Riddles

Riddles

  1. What is special about the following sequence of numbers? 8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0

    The numbers are in alphabetical order.(eight, five, four, nine, one, seven, six, ten, three, two, zero)


  2. You have two buckets - one holds exactly 5 gallons and the other 3 gallons. How can you measure 4 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket? (Assume you have an unlimited supply of water and that there are no measurement markings of any kind on the buckets.)

    1. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
    2. Pour the 3 gallons of water into the 5-gallon bucket.
    3. Fill the 3-gallon bucket again.
    4. Fill up the 5-gallon bucket with the 3-gallon bucket, leaving you with 1 gallon left in the 3-gallon bucket.
    5. Empty out the 5-gallon bucket.
    6. Pour the remaining 1 gallon of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket.
    7. Fill the 3-gallon bucket.
    8. Pour the 3 gallons of water from the 3-gallon bucket into the 5-gallon bucket leaving you with 4 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket.


  3. You're riding a horse. To the right of you is a cliff and in front of you is an elephant going the same pace as you and you can't overtake it. To the left of you is a hippo running at the same speed and behind you is a lion chasing you. How do you get to safety?

    Get off the merry-go-round.


  4. Here is a series of numbers. What is the next number in the sequence? 1 11 21 1211 111221 312211 13112221

    The next number in the sequence is 1113213211, because the rule for creating the next number is to simply describe the previous number. For example, you start of with 1, with is simply one 1, so the next number is 11. Now you have two 1's, so the next number is 21. Now you have one 2 and one 1, so the next number is 1211. The solution is to simply continue describing the previous number using only numbers.


  5. My daughter has many sisters. She has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?

    Four daughters and three sons.


  6. An 18-wheeler is crossing a 4 kilometer bridge that can only support 10,000 kilograms and that's exactly how much the rig weighs. Halfway across the bridge a 30 gram sparrow lands on the cab, but the bridge doesn't collapse. Why not?

    Since the bridge is 4 kilometers long, the halfway point would be 2 kilometers. The 18-wheeler would have used much more than 30g of fuel to drive 2 kilometers.


  7. 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 will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What does the wise man say?

    The wise man tells them to switch camels.


  8. You're in a room with two doors. There's a guard at each door. One door is the exit, but behind the other door is something that will kill you. You're told that one guard always tells the truth and the other guard always lies. You don't know which guard is which. You are allowed to ask one question to either of the guards to determine which door is the exit. What question should you ask?

    Ask either guard what door the other guard would say is the exit, then choose the opposite door.
    If you ask the guard who always tells the truth, he knows the other guard would lie, so he'll point you to the door leading to death. If you ask the guard who always lies, he knows the other guard would truthfully show you the exit, so he'll lie and point you to the door leading to death.


  9. You are the bus driver. At your first stop, you pick up 29 people. On your second stop, 18 of those 29 people get off, and at the same time 10 new passengers arrive. At your next stop, 3 of those 10 passengers get off, and 13 new passengers come on. On your fourth stop 4 of the remaining 10 passengers get off, 6 of those new 13 passengers get off as well, then 17 new passengers get on. What is the color of the bus driver's eyes?

    The eye color of the reader of this problem. The first sentence is the key: "You are the bus driver"


  10. You have 12 black socks and 12 white socks mixed up in a drawer. It's early in the morning and you don't have any light to see the colors. How many socks must you pull out (blindly) to be sure of getting a matching pair?

    3 socks. If the first sock is black, the second one could be black, in which case you have a matching pair. If the second sock is white, the third sock will be either black and match the first sock, or white and match the second sock.


 
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