weighing VI
There are 9 similar balls. Eight of them weigh the same and the ninth is a bit heavier.
How would you identify the heavier ball if you could use a two-pan balance scale only twice?

Weighing VI. - solution


Divide the 9 balls into 3 groups of 3. Weigh two groups. Thus you find out which group is the
heavier ball in. Choose 2 balls from this group and compare their weights. And that's it.

Weighing VII
Given 27 table tennis balls, one is heavier than the others.
What is the minimum number of weighings (using a two-pan balance scale) needed to
guarantee identifying the heavy one? Of course, the other 26 balls weigh the same.

Weighing VII. - solution


It is enough to use a pair of scales 3 times.
Divide the 27 balls to 3 groups, 9 balls in each. Compare 2 groups – the heavier one contains the ball. If
there is equilibrium, then the ball is in the third group. Thus we know the 9 suspicious balls.
Divide the 9 balls to 3 groups of 3. Compare 2 groups, and as mentioned above, identify the group of 3
suspicious balls.
Compare 2 balls (of the 3 possibly heavier ones) and you know everything.
So we used a pair of scales 3 times to identify the heavier ball.

Weighing VIII
Suppose that the objects to be weighed may range from 1 to 121 pounds at 1-pound intervals:
1, 2, 3,..., 119, 120 and 121. After placing one such weight on either of two weighing pans of a
pair of scales, one or more precalibrated weights are then placed in either or both pans until a
balance is achieved, thus determining the weight of the object.
If the relative positions of the lever, fulcrum, and pans may not be changed, and if one may not
add to the initial set of precalibrated weights, what is the minimum number of such weights
that would be sufficient to bring into balance any of the 121 possible objects?
Weighing VIII. - solution
There are necessary at least 5 weights to bring into balance any of the 121 possible objects. And they
weigh as follows: 1, 3, 9, 27, 81g.

L inear W or d Pr o blem s
1 At a c omm uni ty me e ti ng the r e ar e doubl e the num be r of w ome n
than m e n and tri pl e num ber of chil dr e n than the total of m e n and
w om e n c om bi ne d. H ow m any me n, w om e n and c hi l dre n ar e ther e i f 96
pe opl e att e nd the m e eti ng?

At a community meeting there are double the number of women than

men and triple number of children than the total number of men and women

combined. How many men, women and children are there if 96 people

attend the meeting?

Men x

Women 2x

Children 3 · (x + 2x) = 3 · 3x = 9x

x + 2x + 9x = 96

12x = 96            x = 8

Men 8

Women 2 · 8 = 16

Children 9 · 8 = 72
2 A an bar r el of oil has 7 /8 of i ts c onte nt re m ove d. The n, i t is fi l l e d
w i th 3 8 li ter s and the total c onte nt is 3 /5 the c apac i ty of the bar r e l .
Cal c ul ate the total c apac i ty of the bar r el .

A an barrel of oil has 7/8 of its content removed. Then, it is filled with

38 liters and the total content is 3/5 the capacity of the barrel. Calculate

the total capacity of the barrel.

3 A f ar m has pi gs and tur k e ys. In total , ther e ar e 3 5 he ads and 11 6


paw s . H ow m any pi gs and tur ke ys ar e the re on the f ar m?

A farm has pigs and turkeys. In total, there are 35 heads and 116

paws. How many pigs and turkeys are there on the farm?

Pigs x

Turkeys 35 − x

4x + 2 · (35 − x) = 116

4x + 70 − 2x = 116
2x = 46          x = 23

Pigs 23

Turkeys 35 − 23 = 12

4 Pe te r we nt on a r oad tri p, dur i ng whi c h ti me 2 0 l ite r s of gasol i ne


w e re c onsum e d. H ow e ve r , he c om pl e te d the tri p in tw o stage s. In the
fi r s t, he c onsume d 2 /3 of the gasol i ne that w as i n the tank and i n the
s e c ond stage , hal f of the gasol i ne that he had le ft i n the tank .
1 .D e ter m i ne the num ber of li te r s of gasol i ne that w e re in the tank
be f ore the tri p.
2 .D e ter m i ne the num ber of li te r s c onsum e d at e ac h stage .

Peter went on a road trip, during which time 20 liters of gasoline were

consumed. However, he completed the trip in two stages. In the first, he

consumed 2/3 of the gasoline that was in the tank and in the second stage,

half of the gasoline that he had left in the tank.

1.Determine the number of liters of gasoline that were in the tank


before the trip.

First stage.

Second stage.

2. Determine the number of liters consumed at each stage.


First stage.

Second stage.

5 In a book stor e , Anne buys a nove l w ith a thi r d of he r m one y and a


c om ic wi th tw o- thi r ds of w hat re m ai ne d. W he n she le ft the book stor e ,
s he had $ 12 . H ow m uc h m one y di d Anne have bef or e ar r i vi ng at the
s tor e ?

In a bookstore, Anne buys a novel with a third of her money and a

comic with two-thirds of what remained. When she left the bookstore, she

had $12. How much money did Anne have before arriving at the store?

Total x

Novel

Comic
6  A cl oc k sounds to i ndi c ate the ti m e of 3 o'c l oc k . At w hat ti m e
be tw ee n 3 and 4 w il l the hour and m i nute ne e dle s ove r l ap?

A clock sounds to indicate the time of 3 o'clock. At what time between

3 and 4 will the hour and minute needles overlap?

Keep in mind that the angle or arc representing the minute hand's

position is always 12 times greater than the arc that describes the hour

hand.

x is the arch that describes the needle hourly.

(15 + x) is the arch that describes the minute hand.

15 + x = 12x

x = 15/11 min

The needles will overlap at 3:16 and 21 seconds.


7  A cl oc k sounds to i ndi c ate the ti m e of 2 o'c l oc k . At w hat ti m e
w il l its ne e dl e s f or m a ri ght angl e f or the fi r st ti m e ?

A clock sounds to indicate the time of 2 o'clock. At what time will its

needles form a right angle for the first time?

Turning clockwise, the needles will form a right angle approximately at

2:25. Therefore, let x be the arc that describes the hour needle.

x is the arc that describes the hour needle.

25 + x, is the arc that describes the minute hand.

25 + x = 12x

x = 25/11 min

The clock will form a 90 ° angle at 2:27 and 16 seconds.


8  A tr uck l e ave s a ci ty at a spee d of 40 mph. An hour l ate r , a c ar
l e ave s the sam e c ity and tr ave l s in the same di r ec ti on at a spe e d of 6 0
m ph.
1 .H ow m any hour s aft e r le avi ng the ci ty wi ll the c ar r e ac h the
tr uc k?
2 .W hat is the di stanc e f r om the c i ty w her e the c ar wi ll r e ac h the
tr uc k?

truck leaves a city at a speed of 40 mph. An hour later, a car leaves

the same city and travels in the same direction at a speed of 60 mph.

1. How many hours after leaving the city will the car reach the truck?

d1 = d2

40t = 60 (t − 1)

40t = 60t − 60        40t − 60t = −60     −20t = −60

t = 3h

As the car leaves the city one hour later than the truck, the time it

will take to reach the truck will be 2 hours.

2. What is the distance from the city where the car will reach the
truck?

d1 = 40 · 3 = 120 miles.
9  At 9 a.m ., tw o c yc li sts si m ul tane ousl y le ave thei r house s and
tr ave l tow ar ds e ac h othe r on the sam e r oad. H ouse s A and B ar e l oc ate d
1 3 0 mi le s aw ay fr om e ac h othe r . If the c yc li st w ho le ave s f r om H ouse A
pe dal s at a c onstant spe e d of 3 0 m ph, and the c yc li st w ho le ave s f r om
H ous e B tr avel s at 2 0 m ph, how f ar fr om H ouse A wi ll the tw o m e e t and
at w hat ti m e ?

At 9 am, two cyclists simultaneously leave their houses and travel

towards each other on the same road. Houses A and B are located 130 miles

away from each other. If the cyclist who leaves from House A pedals at a

constant speed of 30 mph, and the cyclist who leaves from House B travels

at 20 mph, how far from House A will the two meet and at what time?

30t + 20t = 130          50t = 130

t = 130/50 = 2 h 36 min

They will meet at 11:36 am.

dAC = 30 · 130/50 = 78 miles


1 0  A f auc e t tak e s 3 hour s to fi l l a w ater tank , and anothe r f auce t
tak e s f our hour s to fi l l a tank of the sam e si ze . H ow l ong wi ll i t tak e to
fi l l a tank of the sam e si ze if both f auc e ts ar e distr i buti ng w ate r
toge the r into the sam e tank ?

A faucet takes 3 hours to fill a water tank and another faucet takes

four hours to fill a tank of the same size. How long will it take to fill a tank

of the same size if both faucets are distributing water together into the

same tank?

In one hour the first faucet fills 1/3 of the tank.

In one hour the second faucet fills 1/4 of the tank.

In one hour two together faucets will have filled:

7x = 12            x = 12/7 hours


1 1  A gol de n bri ck of 0 .95 0 pur i ty we i ghs 6 3 00 gr am s. W hat
am ount of pur e c oppe r shoul d be adde d to l owe r i ts pur i ty to 0 .9 0 0?

A golden brick of 0.950 purity weighs 6,300 grams. What amount of

pure copper should be added to lower its purity to 0.900?

  Gold Copper Total

No. of g 6,300 X 6,300 + x

Pure Gold 0.950 · 6,300   0.900 · (6,300 + x)

0.900 · (6,300 + x) = 0.950 · 6,300

5,670 + 0.900x = 5,985

0.900x = 315    x = 315/0.900 = 350

Copper 350 grams

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