Think it Through

[Gregory Matthews]

In the spirit that lies behind the Trivia Quiz, I thought that I would start a thread on some brainteasers.  If you think carefully, you will find the answer to each situation.

I  I acknowledge my endebtness for these to:

J. J. Mendoza Fernandez, QUICK TO SOLVE BRAINTEASERS. The Official American Mensa Puzzle Book,  Sterling Press, 96 pages, 1998.

[Gregory Matthews]

For a couple of easy ones:

1)  How many times can you subtract 6 from 30?

95) A woman has five (5) children and half of them are male.  Is this possible?

117)  How can you make 30 cents with only two coins of one of the coins is not a nickel?  NOTE  U.S. coinage is to be used.

For one just a bit harder:

128)  It occurs once in a minute, twice in a week, and once in a year:   What is it?

Give this one some thought:

131)  You are driving a 2014 taxicab.  Your passengers are a male and a female.  They wish to travel 6 miles.  You drive at 35 mph and begin with  1/3 tank of gasoline.  Two (2) miles into the trip, the gas registers 1/4 tank of gas.   During the trip you not a male traffic cop of an apparent age of 57.   Eight (8) minutes after noticing the cop the trip is over.  What is the name of the taxi cab driver and the age of the driver? 

 

[debbym]

1)  you can only subtract 6 from 30 once, because after once, it is no longer 30.

128)  the letter e

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

131)  you are the driver, so your name and age is the name and age of the driver..

117)  a quarter and a nickel  (the quarter is not the nickel)

95)  the woman with 5 children either has all boys or 4 boys and a girl...

[Gregory Matthews]

All correct answers.  As to# 95, she has five sons.

Now try this one:

228) I climbed a cherry tree that had cherries.  I did not pick cherries.  I did not leave cherries.  How can this be explained?

 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

228)  I can think of two answers:  1) someone else also climbed the tree and was the one who picked cherries, or 2) there were only two cherries [plural] — you only picked one cherry [singular], leaving one cherry [singular]

[Gregory Matthews]

Pam:  Correct again.  Your 2nd response was the one given.

So, folks, give some thought to the following:

270) Mr. Red, Mr. White and Mr. Brown all attend a meeting.  Each of them is wearing a tie that matches one of the three colors of their three names.  None of them is wearing a tie that matches the name of the person wearing it.   Mr. Brown asks the man wearing a White tie if he likes the color red, but Mr. Brown cannot hear the answer that is given.  Tell us the color of the tie that each person is wearing.

Or for some more fun, try this one:

276) Jack's peacock flies over the fence and lays an egg on David's property.  Whose egg is it?

 

 

[JoeMo]

276) the Peacock's

[Outta Here]

@270 Mr. Brown is not wearing a brown tie. He must be wearing white or red. But, he talks to the man wearing white (who cannot be Mr. White), so he must be wearing red. Mr White cannot be wearing white, and since Mr Brown is in red, Mr White must be in brown. That leaves only white for Mr Red.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

Aubrey:  you  got it.

 

JoMo:  Sorry.  There is a better answer.  Your response is wrong.

 

[Outta Here]

@276 Peacocks don't lay eggs, they can only lie eggs. So, no tellin' whose egg it was. 

[Gregory Matthews]

Aubrey:  Yes. Peahens lay eggs.  Peacocks do not lay eggs.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

240)  Let us suppose that we could mount a very light oxygen tank to a bird in a manner that it could still fly while breathing the oxygen from the tank.  Next let us suppose that we transported such a bird to the surface of the Moon.  Would that bird fly faster, slower, or at the same speed as the bird flew on the Earth.  NOTE:  If appropriate, consider that the gravitational force on the surface of the Moon is much less than it is on the surface of the Earth.

 

[JoeMo]

The bird cannot fly  on the moon because there is no atmosphere to beat its wings against to obtain lift.

[Gregory Matthews]

Joe:  Yes.

 

73)  If a clock takes two (2) seconds to strike 2, how long will it take to strike three (3)?

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

Here is one that just may test you thinking ability:

68)  There are three (3) boxes.  One box contains two (2) black marbles.  A Second box contains two (2) white marbles.  The third box contains one (1) black marble and one (1) white marble.

The boxes are marked  BB, WW & BW.   In no case does any such code correspond with the marbles actually in the box.   What would be the least number of marbles that must be randomly ;picked from one or more boxes to identify their contents?  Why?

 

 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

if all of the labels are wrong, then you could pick one from the BW box.  If it's black, then you know the other marble is also black.  (and vice versa if if the drawn marble is white).  The WW box couldn't contain two white marbles, so the WW box contains black marbles, and the BB box contains a black marble and white marble.

[Gregory Matthews]

Pam, of course.

Since you have done so well with that thought question, try this one on for size (69):

1) A school teacher keep track of class time by using a 5-hour hourglass.

2) One morning the teacher sets the hourglass at 9 AM.

3) At some undetermined time, a student inverts the hourglass.

4) At 11:30 AM, another student sets the hourglass back to its initial position.

5)  The class ends now at 3 PM.

Question:  At what time did the 1st student invert the hourglass?

 

Yes, one can figure it out.

 

 

[Outta Here]

11

[Gregory Matthews]

No, not 10:30.

 

[Outta Here]

See my edit. LOL I realized that as soon as I posted.

[Gregory Matthews]

Aubrey:  11 AM is the correct answer.

[Gregory Matthews]

Try this one:

 

67)  You are given four (4) boxes and Nine (9) marbles.  Distribute the nine (9) marbles so that each box contains an odd number of marbles which is different in number from each of the other boxes.

Or how about this one (80):

1) The day before yesterday, a man was 35 years old.

2) Next year that man will have his 38th birthday.

How can this be?

Or, here is an interesting one:

51) A sultan decided to offer his daughter in marriage to the owner of a horse that would finish last in a race.  He structured the race so that it was quickly finished rather than lasting forever as the candidates struggled to slow the horses down.  How did he achieve his goal?