Alphonso and his sister Sadie are entering the airport to meet their mother when Sadie gasps in surprise and says to her brother, “You see that man in the crowd over there?”
Alphonso replies, “It’s Bernie. I don’t believe it. Let’s go introduce ourselves.”
Neither of them had ever met Bernie before. They’d never seen a picture or painting of him, nor was he a famous celebrity.
Alphonso was born as a twin, but he was separated from his twin brother at birth. Bernie is Alphonso’s identical twin, which is how Sadie was able to recognize him in the crowd.
This is kind of a cheat, because there are probably other possible explanations. But we can’t have everything :)
You’re riding a horse. To the right of you is a cliff and in front of you is an elephant moving at the same pace and you can’t overtake it. To the left of you is a hippo running at the same speed and a lion is chasing you. How do you get to safety?
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:
What must be in the oven yet can not be baked? Grows in the heat yet shuns the light of day? What sinks in water but rises with air? Looks like sand, but is fine as hair?
A man is trapped in a room with only two possible exits. Through the first door is a room with an enormous magnifying glass causing the blazing hot sun to instantly burn anything that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?
Chuck and Ruby were going to meet at a hotel for their anniversary dinner, but Ruby didn’t show. Chuck was angry and left her a passive aggressive message on their kitchen table in the form of fifteen matchsticks spelling “hotel” and went to bed. When Ruby got home and saw the matchsticks, she removed one and went to bed. When Chuck woke up the next morning and saw Ruby’s new message, he realized his mistake. Which stick did Ruby remove and what was the new message?
Ruby had removed the top of the T and the new message could be seen upside down from where Chuck sat at his breakfast of sadness and anger. What he saw was 7 3 1 0 4, or 7/31/04, the date of their anniversary. In his excitement, Chuck had gone to the restaurant a day early, on July 30th. All was forgiven by both parties and Chuck and Ruby had a wonderful dinner together. They also promised to buy a whiteboard for the kitchen so they wouldn’t have to use matchstick messages ever again.
