Posted 11/2/15:
1. What 3 letters can be rearranged to form a beverage, a verb, or a homonym? (Is that term still used?)
2. A plane crashes on the border of USA and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
Repeats from Nov ’14: For newcomers and those with good memories. 🙂
3. What are the next two letters in this sequence? O, T, T, F, F, S, S, ___, ___
4. A man was changing a tire when he stumbled and kicked the hubcap holding the four nuts holding the tire in place, and they all rolled into a nearby sewer drain. Just as he was cursing his fate, a passing boy made a suggestion which enabled the man to drive off (in his own car). What was the boy’s idea?
Posted 11/9/15:
5. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?
6. The day before yesterday, Chris was 27 years old. Next year, he’ll turn 30. How is this possible?
7. (Suggested by subscriber Mike Brown). A fish’s length is 8 inches plus half its length. How long is the fish?
Posted 11/16/15:
8. How much is 30 divided by 1/2 plus 3?
9. The king of Persia is giving his new minister of interior defense a tour of the city. As they are walking the king points at a beggar with a donkey and says “that man is the richest man in the city apart from me”. The minister asks how and the king replies that he seems to be smuggling something but we don’t know how or when he does it. The minister makes a plan to have the guards search the man whenever he goes in or out of the city, but this plan doesn’t work. What does the man smuggle?
10. If you had to swallow a pill every half-hour, how long would it take you to swallow three pills?
Posted 11/23/15:
11. What day would yesterday be if Thursday was four days from day after tomorrow?
12. If you were to rip pages 48-54 out of a book, how many sheets of paper would you take out?
BONUS
What size container would it take to hold 5000 gumballs, each of which has a 0.5-inch diameter?
(For subscriber Janet Garrett, this was a ‘real world’ problem, and she sent the problem to me. I believe I got an answer for her, but I had so much fun, I decided to share. Solutions are not expected to be EXACT, just reasonable, and suitable for the ‘real world’ solution. PRIZES will be awarded for correct solutions.)
1. E, A, and T TEA, EAT, and TEE (Do you have to use all 3 in every word? Can you use them more than once?)
2. You don’t bury survivors.
3. E, N
4. Remove one nut from each of the remaining tires and use them to fasten the removed tire. Drive home with 3 nuts in each of 4 tires.
BT 11/2015
1. Beverage – tea, verb – ate, homonym – eat (consume food, erode as in eat into a budget, annoy as in what is eating Gilbert Grape)
2. I guess they could bury survivors, but they would kick up a fuss. The survivors generally are not buried.
11/2014
2. The child told him to pull one nut from each of the other 3 wheels.
Answer’s to date:
1) The letters are a, t, e, the verb is ate and the drink is tea which is also a homonym
2) Survivors are not buried
3) E N (for eight and nine)
4) Take one nut from each of the 3 other tires so each tire would end up with 3 (temporary fix of course)
5) Mt. Everest was the same height even before it was discovered. However, Mt. Everest is actually the HIGHEST mountain above sea level. The TALLEST mountain (base to summit) is Mauna Kea. Both would have been the same before discovery!
6) A fish’s length is x half it’s length is x/2. So 8 + x/2 = x which means 8= x/2 which means x is 16. The fish is 16 inches.
8) 63 (30 divided by 1/2 is 60) then add the 3. (order of operations)
9) Donkeys
10) 1 hour. (ex: 1st pill at 10, second at 10:30, 3rd at 11)
11) Thursday (i charted it)
12) 4 (book start with odd number facing you and are double sided) 48 will be a page, 49/50, 51/52, 53/54
OK…I am working on the bonus although I should be grading papers and am hoping I submit my answer before noon!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
OK…I am going to say the volume of the jar needs to be about 7,406 in^3 but would really like to check my thinking a bit more…but I have to quit thinking on this and start working!
Question 1. T, E, and A
2. We do not bury survivors anywhere.
3. E and N
4. Take one lug nut from each tire to put the tire back on and then drive with three lug nuts on each tire.
5. Mt. Everest
6. The start date is January 1 … His birthday is December 31 when he turns 28 (he was 27 on Dec 30). In that year he will turn 29 (on Dec 31), and then he will turn 30 on Dec 31 of the NEXT year.
7. ?
BT 11/16/2015
8. How much is 30 divided by 1/2 plus 3? Answer is 63. 30/1/2 + 3 = 30 X 2 + 3 = 60 + 3 = 63. At least in the old days the rule is multiplication before addition; the exception is a grouping of numbers with + or – sign within parentheses.
9. He feeds diamonds to the donkey and retrieves them later in a rather messy process.
10. 1 hour: 1200 pill one, 1230 pill two, 1300 pill three = 1 hour
1. Okay, the other way is TEA, EAT, and ATE (homonym of EIGHT)
5. Mt. Everest . . . it just hadn’t been discovered yet.
6. I’m thinking his birthday must be December 31. So, on December 30, he was 27 years old, and on the 31st, he turned 28. As I say this, it is January 1 of the new year, so on December 31 of this year, he’ll turn 29. On December 31 of the following year, he will be 30. Whew!
7. The fish is 16 inches long.
8. 63
9. The man is smuggling donkeys.
10. One hour.
Let’s try the three new ones:
Question 8. 63
9. He smuggles donkeys into the city.
10. One hour.
Pop!
No need to bury anyone ; they SURVIVED! 🙂
Larry,
Quick response. I have 5 minutes between meetings:
1. T E A
2. You don’t bury survivors
3. E N
4. Take a nut from the 3 other tires.
5. Mt. Everest.
6. Chris was born on December 30th.
7. 16 inches
8. 63
9. Donkeys
10. One hour
11. Thursday.
12. Four pages, unless you mean only pages 48 and 54, then it would be two.
Ok I have some answers for some of the train teasers. #2 You don’t bury survivors. #3 E and N #4 The boy suggested that he take one nut from each of the remaining wheels and put them on the one he was changing. #5 Mt. Everest was still the tallest before it was discovered. #8 63