Losing A New York Bet
You are hanging around in NYC when a person approaches you.
"Leaving the bald people aside, I can bet a hundred bucks that there are two people living in NYC who have same number of hairs on their heads," he says to you.
You say that you will take the bet. After talking to the man for a couple of minutes, you realize that you have lost the bet.
What did the person say to you that proved his statement ?
"Leaving the bald people aside, I can bet a hundred bucks that there are two people living in NYC who have same number of hairs on their heads," he says to you.
You say that you will take the bet. After talking to the man for a couple of minutes, you realize that you have lost the bet.
What did the person say to you that proved his statement ?
Hint:
This problem can be best solved using the pigeonhole principle.
The argument will go like this:
Assume that all the non-bald people in NYC have different number of hairs on their head. The population is about 9 million and let us assume that there are 8 million among them who are not bald.
Now, those 8 million people need to have different number of hairs. On an average, people have just 100, 000 hairs on their head. If we keep on assuming that there is someone with just one hair, someone with two, someone with three and so on, there will be 7, 900, 00 other people left who will have more than 100, 000 hairs on their head and need different number of hairs.
Now, as per this assumption, if we keep increasing one hair for each person, to make everybody hair different in numbers, we will come across someone with 8, 000, 000 hairs. But that is practically impossible (even 1, 000, 000 is impossible). Thus there must be two people who are having same number of hairs. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The argument will go like this:
Assume that all the non-bald people in NYC have different number of hairs on their head. The population is about 9 million and let us assume that there are 8 million among them who are not bald.
Now, those 8 million people need to have different number of hairs. On an average, people have just 100, 000 hairs on their head. If we keep on assuming that there is someone with just one hair, someone with two, someone with three and so on, there will be 7, 900, 00 other people left who will have more than 100, 000 hairs on their head and need different number of hairs.
Now, as per this assumption, if we keep increasing one hair for each person, to make everybody hair different in numbers, we will come across someone with 8, 000, 000 hairs. But that is practically impossible (even 1, 000, 000 is impossible). Thus there must be two people who are having same number of hairs. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Related Strangers Riddle
A man gets off the bus looking for an address and approaches a couple walking in the same direction for directions. The woman says theyre going that way and take him. Along the way the man asks if theyre related. The woman grins and says, Were not strangers. This mans mother is my mothers mother-in-law. The man is confused but doesnt say anything. When he gets back home he tells his wife about the conversation and she cant figure it out either. They decide to ask their lawyer and he eventually works it out with pen and paper. How are the couple related?
Hint:
The couple is either a man and his daughter or an uncle and his niece. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Two Companions Riddle
Garry Knows that his friend is lying? How ?
Hint:
3 Envelops Riddle
You are sitting in front of your interviewer. He gives you three envelopes. One of them contains an offer letter and the other two are empty. You pick up one of them. Now, the interviewer opens up one of the envelope lying on the table and you find out that it is blank.
Now, he gives you a chance to switch your envelope with the one on the table. Would you switch it? Why or why not?
Now, he gives you a chance to switch your envelope with the one on the table. Would you switch it? Why or why not?
Hint:
Yes, you should switch the envelope. In the beginning when you picked up the envelope, you had a 1/3 probability of finding an offer letter in the envelope. There was 2/3 chance that the letter was there in the two envelopes on the table.
If you keep your selected envelope, you still have a 1/3 chance of finding an offer letter in that. However, since the interviewer has removed one empty envelope from the table, if you switch, you have a probability of 2/3 that the offer letter is inside that. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
If you keep your selected envelope, you still have a 1/3 chance of finding an offer letter in that. However, since the interviewer has removed one empty envelope from the table, if you switch, you have a probability of 2/3 that the offer letter is inside that. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Husband, Wife And Mailman Riddle
A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labor pain to the baby's father. He was asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it.
The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. However, as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and kick it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point, they decided to try out for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well.
Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer all the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic. When they got home, the mailman was dead on the porch. What happened?
The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. However, as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and kick it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point, they decided to try out for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well.
Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer all the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic. When they got home, the mailman was dead on the porch. What happened?
Hint:
The machine transfers the pain to the baby's father. The wife cheated on her husband with the mailman and it was his baby. It never mentions that the husband is the baby's father. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Out The Abandoned Building Riddle
A homicide detective is called at a crime scene. A man is lying dead in front of an abandoned building. It is believed that the man jumped out of a window off the abandoned building and committed suicide.
The detective asks his team to collect evidence and he heads towards the building. He goes to the first floor and towards the room that is on the front side. Inside the room, he lights a cigarette, walks towards the window facing the dead body, opens the window and throws out the cigarette. He then goes to the second floor and repeats the same process.
He keeps doing the same thing till he is done with all the floors and then takes the lift to the ground floor. Upon reaching there, he informs the team that it is not a suicide but a murder.
How did he know that it was a not a suicide?
The detective asks his team to collect evidence and he heads towards the building. He goes to the first floor and towards the room that is on the front side. Inside the room, he lights a cigarette, walks towards the window facing the dead body, opens the window and throws out the cigarette. He then goes to the second floor and repeats the same process.
He keeps doing the same thing till he is done with all the floors and then takes the lift to the ground floor. Upon reaching there, he informs the team that it is not a suicide but a murder.
How did he know that it was a not a suicide?
Hint:
If the man had committed suicide, the window that he jumped from should have been left opened. But all the windows facing the dead body were closed. This means that someone closed the window after the man died. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
John's Three Daughters Riddle
John has three daughters who are all unmarried. The youngest always lies, the oldest always tells the truth, and the one in the middle either tells the truth or lies. A very rich young man comes to John's house and says he wishes to marry one of his daughters. Naturally he wants to marry the oldest or the youngest so he will always know if she is lying or telling the truth. John agrees but says he can only ask one of the girls a yes or no question to decide which one he marries. They all look the same age.
What one question does he ask one of the daughters at random to figure out which daughter is the youngest or oldest?
What one question does he ask one of the daughters at random to figure out which daughter is the youngest or oldest?
Hint:
"Is she older than her?"
Explanation: (He would ask one of the daughters if one of the other daughters is older than the last daughter). He always should pick the younger daughter based on what he knows. If he asks the older daughter and she says yes, then the youngest daughter will be known. If he asks the older daughter and she says no, then the youngest daughter is the other one. If he asks the youngest daughter and she says yes, she is lying and he will still pick the oldest. If he asks the youngest and she says no, he will just pick the other like in the first case. If he asks the middle daughter it doesn't matter because both will be acceptable choices. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Explanation: (He would ask one of the daughters if one of the other daughters is older than the last daughter). He always should pick the younger daughter based on what he knows. If he asks the older daughter and she says yes, then the youngest daughter will be known. If he asks the older daughter and she says no, then the youngest daughter is the other one. If he asks the youngest daughter and she says yes, she is lying and he will still pick the oldest. If he asks the youngest and she says no, he will just pick the other like in the first case. If he asks the middle daughter it doesn't matter because both will be acceptable choices. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The Card Trick Riddle
A couple had to take shelter in a hotel for they could not proceed their journey in the rain. Having nothing to do at all, they started playing cards. Suddenly there was a short circuit and the lights went off. The husband inverted the position of 15 cards in the deck (52 cards normal deck) and shuffled the deck.
Now he asked his wife to divide the deck into two different piles which may not be equal but both of them should have equal number of cards facing up. There was no source of light in the room and the wife was unable to see the cards.
For a certain amount of time, she thought and then divided the cards in two piles. To the husbands astonishment, both of the piles had equal number of cards facing up.
How did she do it?
Now he asked his wife to divide the deck into two different piles which may not be equal but both of them should have equal number of cards facing up. There was no source of light in the room and the wife was unable to see the cards.
For a certain amount of time, she thought and then divided the cards in two piles. To the husbands astonishment, both of the piles had equal number of cards facing up.
How did she do it?
Hint:
The answer is very simple. All she had to do is take the fifteen cards from the top and reverse them. This would make another pile out of that and there will be two piles - one of 15 cards and one of 37 cards. Also both of them will have the same number of inverted cards.
Just think about it and if the mathematical explanation will help you understand better, here it is.
Assume that there were p inverted cards initially in the top 15 cards. Then the remaining 37 cards will hold 15-p inverted cards.
Now when she reverses the 15 cards on the top, the number of inverted cards will become 15-p and thus the number of inverted cards in both of the piles will become same. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
Just think about it and if the mathematical explanation will help you understand better, here it is.
Assume that there were p inverted cards initially in the top 15 cards. Then the remaining 37 cards will hold 15-p inverted cards.
Now when she reverses the 15 cards on the top, the number of inverted cards will become 15-p and thus the number of inverted cards in both of the piles will become same. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The Multistory Building Suicide Riddle
A homicide detective is called upon a crime scene. He finds that a body is lying on the ground in front of a multistory building. By all the means, it looks like a simple suicide case. But there are doubts in his mind.
He goes to the first floor and moves into the room facing the direction of the body. He opens the window in that direction and looks down towards his team. The he goes to the second floor and again moves into the room facing that direction, opens the window and looks down at his team.
He continues with the same process till the top floor. After that, he returns back to where his team is standing. He tells them that it is a suicide.
How did he come to such a conclusion?
He goes to the first floor and moves into the room facing the direction of the body. He opens the window in that direction and looks down towards his team. The he goes to the second floor and again moves into the room facing that direction, opens the window and looks down at his team.
He continues with the same process till the top floor. After that, he returns back to where his team is standing. He tells them that it is a suicide.
How did he come to such a conclusion?
Hint:
At every floor, the detective had to open the window himself. If the man had committed suicide, then at least one of the windows must have been open. A person who is committing suicide wont close the window behind him. Thus he knows that someone pushed him off the edge and closed the window afterwards. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Peter's Proposal Riddle
A couple - Peter Parker and Mary Jane are madly in love with each other, but they live miles apart. Peter wants to send a gold ring to Mary to celebrate their first anniversary together but in a country where people steal anything unlocked, he can't send it to her without locking it inside a box.
Now, Peter and Mary have a lot of padlocks with them, but they don't have the key to the padlock for one another's.
How will Peter send the ring now?
Now, Peter and Mary have a lot of padlocks with them, but they don't have the key to the padlock for one another's.
How will Peter send the ring now?
Hint:
Peter will have to use a lock box that can hold two locks. He will put the ring in a box and will mail it to Mary. Upon receiving the box, Mary will put her own lock box inside and will send back to Peter. Peter can then-then take off his lock and send it off to Mary again. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
The Death Of Jack And Judy
Jack and Judy were lying on the floor dead. There was a puddle of water and broken glass on the floor. How did they die?
Hint:
Jack and Judy were goldfish. They died because their bowl broke Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
The Table Tennis Ball
Hint:
Pour some water into the pipe so that the ball swims up on the surface. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Baseball Heat Riddle
Hint:
Jealousy Wants Me Killed Riddle
Seven tiny people found me
Lying in their bed
Jealousy wants to have me killed
For my beauty she so dreads
The bite of an apple sent me to slumber
An evil trick gone amiss
Awaken from an endless sleep
By a charming Prince and a simple kiss
Who am I?
Lying in their bed
Jealousy wants to have me killed
For my beauty she so dreads
The bite of an apple sent me to slumber
An evil trick gone amiss
Awaken from an endless sleep
By a charming Prince and a simple kiss
Who am I?
Hint:
Dead Man In The Desert Riddle
Hint:
Answer: The man jumped out of a plane over a desert, but his parachute failed to open. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
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