1.

Puzzle 2 | (Find the ages of daughters)

➢ Product of ages is 72
Below are all possibilities to get 72 from product of three different ages:
1 * 1 * 72 = 72 1 * 2 * 36 = 72 1 * 3 * 24 = 72 1 * 4 * 18 = 72 1 * 6 * 12 = 72
1 * 8 * 9 = 72 2 * 2 * 18 = 72 2 * 3 * 12 = 72 2 * 4 * 9 = 72 2 * 6 * 6 = 72
3 * 3 * 8 = 72 3 * 4 * 6 = 72
➢ Sum of the ages is given
1 + 1 + 72 = 74 1 + 2 + 36 = 39 1 + 3 + 24 = 28 1 + 4 + 18 = 23 1 + 6 + 12 = 19
1 + 8 + 9 = 18 2 + 2 + 18 = 22 2 + 3 + 12 = 17 2 + 4 + 9 = 15 2 + 6 + 6 = 14
3 + 3 + 8 = 14 3 + 4 + 6 = 13
All sums are unique except 14. So the age sum must have been 14, otherwise, Shyam
would have guessed the ages from hint 2 only.
So we have two possible combinations to get a sum of 14
2 + 6 + 6 = 14 3 + 3 + 8 = 14
➢ Alok has the oldest girl (not two!!). So the ages must be 3, 3 and 8.

2. Puzzle 6 | (Monty Hall problem)

Solution: There are two cases here :

1. Switching
2. Not switching
Case 1 :
If we know we are switching, we need to select a door which has a goat in order to win
the car. As we select a door having a goat, the host should only open the door that have
the another goat so the remaining door has a car which we get by switching.
So, probability of selecting a door which has a goat is 2/3 as 2 doors out of 3 have goats.
Therefore probability of winning a car by switching is 2/3.
Case 2 :
If we know we are not switching, we need to select a door which has a car in order to win
the car.
So probability of selecting a door which has a car is 1/3 as 1 door out of 3 has car.
Therefore probability of winning a car by not switching is 1/3.
As probability of winning a car by switching is higher than not switching. It is advantage to
switch.
3. Puzzle: There are 4 persons (A, B, C and D) who want to cross a
bridge in night.
1. A takes 1 minute to cross the bridge. B takes 2 minutes to cross the
bridge. C takes 5 minutes to cross the bridge. D takes 8 minutes to cross
the bridge.
There is only one torch with them and the bridge cannot be crossed without the
torch. There cannot be more than two persons on the bridge at any time, and
when two people cross the bridge together, they must move at the slower
person’s pace. Can they all cross the bridge in 15 minutes?
1. Step 1: A and B cross the bridge. A comes back. Time taken 3 minutes. Now B is
on the other side.
2. Step 2: C and D cross the bridge. B comes back. Time taken 8 + 2 = 10
minutes. Now C and D are on the other side.
 3. Step 3: A and B cross the bridge. Time taken is 2 minutes. All are on the
other side.
Total time spent: 3 + 10 + 2 = 15 minutes.

4. You have 4 bottles of milk. One of them is poisonous while the

other 3 are non-poisonous. There is a rat which dies exactly after
10 hours of drinking the poisoned bottle. You have a clock that
measures time only in hours. Suggest an optimal strategy to
identify the poisoned bottle within 24 hours.

Step 1: Label the bottles from 1 to 4.

Step 2: Divide the bottles into two groups, A and B, with two bottles in each group. Label
the groups as A and B.
Step 3: Take the rat and feed it with the milk from bottles 1 and 2.
Step 4: After 10 hours, observe the rat’s condition. If it dies, the poisoned bottle is either
bottle 1 or 2. If the rat is still alive, proceed to step 5.
Step 5: Take the rat and feed it with the milk from bottle 1 (if the rat is still alive) and
leave bottle 2 untouched. Step 6: After an additional 10 hours (a total of 20 hours since
the start), observe the rat’s condition. If it dies, then bottle 1 is the poisoned one. If the
rat is still alive, the poisoned bottle is bottle 3, as the rat has only consumed milk from
bottle 1 and it survived.

5. Puzzle: A car has 4 tyres and 1 spare tyre. Each tyre can
travel a maximum distance of 20000 miles before wearing
off. What is the maximum distance the car can travel
before you are forced to buy a new tyre? You are allowed
to change tyres (using the spare tyre) an unlimited
number of times.

Answer: 25000 kms

Solution: Divide the lifetime of the spare tyre into 4 equal part i.e., 5000 and
swap it at each completion of 5000 miles distance.

6. Puzzle | Splitting a Cake with a Missing Piece in two equal

portion.

By extending our observation and create a line such that it passes through
both the center of the cake as well as the center of the missing piece.
Such a line would divide the cake into two equal halves
7. Puzzle: Given two hourglass of 4 minutes and 7 minutes,
the task is to measure 9 minutes.

Solution:
1. At 0 minutes: Start both hourglasses at the same time.

2. At 4 minutes: 4 minutes hourglass runs out and flip it. 7 minutes

hourglass is left with 3 minutes.
3. At 7 minutes: 4 minutes hourglass is left with 1 minute. 7 minutes
hourglass runs out and flip it.

4. At 8 minutes: 4 minutes hourglass runs out and 7 is filled with 6 minutes

and 1 minute on the other side. Flip it as the sand is left with 1 minute.
 5. At 9 minutes: 7 minutes hourglass becomes empty from above side.

Hence we measured 9 minutes.

8. You have 15 Rs with you. You go to a shop and shopkeeper tells

you price as 1 Rs per chocolate. He also tells you that you can
get a chocolate in return of 3 wrappers. How many maximum
chocolates you can eat?
Answer: 22
Buy and eat 15 chocolates
Return 15 wrappers and get 5 more chocolates.
Return 3 wrappers, get 1 chocolate and eat it (keep 2 wrappers)
Now we have 3 wrappers. Return 3 and get 1 more chocolate.
So total chocolates = 15 + 5 + 1 + 1

9. Puzzle 26 | (Know Average Salary without Disclosing

Individual Salaries)

Answer:
1) X adds a Random Number and his salary and tells the sum to Y.
2) Y also adds a Random Number and his salary to the sum told by X and tells new sum to
Z.
3) Z also adds a Random Number and his salary to the sum told by Y and tells new sum to
X.
4) X subtracts its random number from the sum told by Z and tells the new number to Y.
5) Y subtracts its random number from the sum told by X and tells the new number to Z.
6) Z subtracts its random number from the sum told by Y and announces the new number.
The new number is now the sum of three salaries and average can be calculated by
dividing the sum by 3.

10. Puzzle 37 | (Maximum run in cricket)

•
Whatwides,
Question:
is the no ‘no’
In a balls,
maximum one dayetc.)international
number and of
noruns
overthrows.
cricket
that a match, considering
batsman can scoreno in
extras(no
an ideal case
?
Answer:
49*(6*5+3)+(6*6)= 1653
From Over 1 to 49:
1st ball:- 6 runs(hit six)
2nd ball:- 6 runs(hit six)
3rd ball:- 6 runs(hit six)
4th ball:- 6 runs(hit six)
5th ball:- 6 runs(hit six)
6th ball:- 3 runs(took 3 runs between the wickets and take back the strike)
= >49*(6*5+3)
50th Over:
Hit six sixes in a row.
= >6*6

11. A man is allocated a task. He doubles the task done everyday. If

the man completely does the task in 18 days, how many days did
it take for the man to complete 25% of the task?
Answer: 16
100% of task = 18 days
As he doubles the task everyday. So,
50% of task = 17 days
25% of task = 16 days.

12. We are given an excel sheet which contains integers from 1 to

50, including both. However, the numbers are in a jumbled form
and there is 1 integer missing. You have to write a code to identify
the missing integer. Only the logic is required.
 Solution:
We know that the sum of all the numbers from 1 to n is (n*(n+1)/2)
Therefore, sum of all the numbers from 1 to 50 is
50*(50+1)/2 (Here, n = 50)
= 50*(51)/2
= 25*51
= 1275.

Therefore, all we need to do is to sum all the integers present in the file and subtract the
sum from 1275. The difference between 1275 and this sum would give us the missing
integer.

13. Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. Unfortunately, they
have one torch and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without a torch.
The bridge can support only two people at a time. All the people don’t
take the same time to cross the bridge. Time 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?

Answer = 17 mins
1 and 2 cross the bridge and move to the other side.
Now 2 comes back with the torch from the other side.
7 and 10 crosses the bridge and 2 remain to this side only.
Now 1 comes back with the torch from the other side.
At last, 1 and 2 cross the bridge and we are done.
Total time taken = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins

14. A man fell in a 50m deep well. He climbs 4 meters up and slips 3
meters down in one day. How many days would it take for him to
come out of the well?

Answer: 47days
Explanation:
• On the first day, the man climbs 4 meters up and slips 3 meters down, therefore
he only climbs 1 meter up totally.
• On the second day, again he climbs 1 meter up, so the total distance climbed is 2
meters till the second day. Therefore, the man climbs 1 meter every day.
Now as per the above pattern, on the 46th day, he must have climbed 46 meters. So on
the 47th day, he climbs full (46 + 4) 50 meters and after that, he will not slip as he is
already out of the well so the answer is 47 days.
15. Suppose you have a regular hexagon made up of matchsticks with three
diagonals in it. The task is to convert the given hexagon into
three equilateral triangles by moving only 4 matchsticks.

(Each matchstick is numbered as shown below)

Solution:
Move 2, 4, 5, 6 numbered matches to get exactly three equilateral triangles as shown
below.
16. Puzzle: Given 10 identical bottles of identical pills (each bottle contains
100 pills). Out of 10 bottles 9 have 1 gram of pills but 1 bottle has pills of
the weight of 1.1 gram. Given a measurement scale, how would you find
the heavy bottle? You can use the scale only once.

Solution:
1. Step 1: arrange the bottles on the shelf and now take, 1 pill from the first bottle,
2 pills from the second bottle, 3 pills from the third bottle, and so on.
2. Step 2: Ideally, you would have (10)*(11)/2=55 pills weighing 55 grams. When
you put the entire pile of pills on the weighing scale, the deviation from 55g
would tell you which bottle contains the heavy pills.
3. Step 3: If the deviation is .1 gram more, it is the 1st bottle which has heavy pills,
if it is .2 gram more than 2nd bottle has heavy pills, if it is .3 gram more than 3rd
bottle has heavy pills, if it is .4 gram more than 4th bottle has heavy pills, and so
on.

17. You have five pieces of chain, each consisting of three links. You
want to make one long chain of these five pieces. Breaking open a
link costs 1 Rs, and welding an open link costs 3 Rs. Is it possible to
make one long chain of the five pieces, if you have just 15 Rs?

Solution:

Let us name the chains as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 each having three links.

Take chain 1 and break open all three links: 1×3=3 Rs.
Take one open link to connect chain 2 and 3: 3 Rs.
Take another open link to connect chain 3 and 4: 3 Rs
Take third open link to connect chain 4 and 5: 3 Rs.
Now you have one long chain ready in only 12 Rs
18. Puzzle: A lady makes a purchase of Rs 200/- in a store. The shopkeeper
sells the goods with zero profit. He receives a Rs 1000/- note from the
lady. The shopkeeper gets the change from the next shop, retains Rs.200
for himself, and gives the lady Rs.800 back. Later, the shopkeeper at the
next shop comes with the Rs.1000 note saying “duplicate” and takes his
money back.
How much Loss did the shopkeeper face?

Solution:
Loss of the shopkeeper = What shopkeeper gave to others – What shopkeeper took
1. What the shopkeeper took from the lady: Nothing, as the Rs 1000/- note was a
duplicate note.

2. What the shopkeeper took from another shopkeeper: Rs 1000/-

3. What the shopkeeper gave to the lady: Rs 200/- (Goods) + Rs 800/- (Change)

4. What the shopkeeper gave to another shopkeeper: Rs 1000/-

5. Total Loss: (200 + 800 + 1000) – 1000

= Rs.1000/-
So, it can be concluded that the shopkeeper incurred a loss of Rs 1000/-

19. Puzzle: You have a birthday cake and have to cut it into 8 equal
pieces by making 3 cuts only. How do you do it?

Solution: The solution can be divided into 3 basic steps. But apart from this there
are also other method of executing this task.
Step 1: Cut the cake into quarters (4 pieces) using 2 of the cuts – one horizontally
down the centre of the cake and the other vertically down the centre of the cake.
This will leave you with 4 pieces (or slices) of cake.
Step 2: Then take all 4 pieces and arrange them in a stack that is 4 pieces high.
Step 3: Finally, you can just cut that stack of 4 pieces in half – using your third and
final cut – and then you will end up with 8 pieces of cake!

20. Puzzle | Maximum pieces that can be cut from a Circle using 6
straight lines

We can find out the number of pieces using a mathematical formula also:
Number if pieces = 1 + (n*(n+1)/2)
21. Puzzle: A snail wishes to reach a water shore. To do this it must cross a
wall which is 30 feet high. It has a time limit of 30 hours to reach atop the
wall. The time starts as soon as it starts climbing the wall. However, he faces
a problem while climbing. Every hour it climbs the wall 3 feet up, it slides
down 2 feet. This occurs every hour. So how many hours will it take for the
snail to reach atop the wall?

Solution: Let’s think this thoroughly.

1. Every hour the snail climbs up 3 feet, it slides down 2 feet. So, the actual height
it is climbing in 1 hour is 1 foot.
2. Similarly, in 25 hours, the snail would have climbed 25 feet, in 26 hours it would
have climbed 26 feet and in 27 hours it would have climbed 27 feet, but things
change after 27 feet.

3. As we know, the snail covers 3 feet up in 1 hour. So, in the 28th hour, the
snail would have climbed 30 feet up the wall and would have reached
 atop the wall. Therefore the answer to this riddle is 28 hours.

4.
22. Lateral thinking is the most interesting test module of tcs digital hiring
process.
Problem: Join all nine dots by drawing minimum number of straight
lines. The straight lines must be continuous i.e. one must not lift the
pen from the paper once start drawing.

Solution:
One possible solution is:

During the test, candidates need to answer the order of traversal of the dots as
if they are number from 1 to 9 in the grid, so the answer is
951236874
23. Problem: Move 3 matchsticks from the given set of matchsticks
arranged as show in the figure, to make 3 square boxes.

Solution:
There can be many possible solutions to this questions. One possible solution is:
Logical Puzzles:

1. An employee works for an employer for 7 days. The employer has a gold
rod of 7 units. How does the employer pay to the employee, so that the
number of employee’s rod units increases by one at the end of each day?
The employer can make at most 2 cuts in the rod.
(Hint- after the end of the day employee’s can’t spend any part of rod)
Solution:
The employer can pay for seven days by making 2 cuts in a way that he has 3
rods of size 1, 2 and 4.
1st Day: Employer gives 1 unit cut.
2nd day: Takes back 1 unit cut from employee given on the first day and gives 2
unit cut.
3rd Day: Gives 1 unit and then the employer is left with 4 unit rod lengths.
4th Day: Takes back cuts of 1 and 2 units. Gives the cut of 4 units.
5th Day: Gives cut of 1 unit to the employee.
6th Day: Takes back cut of 1 unit and gives a cut of 2 units.
7th Day: Gives cut of 1 unit to the employee.

2. There is a room with a door (closed) and three light bulbs inside the room.
Outside the room, there are three switches, connected to the bulbs. You
may manipulate the switches as you wish, but once you open the door you
can’t change them. All bulbs are in working condition and you can open
the door only once. Identify each switch with respect to its bulb.
Solution:
Let the bulbs be X, Y, and Z
Turn on switch X for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn it off and turn on switch Y. Open the door and
touch the light bulb.
1. the light is on from the bulb, it is Y
Now we will check the other two off bulbs
2. the bulb which is hot, is X
3. the bulb which is cold, is Z

3. Puzzle: You have 5 jars of pills. Each pill weighs 10 grams, except for
contaminated pills contained in one jar, where each pill weighs 9
grams. Given a scale, how could you tell which jar had the contaminated
pills in just one measurement?
Solution: To find the contaminated Jar, follow this step-wise approach.
1. Step 1: Take out 1 pill from jar 1, 2 pills from jar 2, 3 pills from jar 3, 4 pills from
jar 4 and 5 pills from jar 5.
2. Step 2: Put all these 15 pills on the scale. The correct weight is 150 (15*10). But
one of the jars has contaminated pills. So the weight will definitely be less than
150.
3. Step 3: If the weight is 149 then jar 1 has contaminated pills because there is
only one contaminated pill. If the weight is 148 then jar 2, if the weight is 147
then jar 3, if 146 then jar 4, if 145 then jar 5.

4. 100 prisoners in jail are standing in a queue facing in one direction. Each
prisoner is wearing a hat of color either black or red. A prisoner can see
hats of all prisoners in front of him in the queue, but cannot see his hat
and hats of prisoners standing behind him.
The jailer is going to ask color of each prisoner’s hat starting from the
last prisoner in queue. If a prisoner tells the correct color, then is saved,
otherwise executed. How many prisoners can be saved at most if they
are allowed to discuss a strategy before the jailer starts asking colors of
their hats.

Answer:
At-most 99 prisoners can be saved and the 100th prisoner has 50-50 chances of
being executed.
The idea is that every prisoner counts number of red hats in front of him.
100th prisoner says red if the number of red hats is even. He may or may not be
saved, but he conveys enough information to save 99th prisoner.
The 99’th prisoner decides his answer on the basis of answer of 100’th prisoner’s
answer. There are following possibilities and 99’th prisoner can figure out color of
his hat in every case.
If 100’th prisoner said ‘Red’ (There must have been even number of red hats in
front of him)
a) If 99’th prisoner sees even number of red hats in front of him, then his color is
black.
b) If 99’th prisoner sees odd number of red hats in front of him, then his color is
red.
If 100’th prisoner said ‘Black’ (There must have been odd number of red hats in
front of him)
a) If 99’th prisoner sees even number of red hats in front of him, then his color is
Red.
 b) If 99’th prisoner sees odd number of red hats in front of him, then his color is
Black.
The 98’th prisoner decides his answer on the basis of answer of 99’th prisoner’s
answer and uses same logic.
Similarly other prisoners from 97 to 1 are saved.
5. You are blindfolded and 10 coins are placed in front of you on the table.
You are allowed to touch the coins but can’t tell which way up they are
by feel. You are told that there are 5 coins head up, and 5 coins tails up
but not which ones are which.
Can you make two piles of coins each with the same number of heads
up? You can flip the coins any number of times.
ANSWER: Yes
Explanation:
Make 2 piles with an equal number of coins. Now, flip all the coins in one of the
piles.
Let’s consider a simple case:
P1: H T T T T
P2: H H H H T
By flipping P1
P1: T H H H H
P2: H H H H T
P1(heads) = P2(heads)

6. Policeman decided to punish the Prisoner and asked him to make a

statement. The Prisoner should make such a statement so that he
would be alive.
If the statement is held true by Policeman, the Prisoner will be hanged
to death and if the statement is held false, the Prisoner will be shot
dead.
Answer:
The Prisoner said, ‘I will be shot dead’
If Policeman says the statement is true, the Prisoner will be hanged to death which will
make his statement false.
If Policeman says the statement is false, the Prisoner will be shot dead which will make
the statement true.
There are two gates, one to hell and the other to heaven. Two gatekeepers, one for each
gate. One of them always speaks the truth and the other always lies but you don’t know
which one guards which gate. You are allowed only one question and you need to find out
the gate to heaven. What is the question? Solution: Ask any guard “What would the
other guard say if I ask which way is to the hell ?” And whatever answer he give is the way
to the heaven. Explanation: If you end up asking the question to the truthful one, he will
speak the truth and he knows that other guard is going to lie so he will show the way to
the heaven. If you end up asking the question to the liar, he will lie about the other and
the answer will be the way to the heaven

7. Puzzle: You are provided with 8 identical balls and a measuring

instrument. 7 of the eight balls are equal in weight and one of the eight
given balls is defective and weighs less. The task is to find the defective
ball in exactly two measurements.

Solution:
• Step 1: Divide the balls into three categories(C1, C2 and C3).
• Let C1 consist of balls B1, B2 and B3.
• Let C2 consist of balls B4, B5 and B6.
• Let C3 consist of balls B7 and B8.

• Step 2: Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
1. Condition 1: C1 equals C2
2. Condition 2: C1 < C2
3. Condition 3: C1 > C2

Now let’s analyse the three conditions to find the defective ball:
• Condition 1: If C1 is equal C2, then C3 has the defective ball. Now measure the
weights of ball B7 and B8.
• If B7 < B8, B7 is defective
• If B7 > B8, B8 is defective.

• Condition 2: If C1 < C2, then C1 has the defective ball. Now measure the weights
of ball B1 and B2.
• If B1 equals B2, B3 is defective.
• If B1 < B2, B1 is defective.
• If B1 > B2, B2 is defective.

• Condition 3: If C1 > C2, then C2 has the defective ball. Now measure the weights
of ball B4 and B5.
• If B4 equals B5, B6 is defective.
• If B4 < B5, B4 is defective.
• If B4 > B5, B5 is defective.
 8. There is a farmer who wishes to cross a river but he is not alone. He also
has a goat, a wolf, and a cabbage along with him. There is only one boat
available which can support the farmer and either of the goat, wolf or
the cabbage. So at a time, the boat can have only two objects (farmer
and one other).
But the problem is, if the goat and wolf are left alone (either in the boat
or onshore), the wolf will eat the goat. Similarly, if the Goat and
cabbage are left alone, then goat will eat the cabbage. The farmer
wants to cross the river with all three of his belongings: goat, wolf, and
cabbage.
What strategy he should use to do so?
Solution 1: Taking wolf on other side will leave goat and cabbage together. Also taking
away cabbage will make wolf and goat be alone. Hence, the farmer will first take goat on
the other side and return back alone. We have farmer, wolf, and cabbage at one side and
goat on the other side.
Now, he will take the wolf along, drop the wolf on the other side and return with the goat.
So now on one side, we have farmer, cabbage, and goat and on the other side, we have a
wolf.
Now, he takes the cabbage along and returns alone. So now the scenario is: farmer, goat
on one side and wolf, cabbage on the other side.
Now, finally, he crosses the river with the goat and hence succeeds in taking all his
belongings with him.

9. We have two water jugs, one measures 4 Gallons (4G) while the other
measure 9 Gallons (9G). But there is no measuring label mentioned on
either of these two jugs i.e. we cannot know the exact amount filled in
the jug. Now, assuming there is an infinite amount of water supply, can
we measure all 1G, 2G, 3G…….. upto 9G using these unmarked jugs.
Hint: We can empty the jugs, and transfer water from one jug to other.

Solution:
Yes, we can measure all from 1G to 9G.
• 4G: Simply fill the 4G jug completely.
• 9G: Simply fill the 9G jug completely.
• 5G: Fill the 9G jug fully. Now transfer water from 9G to 4G till 4G gets full. Now
9G will have 5Gallons of water. Hence, measured 5G
• 1G: Fill the 9G jug to its maximum. Now transfer water from 9G to 4G till 4G gets
full. Empty the 4G jug. Again transfer from 9G to 4G till 4G gets full. Now we are
left with 1G in 9G jug.
 • 8G: Fill up 4G and empty it into 9G. Again fill up 4G and empty it into 9G. Now
9G has 8 Gallons of water.
• 3G: Firstly, fill the 4G jug and empty it into 9G jug. Again fill 4G and empty it into
9G.
Again repeat the same procedure. So now 4G jug will have 3G amount of water
and 9G will be full. Hence, measured 3G.
• 7G: Measure 3G as mentioned above. Now transfer this 3 Gallons of water from
4G to 9G. And now completely fill 4G jug. Now we have 4 Gallons in 4G jug and 3
Gallons in 9G jug. Hence, measured 7G.
• 2G: As mentioned above, firstly measure up to 7G. The scenario is that 4G jug is
full and 9G jug has 3G water. Transfer the water from 4G to 9G so that 4G
becomes empty and 9G measures 7G. Now completely fill 4G and then start
transferring water to 9G till 9G becomes full. Now we will be left with only 2G in
4G jug. Hence, measured 2G
• 6G: Repeat the same procedure till measuring 2G as stated above. Now empty
the 9G jug and transfer 2G from 4G jug to 9G jug. And now fill up the 4G jug
completely. Hence, we have 4 Gallons in 4G jug and 2 Gallons in 9G jug. Thus
measuring 6G.

10. Puzzle: A blind man is alone on a deserted island. He has two blue
pills and two red pills. He must take exactly one red pill and one blue pill
or he will die.How does he do it?
Solution:
Firstly, break each of the pills in half, and as you do this pop one half in your mouth and
lay the other half aside for tomorrow. When he’s done this with all four pills he will have
consumed one red pill and one blue pill. And have the same leftover.
 11. Given two candles. Each of them burns for one hour. They burn
unevenly in different parts though. In addition, let’s have a box of
matches. Measure 45 minutes and 15 minutes.

Solution:
• Step1: Both ends of the first candle should be lit, but only one end of the second
candle should be lit. After the first candle has burned fully in 30 minutes, the
remaining time is 30 minutes to burn the other candle with one end unburned.
• Step2: Now lit both the ends of the 30-min(remaining) length of candle 2, it will
burn in 15 minutes. Now let’s have a look at the solution candle-wise.
• Candle1: The first candle is lit from the end, So it will be completely
burned in 30 minutes.
• Candle2: After 30 minutes, the two candles will be half burned. Now,
let’s lit the second end also and candle 2 will be burned completely in
15 minutes.
Conclusion:
• Now one can see the measurements.
• 15 minutes: Candle 2 when lit from both ends, burned in 15 minutes. That’s how
it can be calculated in 15 minutes.
• 45 minutes: Candle 2 + Candle 1 time taken for both the candles to be burned is
equivalent to 45 minutes i.e., (30 + 15) minutes.

12. You have 4 bottles of milk. One of them is poisonous while the
other 3 are non-poisonous. There is a rat which dies exactly after 10
hours of drinking the poisoned bottle. You have a clock that measures
time only in hours. Suggest an optimal strategy to identify the poisoned
bottle within 24 hours.
• Solution 1:
At the beginning of the first hour feed the rat the Ist bottle. At the start of 2nd-hour
feed, the 2nd one and similarly at the start of 3rd-hour feed, the 3rd bottle. If the
rat dies after exactly 10 hrs, the first bottle is poisonous. If it dies after 11 hours,
2nd one contains poison else the 3rd one is poisonous. In this way, after exactly 12
hours you would be able to determine the poisonous bottle.
•

• Solution 2:
• Step 1: Label the bottles from 1 to 4.
• Step 2: Divide the bottles into two groups, A and B, with two bottles in each group.
Label the groups as A and B.
• Step 3: Take the rat and feed it with the milk from bottles 1 and 2.
• Step 4: After 10 hours, observe the rat’s condition. If it dies, the poisoned bottle is
either bottle 1 or 2. If the rat is still alive, proceed to step 5.
• Step 5: Take the rat and feed it with the milk from bottle 1 (if the rat is still alive)
and leave bottle 2 untouched. Step 6: After an additional 10 hours (a total of 20
hours since the start), observe the rat’s condition. If it dies, then bottle 1 is the
poisoned one. If the rat is still alive, the poisoned bottle is bottle 3, as the rat has
only consumed milk from bottle 1 and it survived.
 13. Question: Suppose you have a 4 liter jug and a 9 liter bucket . The
buckets have no measurement lines on them either. How could you
measure exactly 6 liter using only those buckets and you have as much
extra water as you need ?

Solution:
Consider 2 buckets one 4L and other 9L. : Bucket 1 (4L) and Bucket2 (9L)
First fill the 9L bucket fully. : 0 L and 9 L
Pour the water into 4L bucket. : 4 L and 5 L
Empty the 4L bucket. : 0 L and 5 L
Repeat this twice. : 4 L and 1 L
Now you will left with 1L water in the 9L bucket : 0 L and 1 L
Now pour this 1L into the 4L bucket : 1 L and 0 L
Refill the 9L bucket. : 1 L and 9 L
Now pour the water from 9L into the 4L bucket until it fills up. : 4 L and 6 L
Now you are left with 6 L water in the 9L bucket.

14. Suppose there are three containers; container I (3L), container II

(5L), container III (8L). Container III is filled with 8L of water while the
other two are empty. With the help of these 3 containers, how to
distribute the water in equal volumes i.e. 4L in container II and, 4L in
container III. Consider there is no loss of water when transferring it
from one container to another.
Solution:
When there is no loss of water while transferring it from one container to another
container. The only way to do the required task is to repeatedly transfer water from one
container to another until one arrives at a favorable result.
Step 1: Fill the 8L container full.
Step 2: Pour water from an 8L to 5L container. Water in the 8L container is now 3L and
the 5L container is now full.
Step 3: Pour water from 5L container to 3L container. Water in the 5L container is now 2L
and the 3L container is now full.
Step 4: Pour water from 3L container to 8L container. Water now in the 8L container is 6L
and the 3L container is empty.
Step 5: Pour water from a 5L to 3L container. The 5L container is now empty and the
water in the 3L container is now 2L.
Step 6: Pour water from 8L container to 5L container. The water in the 8L container is now
1L and the 5L container is now full.
Step 7: Pour water from the 5L container into the 3L container. The 3L container is now
full and the water in the 5L container is 4L.
Step 8: Pour water from the 3L container into the 8L container. The 3L container is now
empty and the water in the 8L container is 4L.
Below is the table that summarizes the above solution:

Step Container I Container II Container III

1 0 0 8

2 0 5 3

3 3 2 3

4 0 2 6

5 2 0 6

6 2 5 1

7 3 4 1

8 0 4 4
 15. Puzzle: There are 2187 balls, out of which 1 is heavy. Find the
minimum number of attempts the balls have to be weighed for finding
out the heavy ball.

Solution: The minimum amount of measurements needed to be done will be equal to 7

times.
2187 = 3^7
1. Step 1: Divide the 2187 balls into 3 equal groups of 729 each, let’s say C1, C2 and
C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other. This can
give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 1 follows up, and C3 has the heaviest ball.
2. Step 2: Now divide C3 again into 3 equal groups of 243 each, naming them again
C1, C2 and C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 2 follows up, and C2 has the heaviest ball.

3. Step 3: Now divide C2 again into 3 equal groups of 81 each, naming them again
C1, C2 and C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 3 follows up, and C1 has the heaviest ball.

4. Step 4: Now divide C1 again into 3 equal groups of 27 each, naming them again
C1, C2 and C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
 • Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 3 follows up, and C1 has the heaviest ball.

5. Step 5: Now divide C1 again into 3 equal groups of 9 each, naming them again
C1, C2 and C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 1 follows up, and C3 has the heaviest ball.

6. Step 6: Now divide C3 again into 3 equal groups of 3 each, naming them again
C1, C2 and C3. Put C1 on one side of the weighing machine and C2 on the other.
This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: C1 equals C2, which means C3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: C1 < C2, which means C2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: C1 > C2, which means C1 has the heaviest ball.
 Let’s suppose Condition 1 follows up, and C3 has the heaviest ball.

7. Step 7: Now finally divide C3 which has 3 balls into group of 1, naming them
again B1, B2 and B3. Put B1 on one side of the weighing machine and B2 on the
other. This can give rise to 3 conditions:
• Condition 1: B1 equals B2, which means B3 has the heaviest ball
• Condition 2: B1 < B2, which means B2 has the heaviest ball.
• Condition 3: B1 > B2, which means B1 has the heaviest ball.
Let’s suppose Condition 1 follows up, then B3 is the heaviest ball we were
looking for.

So, in all, it takes 7 steps to reach to the heaviest ball.

 16. There are 3 ants sitting on three corners of a triangle. All ants
randomly pick a direction and start moving along edge of the triangle.
What is the probability that any two ants collide?

Answer:
Collision doesn’t happen only in following two cases
1) All ants move in counterclockwise direction.
2) All ants move in clockwise direction.
Since every ant has two choices (pick either of two edges going through the
corner on which ant is initially sitting), there are total 23 possibilities.
Out of 23 possibilities, only 2 don’t cause collision. So, the probability of collision
is 6/8 and the probability of non-collision is 2/8.

17. Question: How to make 4 equilateral triangles with 6 identical

match sticks?

Method – I: Make a tetrahedron.

Method-II:

Method – III:
Make one equilateral triangle by three sticks . then put each remaining stick on
straight line passing through middle points of each two arms of triangle.
Method IV: