25 selected Brain

Teasers
Compiled by SRG
Oct 2008

Dots and balls

1. Connect nine
dots using 4
straight lines
without lifting the
pencil
.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

2. A factory has 10
machines producing
iron balls. All machines
produce balls which are
identical in appearance
but one produces balls
weighing 99 gms
instead of 100 gms
which is the standard.
Identify the defective
machine with one
weighing

3-6
3.
Identify the first
letter of this 4 letter
word_ E N Y

5.

Cryptogram (no leading zeroes)

MICO +
PLUG =
_______
GOOD

4.
Find the next item in
the series:
OTTFFSS
6. Six glasses in a row first three full and last
three empty. Moving
only one glass make the
1st, 3rd and 5th full and
2, 4 and 6 empty.

7-8
7
With 6 matchsticks
construct 4
equilateral
triangles, each with
its side equal to the
length of the
matchstick

8.
Cut a 16X9 carpet
into 2 pieces so
that the 2 pieces
exactly fit the floor
of a 12X12 room

9. Liars
I am not over 40 says Lata.
Nonsense - you are at least 5 years
older than me says Vandana, and I
am thirty eight
Ha ha You are at least 39 says Lata
All the above statements are untrue
What are their ages?

10. Balls again

Out of 12 balls that have an identical
appearance, 11 have the same weight.
However one is either lighter or heavier
than the rest. With three weighings using
a common balance (no weights) identify
the odd one and also whether it is lighter
or heavier:
Variation - use pre-determined weighings

11-14 Eggs to Gold

11.You have six eggs in
a basket. How do you
distribute them to six
people so that one egg
remains in the basket?

12.In a perfect sphere of

cheese a hole of uniform
diameter is drilled thru
the centre. What is the
quantity of cheese
remaining?

13. Using 4 weights you

have to measure any
weight from 1 to 40.
what weights will you
choose?

14. Man weighing 90

Kgs has to take 3 gold
balls of 5 Kgs in a boat
that can take only 100
Kg. How?

15. The smartest one

Three candidates are being interviewed for a
job and have done equally well so far. For
the final test, the employer shows a basket
with 3 black and one white hat. He blindfolds
the candidates and places a hat on each ones
head so that each can see only the hats on
the others heads. Job goes to the first
candidate to rightly identify the color of the
hat in the basket. All is quite for a while,
then one candidate gives the right answer
What was the color of the hat in the basket?

16. Racing King

A king was very fond of sponsoring horse
races. One day, he sponsored a race where
the owner of the last (slowest) horse got the
prize for the first place, the owner of the
horse that came second from last got the
second place and so on. This scheme was
publicly announced before the race so that
racegoers, the horseowners and the jockeys
all knew of this. How does the king ensure
that the horses run their fastest, even though
the fastest horses dont get any prizes.

17. Pilgrim
A pilgrim is confronted by 2 gates, each of
which is guarded by a sentry. One dorr leads
to heaven and the other to hell. One sentry
always speaks the truth and the other always
lies. The sentries only answer questions with
Yes or No and frequently change the doors
that they are guarding. The pilgrims does not
know which sentry lies and who is truthful.
What is the one question that he can ask to
either of the sentries that will get him to
heaven?

18.Color of the bear

A naturalist starts at point A, walks 1
km south, then 1 km west, where he
spots a bear, then goes 1 km north
and ends up in point A. What color
was the bear?

19.Violinist
A census enumerator visits the math profs
house and asks him how many kids he has
and their ages. I have three daughters ,
says the prof, the product of whose ages
is 36 and the sum is the same as our
house number. The census taker thinks
for a while and then says - I need one
more clue.. My eldest daughter plays the
violin says the professor.
What are the ages of the children?

20. Salesman
The travelling salesman runs out of funds and
wires HQ for funds. Knowing, however, that the
money may take up to 7 days to reach, he
approaches the owner of the inn where he is
staying and offers to pay using his gold chain
which has seven links at 1 link per day. The innkeeper agrees, but on condition that he is paid in
advance. The salesman is willing to pay on a day
to day basis and not for all the 7 days in advance.
The owner insists that only one of the 7 links
can be cut. How does the salesman pay on a day
to basis. The chain looks like this at start.

21. Five chains

I have five chains of 3 links each.

I request a blacksmith to make one

long chain from them. He charges Re 1
for each cut and Re 1 for each weld.
What will be my minimum cost? It is
lower than Rs 12

22. Choice
The king asks the princess to choose
between
two
princes
Ravan
and
Duryodhan by making a declaration. If her
declaration is true she will marry Ravan
who is an evil but truthful man. If her
declaration is false, she will marry
Duryodhan who is a strong man but a liar.
The princess does not want to marry
either. How does she escape her fate?

23-24
23.
Cryptogram:
TWO +
THREE +
SEVEN=
______
TWELVE
(No leading Zeros)

24.
An emperor was born
in 36 BC and lived
for 100 years. How
old was he on his
birthday in 38AD?

25. Cyclists and Bee

Two cyclists are travelling towards
each other on a road. One is cycling
at 7 Kms per hour and the other at 5
Kms per hour. When they are 6 Kms
apart, a bee, flying at 8 Kms per
hour lands the nose of one cyclist
and flies back and forth between the
two cyclists till they meet. What is
the distance travelled by the bee?

Answers 1-25
1. Diagonal from top right to bottom left. Bottom left to top left, but go higher.
Connect middle top and right middle. Go further and turn left to connect
bottom right and bottom middle.
2. Take one from first machine, 2 from second machine and so on
3 DENY ;
4 One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight
5 3805+ 2746=6551 (many others possible)
6 Pour juice from second glass to fourth glass; 7 Pyramid
8 With 15 as vertical and 9 as horizontal, cut 3 feet horizontally at the 4 th foot from
top, then cut 4 ft down, then 3 feet right and so on.
9
37 and 41
10 1,2,3,4 Vs 5,6,7,8; then 1,2,9,5 Vs 4, 10, 11, 8; then 1, 7, 5, 10 vs 12, 11, 2 and
6. Other methods possible. Trick is to two or three weights from one scale to
other and analyse result
11 Sixth guy gets the basket too; 12. A sphere of 10 cms dia. - Hint assume hole
of 0 cms
13 1, 3, 9, 27; 14. Juggles
15 White. If anyone had seen the only white, he would have known that the one in
the basket is black. Since all kept quite, they all saw black, so the one in the
basket is white.
16 The shuffles the jockeys, so that they ride some other owners horse
17 If I were to ask the other guard to point the door to hell, would he point to this
door?
18 White. This can only happen in the pole, so polar bear.
19 4, 3, 3 and 6, 6, 1 are the only 2 possible combinations which add up to the
same number 13. So the answer is 4
20 Cut the third link to get 1, 2links and 4links. Pay 1 the first day. On second day,
pay 2 and get 1 back. And so on.
21 9;cut one of the 3 chains and use the link to attach other four
22 I will marry Duryodhan; 23 106+ 19722+82524 = 102352
24. 73 (no year zero). 25. 4. The bee flies for 30 mins