Three Items for $100

Bill buys three items at the store for exactly $100. The second item costs half as much as the first item, and the third item is half as much as the second.

How much did each one cost?

First: $57.14
Second: $28.57
Third: $14.29

Posted in Brain Teasers

Alfred’s Tough Cash Request

Alfred is at the bank to cash his $200 check. He tells the cashier he would like some one dollar bills, ten times as many two dollar bills and the rest in fives.

How many of each denomination does the cashier need to give Alfred?

Five $1 bills, 50 $2 bills and 19 $5 bills.

We know that in order to give the rest of the amount in fives, the sum of the one and two dollar bills needs to be divisible by five (i.e. end in 0 or 5).

If we start with a single one dollar bill, we’d need ten two dollar bills to satisfy the request, making $21. But we need a sum that is divisible by 5. So we keep going up, like so:

$1 + $2 * 10 = $21
$2 + $2 * 20 = $42
$3 + $2 * 30 = $63
$4 + $2 * 40 = $84
$5 + $2 * 50 = $105 (Aha! It’s divisible by 5)
$6 + $2 * 60 = $126
$7 + $2 * 70 = $147
$8 + $2 * 80 = $168
$9 + $2 * 90 = $189

So the only option that works is 5 $1 bills and 50 $2 bills, leaving $95 (95 / 5 = 19) to be paid out in 19 fives.

Alfred is one tough customer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Springiest Anagram

What is the only anagram of Springiest?

Persisting

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Gentle Touch

What force and strength cannot get through,
I, with a gentle touch, can do.
And many in the street would stand,
were I not a friend at hand.

A key.

Posted in Riddles

Banana

What does this represent?

BAN ANA

Banana split. It’s the word banana, and it’s split apart.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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Ten Men’s Strength

Ten men’s strength,
Ten men’s length,
Ten men can’t break it,
Yet a young boy walks off with it.

What am I?

A rope.

Posted in Riddles

Current By Dew

What do the following words have in common?

current
by
dew
faze
loan
ate

They all have homonyms:

currant (current)
buy (by)
due (dew)
phase (faze)
lone (loan)
eight (ate)

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Worse It Is, The Better It Becomes

Three little letters
A paradox to some.
The worse that it is
The better it becomes.

A pun.

Posted in Riddles

Area, Death, Kick

What word can be added before or after these words to make a new word or phrase?

Area, Death, Kick

Penalty. Penalty area, Death penalty, Penalty kick.

Posted in Riddles

A Fox and Two Chickens

A man is traveling with a fox and two chickens, if he leaves the fox alone with the chickens the fox will eat the chickens. He comes to a river and needs to cross it, he finds a small boat that can carry only him and one animal, how does he get himself, the fox and two chickens across the river safely?

Take the fox over, return with nothing. Go over with one chicken, return with the fox. Go over with the second chicken, return with nothing. Finally, take the fox over.

Posted in Brain Teasers