Posts

Simple Calculation for Initial Amount


What was the puzzle? 

We need to go backward to get the answer.

3. At third sister's home he had 2000 + 5000 = 7000. So before visit he had 7000 / 2 = 3500.

2. At second sister's home he had 3500 + 2000 = 5500. This 5500 were doubled from his existing 2750 by her second sister.

1. At first sister's home he had 2750 + 2000 = 4750. His first sister had added 4750 / 2 = 2375 to his wallet in which there were Rs. 2375 already.

So Mayank took Rs. 2375 with him in his wallet while he left home.


So Mayank took Rs. 2375 with him in his wallet while he left home.

However, Mayank must had idea of that his sisters added money to his wallet without his attention.

 

Abnormal Looking Normal Puzzle

A donkey travels the exact same distance daily. Strangely 2 of his legs

travels 40 kilometers and the remaining two travels 41 kilometers. 

Obviously 2 donkey legs cannot be a 1km ahead of the other 2.

The donkey is perfectly normal. So how come this be true ?


How a normal donkey can do this?
 I'm perfectly normal!

Why so? Find it here! 

Source 



That Looks Perfectly Normal


What was looking abnormal? 

The donkey is moving on a circular path. Hence, his 2 legs on right (or left depending on moving clockwise or anticlockwise) moves along a circle having lesser radius than circle on which left legs are moving. The difference in circumferences of circles accounts the difference in distance traveled.

That's perfectly logical if donkey follows this path.

Winner Deserving The Scholarship

This is my favorite puzzle which I had read in a newspaper. It really makes you to think more & more logically to get the answer. I had posted it back in July but re posting it here.

"The scholarship will be awarded," said the head to three candidates - Chuckles, Wombat & Breeze - "to the winner in this little competition. I am going to chalk a cross, which will be either a green or a red cross. I shall then ask each one who can see a green cross to hold his hand up; and take his hand down as soon as he can tell me what his own cross is. He must, of course, be able to explain how his answer is arrived at. Kindly close your eyes for 10 seconds."

He chalked a green cross on all three foreheads. "Go!"

All three hands shot up in air ; that of Chuckles was almost immediately lowered. "My cross is green , Sir"

Winner's logic behind his thinking!


How did Chuckle know?
  
Read here how the story unfolds!



 

Popular Missing Square Puzzle

How many number of times you have come across this image?

Where this extra block comes from?

By now, you might have accepted the solution.

"The hypotenuse is bulged in bottom figure which accounts area equal to missing square!"

But is this really a solution to this puzzle? The issue illustrated in clear manner here!

And my opinion is here!

And how creator did manage to create that 'missing' square is illustrated here!

 

Jumping Safely From 33rd Floor?

A man was gazing through the window of the 33rd floor of the building. He suddenly opened the window and jumped on the other side of the window. On landing the floor, there was not a sheer mark of injury on him.

How can that be possible if he did not use any kind of parachute and did not land on a soft surface ? 


How one can survive if jumped from 33rd floor?
  
Why he landed safely? Find Here! 

Jump Causing No Injury


But why to jump? 

The man was cleaning the window of 33rd floor & jumped inside the room through the window after finishing his work. Jumping from few feet from landing floor rarely causes any injury.

Hardly Any Injury if Jumped In This Way!

Crossing The River In Minimum Time

Four people need to cross a dark river at night. They have only one torch and the river is too risky to cross without the torch. If all people cross simultaneously then torch light won't be sufficient. Speed of each person of crossing the river is different. Cross time for each person is 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. 

However 2 can cross together but there is one limitation.If two are crossing the river then it takes time equal to slowest person would take alone. For example, if persons with cross times 1 min & 10 mins are crossing then it would take 10 mins for both to cross the river.

What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the river ? 

What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the river ?
  
Find here the efficient way! 

Source 



Efficient Way To Cross The River


What's the challenge? 

Let's name each person by their crossing times as 1,2,7,10.

The instant solution that everyone can think of is using 1 as a usher to guide all. That means 10 & 1 goes, 1 comes back; 7 & 1 goes again 1 comes back and 2& 1 goes finally. This would take 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins to cross rivers.

Is it really efficient solution? What if we find a way to cross both 10 & 7 in one go & other 1 waiting across to bring back torch.

1. The 1 & 2 goes across but 1 comes back - 2 + 1 = 3 mins required.

2. Now 10 & 7 goes across & send 2 back with torch - 10 + 2 = 12 mins required.

3. Finally after coming back 2 & take 1 across the river - 2 minutes required.

So total 3 + 12 + 2 = 17 minutes required to cross the river for those 4 persons. In first step, 2 can also come back & send 10 & 7. In that case, in second step, 1 has to come back to take 2 across the river. Isn't this a more practical solution? 


Shortest time to cross the river!

Hijacker's Strange Demand!

A man hijacks an aeroplane transporting both passengers (8 of them) and valuable cargo.After taking the cargo, the man demands nine parachutes, puts one of them on, and jumps, leaving the other eight behind. Why did he want other eight?

What Could Be The Reason Behind Hijacker's Strange Demand?
          I want 9!

Find the reason here! 

Source 




Hijacker's Safe Game!


And how did he play it? 

Had he demanded single parachute how can he be sure that it's not adefective one. He demanded nine with thought that cops would think that he wants to jump with all 9 passengers safely. So cops would not take risk of sending any defective parachute. 

Logic behind hijacker's strange demand!


Fill in the blanks

Place the numbers 1 through 9 in the circles below, such that each side of the triangle adds up to 17.

Place number in blanks to make each side equal to 17
Fill Numbers

Find those circles filled here! 

Correct Numbers in Blanks


What was the challenge? 

Just putting at 1,2 & 3 at 3 corners of triangle leaves only thing to find other 2 numbers giving total sum 17. Have a look at below.

Placed Correct Numbers in Blanks!
   Correct Numbers in Blanks
 

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? 

Birbal's argument in support of farmer

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.


Birbal's Argument Gave Justice To The Farmer

Who knocked over the monitor?

Melissa and Jessica were working on the computer along with their friends Sandy and Nicole.  Suddenly, I heard a crash and then lots of shouts.  I rushed in to find out what was going on, finding the computer monitor on the ground, surrounded with broken glass!  Sandy and Jessica spoke almost at the same time:

Jessica saying, "It wasn't me!"

Sandy saying, "It was Nicole!"


Melissa yelled, "No, it was Sandy!"


With a pretty straight face Nicole said, "Sandy is a liar."

Only one of them was telling the truth, so who knocked over the monitor? 


Finding Who knocked over the monitor By Statements Made.

Find here who did it! 

Source 
  

Person Who knocked Over Monitor!


What's the entire matter? 

If we assume Jessica speaking the truth & she is not the culprit then other 3 must be liar. The truth that comes from Nicole's statement is that Sandy is telling truth. But only 1 is speaking truth not 2 as here Sandy & Jessica.

That means Jessica is lying. Which in turn means it was she who done that damage. Now Sandy's statement can't be true as we already have got culprit Jessica. 


Similarly, Mellisa lying as she is pointing towards Sandy.Two person not telling truth at a time as per provided information.

So only left with Nicole who is telling the truth that Sandy is liar.

Hence we can conclude that, Jessica knocked over the monitor & Nicole is telling the truth.



All statements points to Person who knocked Over Monitor

Who is Liar?

Suppose there are twin brothers; one which always tells the truth and one which always lies.  What single yes/no question could you ask to either brother to figure out which one is which? (Condition is you can't ask question whose answer you already know. e.g. does earth rotate around the sun?)

How to identify liar/truth teller among twins?

This should be that question! 

Source 


Question To Identify Liar/Truth Teller


First know about twins. 

We should ask one question,

"Would your brother say that you tell the truth?"

Now if the question is asked the truth teller, then he knows his liar brother would say NO to this question. Hence he would say NO straightaway.

And if the question being asked to liar then he knows that his brother is going to say NO to this question but as a liar he would lie once again & would say YES to the question asked.

So depending on what reply we get, we can easily identify the liar & truth teller brother.


Reply distinguishing liar from truth teller

Remove Matches To Match Number

Remove six matches to make 10.


Make 10 by removing 6!





Shown here how it can be done!

  

Matches To Match Number


What was the challenge? 

It's pretty simple one. Nowhere it is mentioned that you have to make it as 

10 & not allowed to make TEN. So three sticks from first, one from second & 

2 from third gives us TEN.



Making TEN by removing 6!



However, we can make it as 10 as well. Removing 1 stick from first, 4 from 

second & 1 from third produces 10.



Making 10 by removing 6!

The True Statement?


A. The number of false statements here is one.

B. The number of false statements here is two.

C. The number of false statements here is three.

D. The number of false statements here is four.

Which of the above statements is true?

Which of these statements is true?

     Find it here! 

 Source

The Only True Statement


How it was tricky & what were others? 

One has to be true & other 3 must be false. Let's consider each case one by one.

Case A : According to this statement the number of false statement is 1 which is contrary to given condition that 1 is true & 3 are false. So it can't be true.

Case B : As per this, number of false statements = 2 which is again contrary to given condition of 3 false statements.So it can't be true.

Case C : As per this, number of false statements =3 exactly matching the given condition.

Case D : This implies number of false statements = 4 meaning that all the statements including itself are false. This is opposite to given condition. So this has to be false as well.
This is The Only True Statement!
   
So the statement C is true & all other are false!

A Strange Liar

Richard is a strange liar. He lies on six days of the week, but on the seventh day he always tells the truth. He made the following statements on three successive days: 

Day 1: "I lie on Monday and Tuesday.

Day 2: "Today, it's Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday." 

Day 3: "I lie on Wednesday and Friday."

On which day does Richard tell the truth? 

Find the truth of this strange liar.
  Am I a liar?

Find the truth here! 

Source 


Truth Of a Strange Liar


What was his story? 

To find the truth we need to logical deduction here.

Now if statement on Day 1 is untrue then Richard must be telling the truth on Monday or Tuesday. 

And if Day 3 statement is untrue then he must be telling the truth on Wednesday or Friday. 

But he speaks true only on 1 day. So both statements of Day 1 & Day 3 can't be true at the same time. If so, then Richard speaks true on 2 days either Monday/Tuesday or Wednesday/Friday. This means that one of statements from Day 1 must be true & other must be untrue. That also makes the statement on Day 2 untrue always.

Case 1 : Day 3 statement is untrue.

In this case, Richard must be telling truth on either Wednesday or Friday. The statement on Day 1 would be true according to above logical deduction. Hence Day 2 must be either Thursday or Saturday. In both cases, statement on Day 2 would be true.

Case 2 : Day 1 statement is untrue.

If the statement made on Day 1 is untrue then Richard tells truth on Monday or Tuesday. Other statement on Day 3 must be true means Day 3 must be either Monday or Tuesday. If so, then Day 2 must be either Sunday or Monday. In case of Sunday, Day 2 statement would be true & in case of Monday Day 2 statement would be untrue. Hence Day 2 must be Monday & Day 3 must be Tuesday.

The day on which liar speaks truth!

So Richard tells truth on Tuesday.


Locker Room & Strange Principal

A high school has a strange principal. On the first day, he has his students perform an odd opening day ceremony:

There are one thousand lockers and one thousand students in the school. The principal asks the first student to go to every locker and open it. Then he has asked the second student go to every second locker and close it. The third goes to every third locker and, if it is closed, he opens it, and if it is open, he closes it. The fourth student does this to every fourth locker, and so on. After the process is completed with the thousandth student, how many lockers are open?


Strange task given by principal on first day of school

What principal was trying to teach? 

Source 

The Lesson Taught By Strange Principal


Where it did begin? 

While finding the solution we need to keep basic fact from the problem in mind. Since lockers were closed initially, the lockers which are 'accessed' for odd number of times only are going to open. Rest of all would be closed.

Now task is to find how many such lockers are there which were 'accessed' for odd number of times.

Let's take any number say 24 for example, which is not perfect square & find out how many factors it has.

24 = 1 x 24
24 = 2 x 12
24 = 3 x 8
24 = 4 x 6

So factors are 1,2,3,4,6,8,12,24 i.e. 8 numbers as factors which is even number. Every factor is paired with other 'unique' number! So this pairing always makes number of factors 'even'. In the problem, this lock no.24 will be 'accessed' by 1st, 2nd, 3rd..................24th student. That means 'accessed' even number of time & hence would remain closed.

Now let's take a look at lock no. 16 in which 16 is perfect square. Finding it's factors,

16 = 1 x 16
16 = 2 x 8
16 = 4 x 4

we get 1,2,4,8,16 i.e. 5 numbers as factors which is odd. The reason behind is here 4 appears twice (with itself) while rest of others are paired with other 'unique' number. Hence, number of factors of a perfect square are always odd. Now here lock 16 would be accessed by 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 16th i.e. 5 times. Hence it will be open.

Like this way, every lock with number which is perfect square would be 'accessed' for odd number of times & hence would remain open! e.g. 1,4,9,16,25,49 & so on.

Now 961 (31^2) is the maximum perfect square that can appear within 1000 (32^2) as 1024 goes beyond.

Hence there would be 31 locks open while rest of all closed!


The mathematical fact taught by strange principal
Lesson Of The Day

So what lesson taught by strange principal? The number which is perfect square has odd number of divisors.

 

Unlock The Distance

Distances from you to certain cities are written below.

BERLIN = 200 miles
PARIS = 300 miles
ROME = 400 miles
AMSTERDAM = 300 miles
CARDIFF = ?? miles


How far should it be to Cardiff ?


Decode The Pattern and Unlock The Distance

 How far? Find Here! 

Source 

The Distance Unlocked


What was the question?

Just count Vowels V & Consonants C in any 2 spelling to get how much they value.


From BERLIN,

2V + 4C = 200

V + 2C = 100             ........(1)

From ROME,

2V + 2C = 400

V + C = 200               .......(2)

Solving (1) & (2), we get,

V = 300 & C = -100

For CARDIFF, we have,


2V + 6C = 100. 


The Distance Unlocked after Decoding The Pattern

So CARDIFF = 100 miles



Wrong Address By Liar

Mr. House would like to visit his old friend Mr. Street, who is living in the main street of a small village. The main street has 50 houses divided into two blocks and numbered from 1 to 20 and 21 to 50. Since Mr. House has forgotten the number, he asks it from a passer-by, who replies "Just try to guess it." Mr. House likes playing games and asks three questions:

1. In which block is it?

2. Is the number even?

3. Is it a square?


After Mr. House has received the answers, he says: "I'm still doubting, but if you'll tell me whether the digit 4 is in the number, I will know the answer!". Then Mr. House runs to the building in which he thinks his friend is living. He rings, a man opens the door and it turns out that he's wrong. The man starts laughing and tells Mr. House: "Your advisor is the biggest liar of the whole village. He never speaks the truth!". Mr. House thinks for a moment and says "Thanks, now I know the real address of Mr. Street".
 
What is the address of Mr. Street?


 What is the address of Mr. Street?


This is how Mr.House found correct address! 

Source 

Correct Address Identified !


How pointed towards the wrong one? 

Since Mr. House was able to run at one house after answers of passer-by, he must have got clear clues from that.

3. Is it square ?
  
First thing is sure that, the number must not be a non-square otherwise Mr.House wouldn't be sure as there are plenty of non-square numbers between 1 to 50. So it must be either 4,9,16,25,36,49. (1 is omitted for a reason)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. In which block is it?

Two possible answers here & 2 possible conclusions.

Block 1  :  4,9,16

Block 2  :  25,36,49

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Is the number even ?

Now had passer-by  answered Block 1 in 1st question & odd now then Mr. House would have come to know one exact number 9 (that's why 1 omitted here).

Or had he answered Block 2 in 1st question & even now then also Mr. House would have 1 number i.e. 36.

So in both cases, Mr. House would have got 1 fixed number with no point in asking extra question.


That means the passer-by must have told following answers & their possible conclusions are-

Block 1  :  Even  :  Square  :  4,16

Block 2  :  Odd   :  Square  :  25,49

Connect Dots with Straight Lines

Can you connect all nine dots with only four straight lines without losing contact with the paper while drawing? 


Connect all the dots with 4 straight lines

Read here how it can be done!

Source 
 

Connected Dots With Straight Lines


What was the challenge? 

This question often asked in personality development training courses. It needs some out of box thinking. In the question, no where it is mentioned that you line can't go beyond 3 dots. But our brain assumes that & try to find the solution according to that only!


Connected All The Dots with 4 Straight Lines

The Alphamatic Problem

In the addition below, all digits have been replaced by letters. Equal letters represent equal digits and different letters represent different digits.

   ABCABA 
+
   BBDCAA 
+
   ABEABB 
   ABDBAA
-------------------
 AAFGBDH

What does the complete addition look like in digits? 

What numbers to replace digits?

Note : Alphamatic in the title is word derived from Alphabets & Mathematics. In such problems numbers are replaced by alphabets. The challenge is to find the number for each alphabet satisfying given mathematics equation.


Answer Of Alphamatic Problem


Here is question!

 First of all let's write down the equation once again.


   ABCABA 
+
   BBDCAA 
+
   ABEABB 
   ABDBAA
-------------------
 AAFGBDH

We will refer to places in number from left as a first, second, third...sixth instead of tenth, hundredth, thousandth etc. 
First we need to find if the 5 digits of first number itself i.e. ABCAB are carries forwarded from previous place.  
From the addition of variable from first place, we get,
3A + B  = 10A + A ........(1)
B  =  8A              ........(2)
Only numbers satisfying above are A = 1 & B = 8 , but at previous place we have addition of 4 B's. If B = 8, then addition at second place would be 32 with F = 2 & carry 3 which is not equal to A = 1. So A can't be a carry. So we need to modify (2) above as

B + x = 8A .........(2)....Where 'x' is carry forwarded from second place.

If B = 1 or 2 then x = 0 as  at second place we would have F = 4 or 8. In that case, A would be fractional. Some other possible combinations for B, A & x are,
B = 9, x = 3,   8A = 12,
B = 8, x = 3,   8A = 10,
B = 7, x = 2,   8A =  9,
B = 6, x = 2,   8A = 8,
This is the only combination that can make A a whole number. So A = 1, B = 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From sixth place, we have,
H = 3A + B = 9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From fifth place, we have,
D = 2A + 2B  = 14

But it has to be single digit i.e. D = 4 with 1 carry forwarded to next.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From fourth place,

B = 2A + B + C + 1  .....1 is carry from last place.
6 = 9 + C

Now C can't be negative hence C + 9 has to be 2 digit number with 6 at last digit.Since addition of 2 single digit numbers never exceeds 18, C + 9 has to be 16.

16 = 9 + C 

gives, C = 7 & carry 1 forwarded to third place.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nightclub Tragedy

An American nightclub called 'The Coconut Grove' had a terrible fire in which over 400 people died. A simple design flaw in the building led to the death toll being so high. Subsequently, regulations were changed to ensure that all public buildings throughout the country eliminated this one detail which proved so deadly.

What was it?


Get here to know what was that! 

Source 

Change In Regulations After Tragedy


What was the tragedy? 

This is based on a true story:

The doors at the Coconut Grove opened inward. In the mad dash to escape the fire, people were crushed against the doors and couldn't pull them open. After the Coconut Grove disaster in 1942, all public buildings had to have doors which opened outward.
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