Lots and Lots of Granola Bars

Marla needs snacks for the students on her field trip. She bought 9 boxes of granola bars containing a total of 88 bars. She wanted variety, so she bought 3 different flavors, which happened to come from 3 different companies.

The Coconut Almond bars were packaged 8 to a box.
The Chewy Chocolate Chip bars came 10 to a box.
The Oats ‘n Honey package contained 12 per box.

She bought the most boxes of Coconut Almond but had the most Oats ‘n Honey bars.

How many of each did she buy?

Coconut Almond: 4 boxes × 8 in a box = 32 bars
Chewy Chocolate Chip: 2 boxes × 10 in a box = 20 bars
Oats ‘n Honey: 3 boxes × 12 in a box = 36 bars

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Missing Dollar

Three travelers register at a hotel and are told that their rooms will cost $10 each so they pay $30. Later the clerk realizes that he made a mistake and should have only charged them $25. He gives a bellboy $5 to return to them but the bellboy is dishonest and gives them each only $1, keeping $2 for himself. So the men actually spent $27 and the bellboy kept $2. What happened to the other dollar of the original $30?

There is no missing dollar from the original $30 because after getting $1 back, the three travelers had paid a total of $27 for their room ($9 each), not $30. Out of that $27, the hotel has $25 and the clerk kept the remaining $2. If you still want to work from the original $30, the travelers have $3, the hotel has $25 and the bellboy has $2. The misleading part is adding the bellboy’s $2 to the $27, when in fact it should be subtracted.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Always Old, Sometimes New

Always old, sometimes new.
Never sad, sometimes blue.
Never empty, sometimes full.
Never pushes, always pulls.

What am I?

The moon. The moon has been around for quite some time, but there’s a “new” moon every month or so. A Blue moon is a rare event. The moon is a body of rock, so it’s never empty, but we do see what we call a full moon some nights. And the moon’s gravity “pulls” on the ocean to create low and high tides, but it doesn’t push anyone around because it’s a friendly fellah.

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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

Sisters and Brothers

My daughter has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?

Four daughters and three sons. Each daughter has 3 sisters and 3 brothers, and each brother has 2 brothers and 4 sisters.

To figure it out mathematically, you could use the following two equations where G = the number of girls and B = the number of boys:
G – 1 = B
2(B – 1) = G

Solving for G gives you 4 and plugging that in to G – 1 = B gives you a B of 3.

Posted in Brain Teasers

NOAS Rebus

What does this represent?

  P
NOASE
  Y

Pay through the nose.

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Frederick’s Epitaph

Frederick died after a long and productive life of 87 years, but this epitaph was written on his headstone:

Frederick lived a good long life,
He loved his children and his wife,

He was honest, kind and deserved nothing but praise,
Even if he only had twenty-one birthdays.

How is this possible?

He was born on February 29th in a leap year. Consequently, in his 87 years, he only witnessed twenty-one of his actual birthdays. The other years there was no February 29th.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Round Manhole Covers

Why are manhole covers round?

It allows them to be rolled around easily and prevents the cover from falling into the hole.

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Sleeping Killer

A man gets ready for bed at 9:45 pm. He makes himself a drink, then turns off the TV and the lights. The night was windy and there was a major storm. The next day he discovers he was the cause of seven deaths. How is this possible?

He lived in a lighthouse as lighthouse keeper. He turned off all the lights by accident, so a ship with 7 passengers couldn’t negotiate the rocky shores. One would think the light switches in a lighthouse would be more clearly marked.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Grow In Trees and Have No Teeth

I grow in trees, eat living things but have no teeth and give birth to something that looks nothing like me. What am I?

A bird. They are hatched and raised in trees (nests), don’t have teeth in the traditional meaning of teeth and they lay eggs, which look nothing like a bird.

A butterfly / caterpillar could also work.

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