24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3

How do you get 24 from 9, 6, 11 and 3 using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division?

There are multiple solutions.

(6 – 3) × 11 – 9

(11 – 6) × 3 + 9

(9 – 6) × (11 – 3)

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Related Strangers

A man gets off the bus looking for an address and approaches a couple walking in the same direction for directions. The woman says they’re going that way and take him. Along the way the man asks if they’re related. The woman grins and says, “We’re not strangers. This man’s mother is my mother’s mother-in-law.” The man is confused but doesn’t say anything. When he gets back home he tells his wife about the conversation and she can’t figure it out either. They decide to ask their lawyer and he eventually works it out with pen and paper. How are the couple related?

The couple is either a man and his daughter or an uncle and his niece.

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A Special Racecar

What is special about the phrase “Race car”?

It’s a palindrome (a word or phrase that’s spelled the same backwards and forwards).

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Longest Word in English

What is the longest word in the English dictionary?

Smiles because there is a mile between the two s’s.

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Four Walls and a Bird

A man walks out of a house that has four walls all facing north. A bird walks past him. What kind is it?

A penguin. If all four walls face north the house must be at the southernmost point of the earth. Really, any native antarctic bird would work.

This brain teaser is quite similar to the guy whose house walls face south and sees a bear, then you’re asked the color of the bear. The bear would be white (a polar bear) as they’re the only bears indigenous to the north pole. A lawyer would claim it’s all circumstantial evidence and the bear could be an imported brown bear. The lawyer makes a valid point.

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Two Hours Ago

If two hours ago it was as long after one o’clock in the afternoon as it was before one o’clock in the morning, what time is it right now?

9pm (or 21:00). There are 12 hours between 1pm and 1am, so 6 hours after 1am is halfway. 6 hours + 1pm equals 7pm. In order for 7pm to be 2 hours behind the current time, it must be 9pm.

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Money For Answers

A dad offered to pay his son $5 for every correct answer on his math test. His son said he would pay his Dad $8 for every incorrect answer. There were 26 questions on the test and no money was exchanged.

How did this happen?

The son got 16 questions correct and missed 10. This means he owed his Dad 10 * $8 = $80, but his Dad owed him 16 * $5 = $80, so it was a wash.
Two math equations to solve it are x + y = 26 and 5x = 8y.

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Six Apples

A mother of three children had six apples. She gave two to each and yet 4 remained. How was this possible?

She gave the same 2 apples to each child in succession.

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Add More But Weigh Less

The 17 items in your shopping cart weigh 8 pounds. But when your daughter puts in a ball, poster board and yo-yo the shopping cart weighs less. How is that possible?

Your daughter had to get out of the cart to fit the remaining items.

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Hilda’s Age

When Randolph asked Hilda how old she was, Hilda replied that in two years she would be twice as old as she was five years ago. How old is Hilda?

Aside from the potential response that it’s rude to ask the age of a lady, the answer can be worked out mathematically.

x + 2 = 2(x – 5)
x + 2 = 2x – 10
x + 12 = 2x
12 = x
In two years she’ll be 14, which is twice her age 5 years ago (7).

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