July/August ’18 Brain Teasers – SUMMARY
REMINDER: Answers in red. Solvers (submitted/correct) in blue. (Forgive any omissions.) Comments in green. For further elaboration, feel free to ask!
1. A customer in a restaurant found a dead fly in his coffee. He sent the waiter back for a fresh cup. After a sip he shouted “This is the same cup of coffee I had before!” How did he know? Several creative/acceptable ‘answers’ here, but the classic one: The man had sugared his coffee already, and it was still sweet when he got it back. Rita Barger, Jennifer Steele, Jim Waterman, Dennis Newkirk, Alexis Avis, Amy Ragsdale.
2. “I guarantee,” said the pet-shop salesman, “that this parrot will repeat every word it hears.” A customer bought the parrot but found it would not speak a single word. Nevertheless, the salesman told the truth. What is the explanation? The parrot was deaf. 🙂 Rita Barger, Jennifer Steele, Jim Waterman, Dennis Newkirk, Alexis Avis, Amy Ragsdale, Dan Felshin
3. This little poem by Bennett Cerf includes every letter in the alphabet but one. Which letter is missing?
A jovial swain should not complain / Of any buxom fair
Who mocks his pain and thinks it gain / To quiz his awkward air.
The letter e is missing. Rita Barger, Jennifer Steele, Jim Waterman, Dennis Newkirk, Alexis Avis, Amy Ragsdale, Dan Felshin, Barb Blue
4. Why are 1998 pennies worth more than 1997 pennies? Because 1,998 pennies are worth $19.98, whereas 1,997 are only worth $19.97. Rita Barger, Jim Waterman, Amy Ragsdale, Barb Blue, Dan Felshin,
5. A man lives on the 100th floor of an apartment building. On rainy days he rides the elevator all the way up. However, on sunny days, he goes half way and takes the stairs the rest of the way. Why? Again, several answers possible. The man was short and could not reach the 100 button on the elevator panel. On rainy days, he was able to push it with his umbrella. Rita Barger, Jim Waterman, Dennis Newkirk, Alexis Avis, Amy Ragsdale
6. A repeat from last time – this one is too much fun to not have any takers!! GEOGRAPHY FUN: A) Missouri is tied with one other state for the title of ‘state with borders the most other states.’ Can you name the other state, and can you tell how many states they border? The other state is Tennessee, and they both border EIGHT (8) states. B) Missouri is also one of EIGHT states that start with the letter M. Can you name the other seven? Maine, Maryland, Massachussetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana C) There are also eight states beginning with the letter N, but they kinda have to ‘cheat’ to do it? Why is that? Of the 8 states, 6 begin with either “New” or “North”. Some or all parts: Rita Barger, Jim Waterman, Dennis Newkirk, Amy Ragsdale, Barb Blue
7. Write the numeral for 8 trillion, forty million, two. 8,000, 040, 000, 002. Rita Barger, Dennis Newkirk, Amy Ragsdale, Alexis Avis, Barb Blue
8. Which weighs more – a pound of feathers or a pound of lead? They weigh the same – a pound is a pound. Rita Barger, Dennis Newkirk, Amy Ragsdale, Alexis Avis, Barb Blue, Dan Felshin
9. 0.1 + 0.2 x 0.3 – 0.4 ÷ 0.5 = ___-0.64____ ? If you missed this, you may want to review your ‘order of operations’ rules. 🙂 Rita Barger, Dennis Newkirk, Alexis Avis, Amy Ragsdale
10. The first 10 numbers in the sequence 3, 33, 333, 3333, . . . are added. What is the digit in the thousands place of the sum? 3 Rita Barger, Amy Ragsdale
11. Find a fraction between 3/7 and 4/9. Literally an infinite number of correct answers here. One of them is 7/16. Another is 275/630. (The latter is likely the most common.) Rita Barger, Amy Ragsdale
12. If I count at the rate of one number a second, how long (to the nearest year!) will it take me to count to a billion? Almost 32 years! Rita Barger, Amy Ragsdale
