My daughter has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?
Four daughters and three sons. Each daughter has 3 sisters and 3 brothers, and each brother has 2 brothers and 4 sisters.
To figure it out mathematically, you could use the following two equations where G = the number of girls and B = the number of boys: G – 1 = B 2(B – 1) = G
Solving for G gives you 4 and plugging that in to G – 1 = B gives you a B of 3.
The letter H. It completes the list of letters that are vertically symmetrical. In other words, you can fold the top half of the letter over the bottom half and everything lines up.
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:
This mother comes from a family of eight, Supports her children in spite of their weight, Turns around without being called, Has held you since the time you crawled.
“Mother” Earth. The family of eight are the eight planets, all of the world’s population is quite a load, the earth is always spinning (or turning around) and unless you’re an alien, you’ve been on earth your whole life.
A man gets ready for bed at 9:45 pm. He makes himself a drink, then turns off the TV and the lights. The night was windy and there was a major storm. The next day he discovers he was the cause of seven deaths. How is this possible?
He lived in a lighthouse as lighthouse keeper. He turned off all the lights by accident, so a ship with 7 passengers couldn’t negotiate the rocky shores. One would think the light switches in a lighthouse would be more clearly marked.
Ten seconds is 1/6 of a minute and 1 minute is 1/60 of an hour, so 10 seconds is 1/360 of an hour.
If you graph her trip with the speed on the y-axis and the time on the x-axis, you get a triangle with height of 60 mph and width of 1/360 of an hour. To calculate the area of the triangle, you multiply 1/2 × 1/360 × 60 = 1/12.
You dance in a circle of joined hands, And though they spin away I can always see your face, In the world, no matter where I am, One look at you and I know my place.
An analogue clock is a circle, and the hands of a clock are joined at the middle. The hands can point away from you, but the clock face is always visible. No matter where you are in the world, you can probably find a clock. “One look at you and I know my place…in time!”
Thanks to Helena for creating this and sending it in.
Use each clue to identify a famous person who last name ends in the letters T-O-N, like George Washington.
1. Friends star 2. Cotton Club bandleader 3. Batman and Beetlejuice lead 4. Blonde, buxom country music legend
Halfway there!
5. Steamboat developer 6. Author of The Age of Innocence 7. Found of a Kmart rival and a Club 8. She lead a news website called The (her last name) Post