Its Own Past Tense

What common verb becomes its own past tense by rearranging its letters?

Eat (ate).

Posted in Riddles

Half of Eight

What is half of 8?

Hint: It’s not 4

3 (if you slice vertically) or 0 (if you slice horizontally)

Posted in Brain Teasers

Thought Follows Closely Behind

I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?

A nose.

Posted in Riddles

In the Sky But Also the Ground

I am in the sky but also in the ground. When you study me, no matter how long, I will always end with an f. I may be in your yard but not in your house. What am I?

A leaf.

Posted in Riddles

You Hold My Tail

You hold my tail while I fish for you. What am I?

A fishing net.

Posted in Riddles
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Augustus’ Candy

Augustus loves candy and much to his delight, his three favorites are on sale. One each of gum, chocolate and caramel cost 40 cents. A caramel is over three times the price of gum. Six gums are worth more than chocolate. A caramel plus two gums cost less than chocolate. What is the price of each candy?

Gum = 4 cents
Chocolate = 23 cents
Caramel = 13 cents

Posted in Brain Teasers

esroh gnidir

What does this represent?

esroh gnidir

Horse back riding. The words are horse and riding spelled backwards.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Rainbow Neighborhood

There was a neighborhood of one-story houses.
One was red and everything in the house was red.
Another was purple and everything in the house was purple.
Yet another was yellow and everything in the house was yellow.
Still another was blue and everything in the house was blue.
In the green house everything was green,
and in the gray house everything was grey.

What color were the stairs in the yellow house?

There are no stairs in any of the houses because they only have one story.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Begins and Has No End?

What begins and has no end? What is the ending of all that begins?

Death or decay.

Posted in Riddles

Wily Winifred and the Case of the Odd Numbers

Mrs. Shine was having a rough day and wanted a break. So she asked her class to calculate the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. In a few moments, Winifred was at her desk with the correct answer of 2,500. Stunned, Mrs. Shine figured she must have gotten lucky, and sent precocious Winifred back to her seat with the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Again, Winifred returned in seconds with the correct answer (5,625).

How did Winifred find the answer so quickly?

Winifred, being the precocious child she is, realized there was a pattern when computing smaller sums of odd numbers.

First 3: 1 + 3 + 5 = 9
First 4: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16
First 5: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25

Do you see the pattern like our dear friend Winnie?

For the first n odd numbers, the sum is equal to n2. Thus the first 50 is 502, or 2,500, and the first 75 is 752, or 5,625.

Posted in Brain Teasers