A One Letter Change

At my start I last a mere eleven days,
But change one letter and I’m over 31 years.

What am I?

One million seconds (about 11 1/2 days).

Change the “m” to a “b” to get one billion seconds (about 31.7 years).

It’s rather surprising that a million seconds and a billion seconds differ by such a large duration.

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He And She Both Have One Each

He and she both have one each, but every person has two. A citizen has three and a human being has four. A personality has five and an inhabitant of earth has six. What are they?

Syllables.

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Nearly Hanging

A prisoner is told, “If you tell a lie we will hang you; if you tell the truth we will shoot you.”

What can he say to save himself?

You will hang me. If they hang him, then the statement was true and they could only hang him for telling a lie. If they shoot him, then it makes the statement a lie and they were only to shoot him for telling the truth. An alternate solution is to say, “You will not shoot me,” leading to the same quandary for the killers.

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Count to A

If you were to spell out the numbers, how far would you have to go before encountering the letter A?

One thousand (or one hundred and one, depending on how you pronounce it).

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How Can Four Be Half of Five?

How can the number 4 be half of FIVE?

Beginning with FIVE, take away the F and E (half of the letters), leaving IV, which is the Roman numeral for four.

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Kaitlyn’s Age Plus and Minus Three

Kaitlyn’s age plus three has an integer square root. Three years ago, Kaitlyn’s age was the square root.

How old is Kaitlyn?

Kaitlyn is 6 years old.

6 + 3 = 9, and 9 has an integer square root.

6 – 3 = 3, and 3 is the square root of 9.

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Death By Marbles

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles and 2 empty bowls and instructs you to divide the 100 marbles into the two bowls. You can divide them however you want as long as all the marbles are in the bowls. You will be blindfolded and the bowls and marbles will be thoroughly mixed. You will then choose a single marble from one of the bowls. If the marble is white, you live. Black and you will be put to death.

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a white marble?

Place one white marble in one bowl and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (49 whites, and 50 blacks).

This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with one white marble and living. Even if you choose the other bowl, you still have an almost 50% chance of picking one of the 49 white marbles. There are no guarantees in life, but this gives you the best change of surviving.

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What is HIJKLMNO?

HIJKLMNO

What 5-letter word does this represent?

Water. Or literally, H to O, which sounds the same as H2O.

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More You Take Away, The Bigger I Get

The more you take from me, the bigger I get. What am I?

A hole.

This is quite similar to It Cannot Be Seen and Weighs Nothing.

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I Am Two-faced, But Bear One Head

I am two-faced, but bear one head.
Men spill their blood for me.
I have no legs but travel widely.
I make kings immortal.
I am potent when shared,
Yet lust for my power keeps me locked away.

What am I?

Money (coins specifically). Coins have two faces, heads and tails. People fight for money, and money travels far and wide. Kings live on when they’re depticted on a coin. Sharing money with others is a meaningful experience yet many people keep their money locked up.

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