newsgroups: braincell.

hot
received: from mailqueue by vayu (mercury 1.21); 11 mar 100 17:28:24 ist+530
return-path: <greatarchives@mailcity.com>
received: from rockfort.rect.ernet.in by rect.ernet.in (mercury 1.21);
11 mar 100 17:28:21 ist+530
received: (from uucp@localhost) by rockfort.rect.ernet.in
(8.6.12/8.6.9.rockfort.1) id xaa28758 for <braincell.hot%nb@rect.ernet.in>; fri,
10 mar 2000 23:34:25 +0530
received: from yali.rect.ernet.in(202.141.36.70) by rockfort.rect.ernet.in via
smap (v1.3)
id sma028756; fri mar 10 23:34:04 2000
received: from mail-relay-blr.ernet.in (mail-relay-blr.ernet.in [202.141.1.18]) by
yali.rect.ernet.in (8.6.10/8.6.9.yali.1) with esmtp id gaa23389 for
<braincell.hot%nb@rect.ernet.in>; sun, 2 apr 2000 06:30:22 +0530
received: from mailcity.com (fes-qout.whowhere.com [209.1.236.7])
by mail-relay-blr.ernet.in (8.9.0/8.9.0) with smtp id raa28215
for <braincell.hot%nb@rect.ernet.in>; fri, 10 mar 2000 17:53:23 +0530
(gmt+0530)
received: from unknown/local ([?.?.?.?]) by mailcity.com; fri mar 10 03:54:38 2000
to: braincell.hot%nb@rect.ernet.in
date: fri, 10 mar 2000 17:24:38 +0530
from: "king 1222r cobra" <greatarchives@mailcity.com>
message-id: <inkpnineddlobaaa@mailcity.com>
mime-version: 1.0
x-sent-mail: off
reply-to: greatarchives@mailcity.com
x-mailer: mailcity service
subject: puzzles
x-sender-ip: 202.54.66.101
organization: mailcity (http://www.mailcity.lycos.com:80)
content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
content-language: en
content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

brain teaser of the week archive 1998

1998 past teaser of the weeks, answers, and winners

for past 1999 teasers archive 2

week of december 24th 1998

a company gets 16 cans of paint each month. the problem is that one of
the 16
cans is always contaminated with lead. fortunately, the company has
the
capacity to test for lead. however, due to time and money
constraints, the
results of the tests cannot be made known until after all of the
tests have
been performed. what is the fewest number of cans that must be
tested in
order to know for certain which of the 16 cans is contaminated.

answer:
 one solution is 1. if one can is tested and it is the bad one then
there is
only one test needed. however, as to a process, it can be done in a
maximum
of 4 tests by mixing samples from half of the cans and then
testing that
mixture. if positive, the other half of the cans are dismissed
and if
negative that set of cans is dismissed. repeat three times for
the
remaining cans.

winners:

arcadefun@aol.com

james.scruton@cwix.com

themistocles chronis

second chance winner: jay grubber, fl

week of december 17th 1998

s e n d
+ m o r e
_____________

= m o n e y

"m" is equal to the number "1" that is a gimme. what is the

substitute numbers for the rest of the letters.
e's, n's, m's, and o's are the same throughout the problem.

answer:

solution :
s e n d 9 5 6 7
+ m o r e +1 0 8 5
_____________ _______________

= m o n e y 1 0 6 5 2

"m" is equal to the number "1" that is a gimme. what is the

substitute numbers for the rest of the letters.
e's, n's, m's, and o's are the same throughout the problem.

solution :
s e n d - 9 5 6 7
 m o r e - 1 0 8 5
m o n e y - 1 0 6 5 2

winners:

jeeshan hafeez, orlando

jason fernandez, ny

ponytail77@aol.com

second chance winner: jason wilmer

week of december 11th 1998

steve was picked up by the police in a shop as he was about to pay for
his purchase with a hundred dollar note. 3 thousand dollars was found
on
him, all in $100 notes. he was indicted in connection with the banknotes
and for no other crime.

although it was found that the bills were genuine, not counterfeit, and
that steve could also prove that the money was not stolen or obtained
illegally in any way, he received a 2 year suspended jail term. why?

clue 1: a teller was not likely to accept the $100 notes.

clue 2: steve would have made a profit if he could have used the notes.

answer:

he had cut the bills into very thin strips, and had glued them back together,
leaving a strip out of each
one, thereby having several strips left over, which hr also glued to gether to
make new bills. i.e., he
started with perhaps two thousand dollars, cut the bills, and turned it into
three thousand dolars

winners:

brian geraldo, miami florida

gilbirdd@aol.com

mskeoch@hotmail.com

second chance winner: joe of idaho

week of december 2nd 1998

there is a small block of land surrounded by a moat (water,

like a
castle).
the moat is five metres wide.
if a person has a four metre ladder, and a three metre ladder,
how do
they cross the moat. (the land in the middle is square).

to draw, make two squares, one outside the other, and the
distance
between respective edges is five metres. in between the squares
there
is water, which must be crossed using only a 4 and 3 metre ladder
(can
use both)
ladders cannot be joined end to end, and do no float.
the person cannot swim across.

answer:

by placing one of the ladders diagonally across the corner of the

moat
and then place the other one from that ladder to the center.

winners:

jason diaz, ma, second week in a row!

iain southwell, big w discount stores (dont ask me)

grimkleth@aol.com

second chance: jerry sanders, pa

week of november 25th 1998

there are 3 very wise men, and they are arguing who is the wisest.
they
decide to go to the king (who is a very wise man himeslf), to
solve this
dilemma.
the king decides on a test for who would be the wisest. he says to
the
3 men "i will blindfold all 3 of you, and either rub a smudge
mark of
coal on your forehead, or just rub my thumb on your forehead, so
you do
not know what you have. you will face each other and i will then
take
off the blindfold, if you see at least one smudge mark raise your
hand.
whoever can tell me whether they have a smudge or not first, and
explain
how, lower your hand."
as it turns out, the king rubbed a smudge mark on each of the 3
 wise men, and all had their hands raised. without mirrors,
without
being able to talk to each other, and without being able to touch
their
foreheads, one of the wise men after about five minutes lowered his
hand
and gave the correct answer. how did he do this?

answer:

since all three men had smudges they each saw two men with
smudges.
there are two scenarios for a... because he sees two smudges.. either he has a
smudge too or he doesn't.
pretty simple.
now if he didn't have a smudge b would see c's smudge but not see a's. so c
would know that b was
raising his hand because of his (c's) smudge. and then c would know that he
had a smudge.
this above case could happen to either b or c.
however, since neither b or c answered the king for five minutes... by then a
realized that he must also
have a smudge...

winners:

jason diaz, ma

dan kang urbana il

army1@worldnet.att.net

second chance: "brainmaster" of kansas

week of november 18rth 1998

a man goes into a fancy restaurant on the top floor of a high

rise. he
orders the albatross soup. after he takes one bite, he jumps out
the
window and kills himself.

why?

answer:

the man, the man's wife, and one other guy survived a ship wreck.
the
three people were marooned on a desert island for a long time.
they
survived on the bits of food they could find. one day the other
guy says
he will make dinner for everybody. the man comes to dinner, but he
could
 not find his wife. the man enjoyed the dinner so much he asked the
other
guy what it was. the other guy said it was albatross. eventually
the
two men are rescued and the man was very sad that he never found his
wife.

when the man gets back to civilization, he goes into a restaurant

and
orders albatross. when he tastes the food the waiter brings he
realizes
that he has never eaten albatross in his life. at that moment he
knows
that he ate his wife on the desert island. then he jumps out the
window
and kills himself.

winners:

jeff g., tampa fl

david cheng, philadelphia, pa

we have lost the 3rd place winner, if you got an e-mail saying you got third
please e-mail me as soon as
possible

second chance: gilbert, idaho

week of november 11rth 1998

what can you put into a barrel that:

1.) weighs nothing

2.) will make the barrel lighter.

3.) can be seen when the top is closed

answer not air

answer:

a hole

winners:

denard shaw, augusta maine

mac@conwaycorp.net
 chad davis, st. ignace, michigan

week of november 4rth 1998

i have one for you...

if atlantic is 80, then what is pacific?
a: 160
b: 47
c: 243
d: 300

answer:

just add up the numbers corresponding to the letter's position in the

alphabet, ie a=1 b=2 c=3...

winners:

denise tai, tampa fl

r. jaddi, seattle, washington

kjspdsm of newark, ca

week of october 27st 1998

a strange looking man walks into a spooky bar asks the ghostly bartender for a
glass of water. the
bartender pulls out a rifle with a power shot adapter. the man thanks the
bartender and walks out calmy
and happier.
why?

answer:

the man had the hiccups, the bartender scared him with gun and they
were gone!

winners:

geoff baker, ohio

adrian of oakville, ontario

jim, st. louis

 week of october 14st 1998

how many rectangles are on this 8 by 8 checkerboard if the squares

count
as rectangles.

answer:

the total number of all rectangles on the 8x8 board equals to the
number of
all rectangles including left top corner box plus number of all
rectangles
including boxes from the top row plus number of rectangles including
boxes
in the leftmost column plus the total number of rectangles on the
board
excluding leftmost column and top row (which is actually 7x7
board ). it's
clear that the number of all possible rectangles including left
top corner
box is 8x8. similarly, the number of rectangles including 2nd from
the left
box on the top row is 7*8, and so on...
let's write a recursive expression to calculate the total
amount of
rectangles on the n by n board.
let r(nxn) be the number of rectangles on the nxn board, then

r(nxn) = n*n + 2 sum (n*m) [where m=1 to (n-1)] + r(n-1 x n-1)

r(1x1) = 1

we need to calculate r(8x8).

r(8x8) = 8*8+2*sum(8*m)_[where m=1 to 7] + r(7x7)

after calculation from the bottom up, we get:

r(2x2) = 9
r(3x3) = 36
r(4x4) = 100
.................
and so on
r(8x8) = 1296

winners:

winners list lost

week of october 7st 1998

eg: 16=o. in a p ounces in a pound

1001=a.n
 9=p. in the s.s

200=d. for p.g in m.

11=p. on a f.t

64= s. on a c.b
there is and man that was found dead on the ground with a straw
crushed
up in his hand. why?

answer:

1001 arabian nights

9 planets in the solar system
200 dollars for passing go in monopoly
11 players on a football team
64 squares on a checker board

winners:

raj raturi, tampa, fl

dean marshall, kentfield, ca

eric, from new hampshire.

week of october 1st 1998

there is and man that was found dead on the ground with a straw
crushed
up in his hand. why?

answer:

while the man could have died in a variety of ways, why he died is because he
sacrificed himself after
pulling the short straw. (the straw in his hand.)

i.e. if he and a friend were in a hot-air balloon that was descending rapidly,
even after all the sandbags
had been dropped, the two of them would then have drawn straws to see who would
jump, and he drew
the short straw.

winners:

sahara of india

randy furuyama, sylmar, california

mark heike, sequim, wa

 week of august 21rst

john and maryann are found dead in the house on the floor. the only
two clues
needed to solve how they died were broken glass and a puddle of
water. how
did john and maryann die??????????

answer:

they were fish

winners list does not exist

week of august 7th

orange during the day

pink when the sun goes down
could be used as a form of pay
two in every town

answer:

sun's raise? (very questionable answer)

winners list does not exist

week of august 1rst

a man carrying a 2-liter bottle of soda is stopped by a policeman

and a
grocery store clerk in front of his house and is accused,
according to
the store clerk, of stealing the bottle of soda and running out
of the
store all the way to his home. the man said he had just bought it
from
the convenience store across the street from his house and he had
simply
walked home. the policeman asked the man to open the bottle and
quickly
deduced that the man stole the bottle from the grocery store.
how?

answer:
 the soda exploded and he knew who to arrest

winners list does not exist

week of july 7st 1998

a man lives in his house. he also works out of his house and his job is very
important. everyday the man
must sleep with the lights on to avert from tradgedy. one night the man gets so
sick of the light he turns it
out for the night. the next moring he reads the newspaper, takes out a gun,
and shoots himself.

where did the man live?

answer:

a light house

winners:

"brain masta"

boudro@geocities.com

jon

week of july 1st 1998

1. if you break me, i'll stop working. if you can touch

me, my work is done. if you lose me, you must find me with a ring
soon
after. what am i? 2. this is as light as a feather, yet no man
can hold
it for long. 3. feed me and i live, yet give me to drink and i
die. 4.
we are very little creatures; all of us have different features.
one of
us in glass is set; one of us you'll find in a jet. another you
may see
in tin, and a fourth boxed within. if the fifth you should
persue, it
can never fly from you. what are we?

answer:

1. an alarm clock
2. your breath
3. thirst
4. vowels: 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', and 'u'
 winners:

chong of vietnam

al ko michigan

rob legood

week of june 24th 1998

you have two ropes. each takes exactly 60 minutes to burn. they
are

made of different material so even though they take the same

amount of

time to burn, they burn at separate rates. in addition, each rope

burns

inconsistently. how do you measure out exactly 45 minutes?

answer:

take one rope and burn it at both ends. at the same time, burn one
end
of the other rope. when the first rope finishes burning, light
the
other end of the remaining rope. when it burns out, that's 45
minutes

winners:

agnlo of jamaca

chris furlong st. pete. fl

bob lyon

week of june 17th 1998

i dig out tiny caves, and store gold and sliver in them. i also build bridges to
sliver and make crowns of
gold. they are the smallest you could imagine. sooner or later everybody needs my
help yet many people
are afraid to let me help them.

who am i?

answer:

a dentist
 winners:

eddie pinto of ny

terenda millican of oklahoma

jennifer worden of ca

week of june 10th 1998

if a hen and a half

lays an egg and a half

in a day in a half

how many eggs can a hen lay in three days.

answer:

to understand this, you must disregard the half hen. it still

takes the
single hen a day and a half to lay an egg. 3 days divided by 1
1/2
days=2 eggs.

another way to think of this is that everything is on a one to

one
ratio. 1.5hens times 1.5 days=1.5 eggs. so multiplying the # of
eggs 1
hen produces in a day and a half by 2 which is twice the time.
the
answer is 2 eggs.

winners:

phil lee of tampa fl

jbush@star042210.galstar.com

cfisher@aba.com

mailcity. secure email anywhere, anytime!

http://www.mailcity.com