Showing posts with label puzzles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puzzles. Show all posts

Monday, 22 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

There are three persons - Jack, Anne and George. Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

A) Yes
B) No
C) Cannot be determined

Answer: Show answer
Yes. Because, if Anne is married, she's looking at George (who is unmarried).
And if Anne is unmarried, Jack (who is married) is looking at her.

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Saturday, 20 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: Rectify the equation

Rectify the following equation: 101 - 102 = 1. You are allowed to move just one digit.

Answer: Show answer
Move the numeral 2 half a line up to achieve: 101 - 102 = 1.

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Anirudh

Puzzle: The 5-digit number

What 5-digit number has the following property: If we put numeral 1 before this number, we get a number three times smaller than the number we get if we put numeral 1 after this number.

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

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Anirudh

Puzzle: Between 5 and 9

What mathematical symbol can be placed between 5 and 9, to get a number greater than 5 and smaller than 9?

Answer: Show answer
Place a decimal point between them to get 5.9

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Anirudh

Puzzle: Birthday mystery

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

Answer: Show answer
He was born on December 31st and spoke about it on January 1st.

Explanation:
The day before yesterday (December 30) he was 25.
He turned 26 on December 31 (his birthday).
And he talked about it on January 1 (which is in the next year of his recent birthday). That year he would turn 27, so "next year" he would turn 28.

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Monday, 15 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: 100 statements

There are 100 statements.
1st one says: At least one statement is wrong.
2nd one says: At least two statements are wrong.
3rd one says: At least three statements are wrong.
4th one says: At least four statements are wrong.
...and so on till
100th one says: At least hundred statements are wrong.

Determine how many statements are actually wrong and how many are actually right?

Answer: Show answer
Let's start looking at the statements one by one. The 100th statement is definitely wrong because it says at least all 100 are wrong. But if that was correct, then the 100th statement itself cannot be right!
=> 100th statement is wrong
=> 1st statement is correct
(so far 1 wrong and 1 correct)

Similarly, the 99th statement says that at least 99 statements are wrong, i.e. maximum 1 among 100 may be correct, which we have already concluded that the 1st one is correct. But in that case, the 99th statement itself cannot be correct, because if we say that 99th is correct then we will get total 2 correct statements (1st and 99th), which is conflicting with the 99th statement itself.
=> 99th statement is wrong
=> 2nd statement is correct
(so far 2 wrong and 2 correct)

Calculating in a similar fashion, we will finally get the last 50 statements to be wrong and the first 50 statements to be right.

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Sunday, 14 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: Heaven or hell

You are standing before two closed doors. One of the doors leads to heaven and the other one leads to hell. There are two guards, one by each door. You know that one of them always tells the truth and the other one always lies, but you don't know who is the honest one and who is the liar.

You can ask only one question to only one of them in order to find the way to heaven. What should be your question so that you can identify the door to heaven?

Answer: Show answer
This is one of the classic puzzles asked in interviews. The question you should ask is "If I ask the other guard about which side leads to heaven, what would he answer?". It should be fairly easy to see that irrespective of whom you ask this question, you will always get an answer which leads to hell. So you can chose the other path to continue your journey to heaven.

Here is the explanation: Let us assume that the left door leads to heaven. If you ask the guard who speaks truth about which path leads to heaven, he would say "left", as he always speaks the truth. So, if the liar is asked what "the other guard - the truth teller" would answer, he would lie and definitely say "right", which is the door to hell.

Similarly, if you ask the liar about which path leads to heaven, he would say "right". Now, when the truth teller is asked about what "the other guard - the liar one" would answer, he would fairly say "right", again the path to hell. So in any case, you would end up knowing the path to hell as an answer. So you can chose the other path as the way to heaven.

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Friday, 12 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: Man in the bar

A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says, "Thank you!" and walks out. Explain what would have happened.

Answer: Show answer
The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups – so the man no longer needed water.

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Thursday, 11 August 2016

Anirudh

Puzzle: Trouble of not twins

A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

Answer: Show answer
They were two from a set of triplets (or quadruplets etc.)! This simple little puzzle stumps many people. They try outlandish solutions involving test-tube babies or surrogate mothers. Why does the brain search for complex solutions when there is a much simpler one available?

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Anirudh

Puzzle: Deadly party

A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left early. Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of poisoning. Why did the man not die?

Answer: Show answer
The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man drank the punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted, poisoning the punch, so the people who drank it with the melted ice died of poisoning.

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