A circular island with a diameter of 30 feet has a 30 foot tree stands at the center. A man cuts the tree down with his chainsaw, making the cut a foot up from the ground. The tree comes crashing down and hits the water but doesn’t splash. Why not?
Mr. and Mrs. Webster were on a holiday shopping excursion. On their way to the car after leaving the store, Mr. Webster complained he was tired from carrying so many packages. Mrs. Webster, the kindly thing that she was, replied, “Quit your complaining Walter! If you gave me just one of your packages, I’d have twice as many as you. And if I gave you one of mine, we’d have the same.”
How many packages were Mr. and Mrs. Webster each carrying?
You’re waiting to board your flight at the airport with 99 other passengers, each with an assigned seat. All but one of the passengers will gladly sit in their designated seat. The only exception is Randall, a scoundrel who refuses to follow the rules. When he boards, he will choose a random, unoccupied seat.
If a rule-following passenger finds someone in their spot, they will choose another one at a random from the remaining unoccupied seats.
What is the probability that the last person to board the plane will sit in their proper seat?
The randomness stops as soon as someone else sits in Randall’s assigned seat. The chances of this happening range from 1 out of 99 to 1 out of 1 (when only one seat remains).
Thus, the probability of the last person sitting in their own seat can be calculated as 1/99 plus the sum of 2 to 98 of the formula 1 / n × (n + 1), which works out to 0.5, or 50%.
So there’s a 50% chance the last passenger will sit in their own seat thanks to Randall for screwing up order and procedure when boarding an aircraft.
When the day before yesterday was referred to as the day after tomorrow, the day that was then called yesterday was as far away from the day we now call tomorrow as yesterday is from the day which we shall now be able to speak of last Monday as a week ago yesterday. What day is it?
Evianna meets a man while attending her mother’s funeral. She becomes infatuated with him and he reciprocates the interest, but he leaves the funeral without giving her any contact information. She tries to locate him but is unsuccessful. Several days later she kills her sister.
Because she’s a psychopath. She killed her sister because she hoped the man would attend the funeral and she would get to see him again. This is one brain teaser that is probably best that you don’t get the correct answer. If you knew the answer right away and thought it was obvious, you may want to talk to someone.
My family sings Christmas carols at the hospital where my wife works. We do this every year and since we started, have not missed a single year. The next time we do this will be the 18th consecutive Christmas. My 15 year old daughter has been every time.
She was born in March 1999 so the first year she came was December 1999 (before her 1st birthday). Her first time was when she was 0, second time when she was 1, third time when she was 2, etc…
Now that she is 15, she has been 16 times. Oh and of course she was also present in December 1998 in her mum’s belly, due to be born the next March.
So, a total of 17 times and next time will be the 18th.
Thanks to Michael for submitting this real-life brain teaser about his family.
On the sixth of May in the year 1978 at exactly thirty-four minutes past noon, a most extraordinary event occurred. This singular occasion will probably never be witnessed by anyone who was alive at that time. What happened?
The time and date was 12:34 5/6/78, counting from one to eight. The next time this event will occur is 12:34 6 May 2078. Unless someone alive in 1978 lives to be over a hundred, they won’t be alive when it happens again.