Riddles and Brain Teasers

Bank Wait Times

Suppose a small bank has one teller and customer transactions take 10 minutes on average. With 5.8 customers arriving per hour, what is the expected wait time? What would it be if you added a second teller?

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With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.

With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.

Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.

Posted in Brain Teasers

What Does He Weigh?

The owner of the butcher shop is five foot ten inches tall, has brown hair and wears size 11 1/2 shoes. He is married and has two children, one boy and one girl. What does he weigh?

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Meat. The rest of the details were merely distractions. Butchers weigh meat at a butcher shop.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Can Be Broken Yet I Hold On

I am a word with two meanings. With one I can be broken, with the second I hold on. What am I?

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Tie. A tie score can be broken, but when you tie a knot (as in a necktie) it holds together.

Posted in Riddles

Tagged with What am I?

Born in 1946, Died in 1947

A man is born in 1946 and dies in 1947, yet he was 86 years old. How is that possible?

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He was born in room #1946 of the hospital when he was born, and died in room #1947 86 years later.

Posted in Riddles

Cops Close Cellar Corpse

Replace the letters with numbers to make this a valid mathematical equation.

    COPS
   CLOSE
  CELLAR
  CORPSE
    CASE
+ COLLAR
--------
  RECTOR

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Posted in Brain Teasers

Tends To Overlook

I am something everybody tends to overlook, no matter how careful they are. What am I?

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Your nose.

Posted in Riddles

I Cannot Speak

I cannot speak but I have great knowledge,
I’m not a tree but I have leaves.
I have hinges but I am neither a door nor a window.

What am I?

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A book.

Posted in Riddles

Tagged with What am I?

Represent The Alphabet

What word or expression does this represent?

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZ

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Missing you (U).

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Thinner It Grows

You use me from your head to your toes.
The more you use the thinner it grows.
For years I was not often used,
Not using me now is not excused.

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Soap.

Posted in Riddles

A Trapped Flock of Birds

A flock of birds are trapped in a delivery truck. When would the truck weigh the most?

a) When the birds are resting on the floor
b) When they’re all flying
c) The weight remains the same

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c – The weight doesn’t change since it’s a closed system.

Posted in Brain Teasers

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