PROBLEM SOLVING EXERCISES

1. On the way home from school, Dora likes to eat cookies. One day, just as she was reaching into
her backpack, Swiper jumped into her path and grabbed her bag. It stole half of her cookies plus
two more. A bit shaken, Dora continued home. Before she had a chance to eat even a piece of
cookie, Swiper jumped into her path again, and stole half of her cookies plus two more. Upset,
she continued on. But before she had a chance to eat even a piece of cookie, Swiper jumped out
and did the very same thing – took half her cookies plus two more. Now there were only two
pieces of cookies left in Dora's backpack. She was so despairing; she sat down and began to sob.
Then Swiper reappeared, feeling some sense of remorse, and told her it would return all her
cookies to her if she told them how many she had altogether when she started. How many pieces
of cookies had been in Dora's backpack?

2. Maria went to her grandfather’s farm. Her grandfather has chickens and goats on his farm. She
asked him how many chickens and how many goats. He told her that his animals had 26 heads
and 68 legs and from that information she could calculate the number of chickens and the number
of goats. If you were Maria, how would you solve the problem?

3. After visiting her grandfather’s farm, Maria also stopped at her Uncle Jose’s farm. Uncle Jose has
only ducks and cows. He can’t remember how many of each he has, but he doesn’t need to
remember because he knows he has 22 animals and that 22 is also his age. He also knows that the
animals have a total of 56 legs, because 56 is also his father’s age. Assuming that each animal has
all legs intact and no more, how many of each animal does Uncle Jose have?

4. Pat works in the city and lives in the suburbs with Sal. Every afternoon, Pat gets on a train that
arrives at the suburban station at exactly 5 PM. Sal leaves the house before 5 and drives at a
constant speed so as to arrive at the train station at exactly 5 PM to pick up Pat. The route that Sal
drives never changes. One day, this routine is interrupted, because there is a power failure at
work. Pat gets to leave early, and catches a train which arrives at the suburban station at 4PM.
Instead of phoning Sal to ask for an earlier pickup, Pat decides to get a little exercise, and begins
walking home along the route that Sal drives, knowing that eventually Sal will intercept Pat, and
then will make a U-turn, and they will head home together in the car. This is indeed what
happens, and Pat ends up arriving at home 10 minutes earlier than on a normal day. Assuming
that Pats walking speed is constant, that the U-turn takes no time, and that Sal's driving speed is
constant, for how many minutes did Pat walk?

5. Paul went to the car dealer to buy a car. He wanted the same car that his friend Barbara had
bought the day before, which had a sticker price of Php750, 000. The salesman said he could give
a discount and ordered Paul a significantly reduced price. But Paul knew that Barbara had
received a 30% discount, and the salesman was offering him only a 20% discount. When he
pointed out that his friend had received a 30% discount the day before, the salesman took another
10% of the 20% discounted price. Paul was satisfied with the new price and bought the car,
thinking he had paid the same price as Barbara. Was he right? Did they both pay the same price?

6. Your house is 2 km due north of a stream that runs east-west. Your grandmother's house is
located 12 km west and one km north of your house. Every day, you go from your house to
 Grandma's, but first visit the stream (to get fresh water for Grandma). What is the length of the
route with minimum distance?

7. In the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” a person receives a set of gifts each day for 12
days. On the first day, she received one gift – a partridge in a pear tree. On the second day, she
receives two turtle doves and another partridge in a pear tree – a total of three new gifts. On the
third day, she receives a new gift (three French hens) plus the gifts given on the second day, for a
total of six new gifts. This continues for 12 days. How many gifts does she receive on the 12th
day?

8. A gardener is asked to plant ten trees in five rows, with each row containing four trees. How did
he do this?

9. Three sailors were marooned on a deserted island that was also inhabited by a band of monkeys.
The sailors worked all day to collect coconuts but were too tired that night to count them. They
agreed to divide them equally the next morning. During the night, one sailor woke up and decided
to get his share. He found that he could make three equal piles, with one coconut left over, which
he threw to the monkeys. Thereupon, he had his own share and left the remainder in a single pile.
Later that night, the second sailor awoke and, likewise, decided to get his share of coconuts. He
also was able to make three equal piles, with one coconut left over, which he threw to the
monkeys. Somewhat later, the third sailor awoke and did exactly the same thing with the
remaining coconuts. In the morning, all three sailors noticed that the pile was considerably
smaller, but each thought that he knew why and said nothing. When they then divided the
remaining coconuts equally, each sailor received seven and one was left over, which they threw
to the monkeys. How many coconuts were in the original pile?

10. Teddy, Arman and Ryan collect Naruto stickers. They exchange stickers among themselves
according to the following scheme: Teddy gives Arman as many stickers as Arman has and Ryan
as many as Ryan has. After that, Arman gives Teddy and Ryan as many stamps as of them has,
and then Ryan gives Arman and Teddy as many stickers as each has. If each finally has 64
stickers, with how may stickers does Teddy start?

11. A baseball team won two out of their last four games. In how many different orders could they
have two wins and two losses in four games?

12. What is the remainder when

6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6 ∙ 6
is divided by 5?

13. Two workers can make two chairs in two days. How many chairs can 8 workers working at the
same rate make in 20 days?

14. You have two hourglasses: a 4-minute glass and a 7-minute glass. You want to measure 9
minutes. How will you do it?

15. What is the greatest value of the expression

ab + bc + cd + ad
 if a, b, c, and d have values 1, 2, 3, and 4, but not necessarily in that order?

16. This is known as the "Die Hard Problem" because it appears in the film Die Hard with a
Vengeance. But in fact, this and other similar problems are very old and have been the subject of
much study, particularly by computer scientists who have developed various strategies for solving
all water-jug problems. In the film, the characters played by Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson
must disarm a bomb by placing exactly four gallons of water on a scale. They have water since
they are at a fountain, but they have only two jugs, one of which holds five gallons and the other
three gallons. Can you solve the problem, and how quickly can you do it?