Who Is The Engineer?

On a train, Smith, Robinson, and Jones are the fireman, the brakeman, and the engineer (not necessarily respectively). Also aboard the train are three passengers with the same names, Mr. Smith, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Jones.

(1) Mr. Robinson is a passenger. He lives in Detroit.
(2) The brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit.
(3) Mr. Jones is a passenger. He earns exactly $20,000 per year.
(4) The brakeman’s nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.
(5) Smith is not a passenger. He beats the fireman in billiards.
(6) The passenger whose name is the same as the brakeman’s lives in Chicago.

Who is the engineer?

Want to know who? Click Here! 

That's Why Smith Is An Engineer!

Would you like to read question first? 

Let's list all the clues once again here.

(1) Mr. Robinson is a passenger. He lives in Detroit.
(2) The brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit.
(3) Mr. Jones is a passenger. He earns exactly $20,000 per year.
(4) The brakeman’s nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.
(5) Smith is not a passenger. He beats the fireman in billiards.
(6) The passenger whose name is the same as the brakeman’s lives in Chicago.

Since as per (2), the brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit, locations Chicago or Detroit can't be nearest to him. Hence, the passenger that (4) is suggesting must be nearer to brakeman than Chicago and Detroit.

Now as per (1), Mr. Robinson lives in Detroit, means he is not the nearest to brakeman. Mr.Jones earning is $20,000/year as per (3), which is not evenly divisible by 3. Hence, the passenger (4) is pointing is not Mr.Jones.

So neither Mr. Robinson not Mr.Jones but Mr.Smith is the nearest neighbor. 

Now Mr. Robinson lives in Detroit and Mr.Smith is living in between Chicago and Detroit but nearer to brakeman. Hence, Mr. Jones must be living in Chicago.

According to (6), Jones must be name of the brakeman as he is sharing his name with the man living in Chicago.

And if Smith is not fireman as per (5), he must be an engineer!   

  

Birbal The Wise!

Emperor Akbar once ruled over India. He was a wise and intelligent ruler, and he had in his court the Nine Gems, his nine advisors, who were each known for a particular skill. One of these Gems was Birbal, known for his wit and wisdom. 

The story below is one of the examples of his wit. Do you have it for you to find out the answer? 

A farmer and his neighbor once went to Emperor Akbar"s court with a complaint. "Your Majesty, I bought a well from him," said the farmer pointing to his neighbor, "and now he wants me to pay for the water." "That"s right, your Majesty," said the neighbor. "I sold him the well but not the water!" The Emperor asked Birbal to settle the dispute. 

Now it's very difficult to think what Birbal had in his mind at that time. Still you can give a try. How did Birbal solve the dispute? 

Read here how Birbal rescued the farmer! 

Source 

Justice WIth The Farmer

What's the story behind the title? 

"So you have sold the well to the farmer but not the water?" Birbal asked the neighbor. 

"Do you agree that owner of well is the farmer & you are owner of water?" Birbal asks further.

"Exactly!", neighbor replied.

Birbal now points towards the valid question - "So you need to pay rent for keeping your water in his well, or take out all of the water out of well. Don't you?"

By now the neighbor realized that he was outwitted. He had no option other than to apologize & take back his claim.

What was the neighbor's solution?

An old farmer died and left 17 cows to his three sons. In his will, the farmer stated that his oldest son should get 1/2, his middle son should get 1/3, and his youngest son should get 1/9 of all the cows. The sons, who did not want to end up with half cows, sat for days trying to figure out how many cows each of them should get.

One day, their neighbor came by to see how they were doing after their father's death. The three sons told him their problem. After thinking for a while, the neighbor said: "I'll be right back!" He went away, and when he came back, the three sons could divide the cows according to their father's will, and in such a way, that each of them got a whole number of cows.

What was the neighbor's solution? 

Here is that solution! 

Source

Neighbor's Solution on Old Farmer's Will

What was the problem with the will?

Neighbor went & brought a extra cow. Now there were 18 cows. The oldest son got 
1/2 x 18 = 9 cows, middle son got 1/3 x 18 = 6 cows and youngest son got 1/9 x 18 = 2 cows. In this way, total 9 + 6 + 2 = 17 cows distributed among 3 sons but left with 1 cow which neighbor took with himself.