Alphabetized Letters

What well known series can these alphabetized letters be rearranged to form?

aaaaaabdeeghllmmptt

Alpha, beta, gamma, delta

Posted in Brain Teasers

Rhonda At the Ballet

Rhonda will go see ballet but not the opera. Her favorite number is eight and she doesn’t like nine. She likes salmon but not trout. She hates Mondays and likes Wednesdays. Does she use a comb or a brush?

A comb. Rhonda likes words with silent letters, like her name.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Lines in the Rebus

What does this represent?

| R | E | A | D | I | N | G |

Reading between the lines

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I Make Men Crazy

I can make men crazy,
I shine when you retire.
I move water without a touch,
My colors may cause you ire.

The moon. The moon has a long association with being crazy (lunar being the basis for a lunatic). It shines at night, when you go to bed. The moon’s gravity creates the ocean tides and when the moon is different colors it can mean bad weather is on its way.

Posted in Riddles

Keys to Unlock Your Soul

I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet they can unlock your soul. What am I?

A piano.

Posted in Riddles

A Square and a Cube

What two-digit number is the square of one number and the cube of another?

64

82 = 64
43 = 64

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Longer With a Letter Removed

What 7-letter word becomes longer when you remove a letter?

Lounger (remove the ‘u’ to make the word longer).

Posted in Riddles

Longest Word Without Repeating Letters

What is the longest word without any repeated letters?

Uncopyrightable, with 15 letters and not a single one repeated. Dermatoglyphics, the study of fingerprints, works too.

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If You Lose Me

If you lose me, others around you may lose me too. What am I?

Your temper.

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What is the First Number of the Sequence?

If a number in a numeric sequence is 17 and the second number is 3, what is the first number?

I hesitated to add this because it’s poorly worded, ambiguous and the answer could be almost anything. I prefer teasers with a single answer, but there you go.

If you came up with a different answer and can explain how you did it, don’t think you’re wrong. It’s probably just as valid. Feel free to share yours in the comments.

My answer for the first number is 2.

Here’s how I got it.

The generic rule for a number in the sequence is: 2^(n – 1) + 1, where n is the position in the sequence.

Note: The teaser doesn’t specify the position of 17. In this case, it’s fifth.

Position 1: (so n = 1) is 2^(1 – 1) + 1 = 2

Position 2: 2^(2 – 1) + 1 = 3

Position 3: 2^(3 – 1) + 1 = 5

Position 4: 2^(4 – 1) + 1 = 9

Position 5: 2^(5 – 1) + 1 = 17

For the curious, the next 5 numbers of the sequence would be:

Position 6: 2^(6 – 1) + 1 = 33

Position 7: 2^(7 – 1) + 1 = 65

Position 8: 2^(8 – 1) + 1 = 129

Position 9: 2^(9 – 1) + 1 = 257

Position 10: 2^(10 – 1) + 1 = 513

Posted in Brain Teasers