If you have 6 black socks, 4 blue socks, 8 brown socks, and 2 red socks in your sock drawer, what is the minimum number of socks that you need to pull out in the dark to be sure you had a matching pair?
See the solution
At least 5, so that at least one color has two socks!
0
You have a barrel of beer and you need to measure out just one gallon. How do you do this if you only have a three-gallon container and a five-gallon container?
See the solution
Fill the 3-gallon container with beer and pour it into the 5-gallon container. Then fill the 3-gallon container again and keep pouring it into the 5-gallon container till the latter is full to the brim. One gallon will be left in the 3-gallon container.
0
What would be the seventh rung of the following pyramid?
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221
(Psst! This is one of the best riddles and my personal favorite in this section – so, don’t let me down on this one!)
See the solution
1113213211. After the first line, each line describes the previous line as follows:
One 1
2 Ones
One 2, One 1
(and so on…)
+1
I am an odd number; take away an alphabet and I become even. What number am I?
See the solution
7 (SEVEN-S=EVEN)
-1
Why is the longest human nose on record is only 11 inches long?
See the solution
Because then it wouldn’t be a nose any more; it would become a foot! (12 inches and above – easy!)
0
If you can purchase 8 eggs for 26 cents, how many can you buy for a cent and a quarter?
See the solution
Eight
-1
How many eggs can you put in an empty basket one foot in diameter?
See the solution
Only one egg, because after that the basket doesn’t remain empty any more!
+2
What weighs more – a pound of iron or a pound of feathers?
See the solution
Both would weigh the same – come on, a pound remains a pound, irrespective of the object!
-1
Why should you never mention the number 288 in front of anyone?
See the solution
Because 288 is too gross (2*144 = two gross)!
0
If you take 3 apples from a group of 5, how many do you have?
See the solution
Three – you just took them yourself!
0
Does a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks weigh more?
See the solution
They both weigh a ton.
0
There are 100 coins scattered in a dark room. 90 have heads facing up and 10 are facing tails up. You cannot tell which coins are which. How do you sort the coins into two piles that contain the same number of tails up coins?
See the solution
The piles don’t need to be the same size, so make a pile of 10 coins and a pile of 90 coins, flip all of the ten coins and it is guaranteed that the piles have the same number of tails.
0
How many people do you need to have the odds be in favor (at least 50% chance) of two people having the same birthday?
See the solution
At least 23 people.
0
A shrimping boat is at the docks with a lifeboat hanging off the side 5 meters above the water. If the tides rise at a rate of 1.5 meters per hour, how long would it take for the water to reach the lifeboat.
See the solution
The entire shrimping boat would rise with the tides so the lifeboat would never be reached.
0
There are two ropes that both take exactly 1 hour to burn from end to end. You are unable to cut the rope. How can you burn the two ropes in a total of 45 minutes?
See the solution
Start one of the ropes on fire from both ends and the other one from one end. After a half an hour one rope will be completely burnt and the other will be half burnt. At this point you light the final rope from the unlit side and it will take 15 minutes for the remaining half of the rope to burn, for a total of 45 minutes.
-1
If you have an 11 minute and 13 minute hourglass, how can you accurately time 15 minutes?
See the solution
Start both hourglasses then when the 11 minute hourglass has finished immediately flip it again. When the 13 minute hourglass runs out the 11 minute hourglass will have 9 minutes left, so flip it and it will last another 2 minutes, 13 minutes + 2 minutes = 15 minutes.
-1
On a clock, how many times a day do the minute and hour hand overlap?
See the solution
22 times: 12:00:00, 1:05:27, 2:10:55, 3:16:22, 4:21:49, 5:27:16, 6:32:44, 7:38:11, 8:43:38, 9:49:05, 10:54:33. Each twice a day.
-1
You have a glass of water that looks about half full. How can you tell, only using the glass of water itself, if the glass is half full or not?
The glass is a right cylinder.
See the solution
Tip the glass of water until the water reaches the rim of the glass and if the water lines up perfectly with the bottom rim of the glass, it is half full.
0
There is a chain nailed to the wall. The chain is 10 feet long and the center of the chain dips down 5 feet from where each side of the chain is nailed to the wall. How far are the 2 ends of chain from each other?
See the solution
Both ends are nailed with the same nail. In order for the 10 foot chain to dip down 5 feet it must dip 5 feet down and 5 feet up, totaling the length of the chain.
+1
