The Bus Stop Riddle
An empty bus pulls up at a stop and 5 people get on. At the next stop 5 people get off and twice as many people get on as at the first stop. At the third stop 10 people get off.
How many people are on the bus at this point?
How many people are on the bus at this point?
Hint:
Ne, the bus driver.
On the 1st stop, 5 people get on. On the 2nd stop, 5 people get off and 10 (twice as many as at 1st stop) people get on. On the 3rd stop, 10 people get off. So there are (5 5 + 10 10) 0 passengers left, which leaves the bus driver as the only person on board the bus. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
On the 1st stop, 5 people get on. On the 2nd stop, 5 people get off and 10 (twice as many as at 1st stop) people get on. On the 3rd stop, 10 people get off. So there are (5 5 + 10 10) 0 passengers left, which leaves the bus driver as the only person on board the bus. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
From Block To Block Riddle
I carry lots of people.
I pick them up and drop them off.
I might travel from city to city.
I might only go from block to block.
I am a...
I pick them up and drop them off.
I might travel from city to city.
I might only go from block to block.
I am a...
Hint:
One Big Family Riddle
Four people are sitting around a campfire after a long day of recreation, when one man comments: "Do you realize that around this campfire, the four of us include a mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle and a couple cousins"?. If everyone is related by blood (with no unusual marriages) how is this possible?
Hint:
The campfire circle includes a woman and her brother. The woman's daughter and the man's son are also present. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
The Spanish Goat Riddle
Hint:
The Beginning Of The End
I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?
Hint:
Bumble Bee Forward Riddle
Hint:
A Golden Treasure Within
Hint:
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
A Rickety Bridge Riddle
Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. Unfortunately, they have only one torch and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without one. The bridge is only strong enough to support two people at a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person: 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the bridge?
Hint:
17 mins.
The initial solution most people will think of is to use the fastest person as an usher to guide everyone across. How long would that take? 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins. Is that it? No. That would make this question too simple even as a warm up question.
Let's brainstorm a little further. To reduce the amount of time, we should find a way for 10 and 7 to go together. If they cross together, then we need one of them to come back to get the others. That would not be ideal. How do we get around that? Maybe we can have 1 waiting on the other side to bring the torch back. Ahaa, we are getting closer. The fastest way to get 1 across and be back is to use 2 to usher 1 across. So let's put all this together.
1 and 2 go cross
2 comes back
7 and 10 go across
1 comes back
1 and 2 go across (done)
Total time = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The initial solution most people will think of is to use the fastest person as an usher to guide everyone across. How long would that take? 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins. Is that it? No. That would make this question too simple even as a warm up question.
Let's brainstorm a little further. To reduce the amount of time, we should find a way for 10 and 7 to go together. If they cross together, then we need one of them to come back to get the others. That would not be ideal. How do we get around that? Maybe we can have 1 waiting on the other side to bring the torch back. Ahaa, we are getting closer. The fastest way to get 1 across and be back is to use 2 to usher 1 across. So let's put all this together.
1 and 2 go cross
2 comes back
7 and 10 go across
1 comes back
1 and 2 go across (done)
Total time = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The 2 Barbershops
There is a small town on the East Coast that has 2 barbershops each with a single barber, and on opposite sides of town. The barbershop in the good part of town is immaculate. The floors and windows are washed and the air is fresh. The barber is very friendly, always smiling, he has shined shoes, a nice head of hair, and a clean dress shirt. The barbershop in the bad part of town is a mess. The entire barbershop is covered with a layer of dirt, and the air smells of trash. The barber always has a frown on his face. His skin is oily, his hair is ragged, and there are always stains visible on his shirt.
A man comes into town and hears of both barbershops and the man decides to go to the dirty barbershop in the bad part of town. Why does he do this?
A man comes into town and hears of both barbershops and the man decides to go to the dirty barbershop in the bad part of town. Why does he do this?
Hint:
The clean-cut barber must have his hair cut by the dirty barber and the dirty barber by the clean-cut barber. So its obvious that the dirty barber gives a better haircut. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
Panning Gold Riddle
Before dying, a father left a will to his two sons telling of a gold-panning stream that had supported his father's family long and hard. The will said that the two sons could make one, only one trip to the stream to pan for gold, but for as long as they wanted, and that whoever carried the gold back got it. On their way to the stream, the two sons lost a big fraction of their supplies, reducing their stay to two months. All they had now were some food, a mule, and panning supplies. During their stay, they managed to pan and smelt a gold bar 5 inches in diameter and 5 inches in height. Back in their hometown, the two sons disputed long and hard in court over who should get the gold bar. Now, the judge was a wise one. Who did he say got the gold bar?
Hint:
The mule. A gold bar 5 inches in diameter and 5 inches in height would have weighed far too much for either of the sons to carry, only the mule could have. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
A Large Box Of Money Riddle
I have a large money box, 48 centemeters square and 42 centemeters tall. Roughly how many coins can I place in my empty money box?
Hint:
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
Crossing The Bridge Riddle
There are two villages separated with a river. Each day, four people cross the river through a bridge to work on the other side and earn for their families. On one night when they were returning from work, they noticed that the bridge was about to collapse. Now all of them wanted to cross the bridge before it collapsed as no one wanted to be stuck on that end without their families.
They had just one torch with them and since it was the night time, they could not see without it. The bridge had become weak and it could only accommodate two people at a time. It was going to collapse in just 17 minutes.
The four people took different times to cross the bridge. First one took only a minute, second one took 2 minutes, third one took 5 minutes and the last one took 10 minutes.
How would all of them have managed to cross the bridge in time?
They had just one torch with them and since it was the night time, they could not see without it. The bridge had become weak and it could only accommodate two people at a time. It was going to collapse in just 17 minutes.
The four people took different times to cross the bridge. First one took only a minute, second one took 2 minutes, third one took 5 minutes and the last one took 10 minutes.
How would all of them have managed to cross the bridge in time?
Hint:
Let us denote the four people with A, B, C and D.
A takes 1 minute to cross, B takes 2, C takes 5 and D takes 10.
A and B cross first spending 2 minutes.
A comes back with torch taking 1 minute.
C and D cross taking 10 minutes.
B comes back with torch taking 2 minutes.
Finally, A and B cross the bridge taking 2 minutes.
2 + 1 + 10 + 2 + 2 = 17 minutes
Thus, this is the way they all managed to cross that bridge that night. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
A takes 1 minute to cross, B takes 2, C takes 5 and D takes 10.
A and B cross first spending 2 minutes.
A comes back with torch taking 1 minute.
C and D cross taking 10 minutes.
B comes back with torch taking 2 minutes.
Finally, A and B cross the bridge taking 2 minutes.
2 + 1 + 10 + 2 + 2 = 17 minutes
Thus, this is the way they all managed to cross that bridge that night. Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
The Burning Island
You are in the center of on an island that is a kilometer long and half a kilometer wide. The vegetation is very dry from a long drought. Suddenly it catches fire at one end of the island, and a strong wind is blowing it towards you, burning the whole width of the island. There's no beach, only steep cliffs, and the sea is full of sharks. What can you do?
Hint:
Set fire to the other half of the island then walk behind the fire on to the burnt ground Did you answer this riddle correctly?
YES NO
YES NO
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