Don’t Get a Goat

On a game show there are three closed doors – one hides a car and the other two conceal a goat. The contestant selects a door, which remains closed, and the host, knowing where the car is hidden, reveals a goat behind one of the remaining two doors. The contestant is then given the option to switch doors or stay with the one they originally selected. What should the contestant do to have the best chance of winning the car?

The contestant should switch doors, which doubles the chance of winning the car. Initially there is a 2/3 chance of picking a goat, but once the other goat is revealed, switching to remaining door gives the contestant a better chance of winning the car. This is known as the Monty Hall Problem and can be very unintuitive.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville shaves all men living in Seville.
No man living in Seville is allowed to shave himself.
The Barber of Seville lives in Seville.

Who shaves the Barber of Seville?

Nobody. The Barber of Seville is a woman. Female barbers are rare, but they exist.

And for more fun with barbers, check out the Barber paradox.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Word Jumble

Frederick takes half of CONNIE, part of NESTA, part of NELLIE and part of AUNTIE to create something new. What does he call his new creation?

Constantine

Posted in Brain Teasers

Losing Ten Minutes An Hour

A clock loses exactly ten minutes every hour. If the clock is set correctly at noon, what is the correct time when the clock reads 3:00pm?

3:36pm. For every 60 minutes of real time, the clock moves 50 minutes. Put another way, 60/50 = 1.2 real minutes per slow-clock minute.

In order for the clock to show 3:00pm, 180 of its slow minutes have to pass. 1.2 * 180 clock minutes = 216 real minutes or 3 hours and 36 minutes.

Posted in Brain Teasers

B C D

B, C, D, E, G, P

What is the next letter in the sequence?

T. All of the letters rhyme.

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An Animal of Few Letters

I am an animal of few letters,
Remove the second and you can’t see,
Change it to “l” and I’m a punishment,
Yet backwards I’m a game.

What am I?

Frog. It only has four letters, removing the “r” leaves fog, which makes it hard to see. Changing the “r” to an “l” makes flog, a punishment I hope you’ve never experienced. Flog backwards is golf, a game some would call a punishment when you keep swinging away at the ball yet it remains perched on its little white tower of terror while the other golfers impatiently wait for you to tee off.

Posted in Riddles

Find the Three Mammals

The largest crowd at the flea market came looking for bargains.
I took off the peel and ate the banana.
He has no judgement, no sense altogether.

Find the three mammals in these statements.

1. Camel (CAME Looking)
2. Eland (peEL AND)
3. Seal (senSE ALtogether)

Posted in Brain Teasers

Wholly Unreal

Something wholly unreal, yet seems real to I
Think my friend, tell me where does it lie?

In your mind.

Posted in Riddles

Word With All 26 Letters

What word contains all 26 letters?

Alphabet (unfortunately there aren’t any actual dictionary words with every letter in the alphabet, so this gimmicky, somewhat unsatisfying answer has to suffice).

Posted in Riddles

The Train and the Tunnel

A train is a half mile long and is about to enter a 10 mile tunnel. If the train is traveling at 35mph, how long will it take for the entire train to make it through the tunnel, from the front of the train entering to the end of the train leaving the tunnel?

18 minutes.

Length of the train: 0.5 miles
Length of the tunnel: 10 miles
Total distance: 0.5 + 10 = 10.5 miles

Time = 10.5 miles / 35 mph = 0.3 hours = 18 minutes

Posted in Brain Teasers