September 10th In Britain

What happened on September 10th, 1752 in Britain?

Nothing happened that day. It didn’t exist due to the transition from a Julian calendar to Gregorian.

Read more here.

Posted in Riddles

Mental Calculations

Perform this calculation in your head, mentally adding the numbers as quickly as you can. Start with 1000 and add 40. Now add 1000. Add 30 to that, then add another 1000. Now add 20 to that result. Add another 1000 and finally, add 10 to that. What is the total?

4,100. If you got 5,000 you’re not alone. 96% of test subjects get the wrong answer.

Posted in Brain Teasers

An Oddly Priced Fish Shop

A fish shop with odd pricing sells fish for the following prices: A trout costs $20, a salmon is $19, and a plaice comes in at $16. Using their pricing logic, how much would they charge for a mackerel?

$13. The price is calculated by using the position in the alphabet of the first letter of the name of the fish. An Albacore would be $1, a Bandfish would be $2. Note, I do not recommend using this pricing strategy unless you find yourself with an assortment of cheap Zebrafish.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Bookworm

A bookworm eats from the first page of an encyclopedia to the last page in a straight line. The encyclopedia consists of ten 1000-page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in the usual order. Not counting covers, title pages, etc., how many pages does the bookworm eat through?

        __                             __
      B|  |                           |  |F
      A|1 |...........................|10|R
      C|  |                           |  |O
      K|  |                           |  |N
       |__|                           |__|T
      -------------------------------------

On a book shelf the first page of the first volume is on the “inside”, so the bookworm eats only through the cover of the first volume, then 8 times 1000 pages of Volumes 2 – 9, then through the cover to the 1st page of Vol 10 for a total of 8,000 pages.

Note: The question asks how many pages, not how many sheets of paper.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Ten Men’s Strength

Ten men’s strength,
Ten men’s length,
Ten men can’t break it,
Yet a young boy walks off with it.

What am I?

A rope.

Posted in Riddles

What Digit Does Each Letter Represent?

This is what you know:

1. Each letter represents a different digit from 1 to 9
2. The total of each row is 17.
3. (B × B) + B + F = A
4. C × F = EF (a 2-digit number, not their product)

A B C
D E F

What digit does each letter represent?

A = 7
B = 1
C = 9

D = 8
E = 4
F = 5

A + B + C = 17
D + E + F = 17
B2 + B + F = A
C × F = EF

To begin with, B has to be a 1 or 2 or else A wouldn’t be a single digit. Plug in B = 2, gives you 6 + F = A, meaning F and A can only be (1,7) or (3,9). To get 17, C would have to be 8 or 6, but those values don’t work for C × F = EF. So B must be 1.

2 + F = A means F and A can be (2,4), (3,5), (4,6), (5,7), (6,8) or (7,9). To get 17 on the top row, the only option that leaves C as a single digit is F = 5 and A = 7.

C × F = EF
9 × 5 = 45, so E = 4 and D = 8 to make the second row equal to 17.

Posted in Brain Teasers

In Your Body Free the First Two Times

What is in your body for free the first and the second time but the third time you have to buy yourself?

Your teeth. You get baby teeth and adult teeth as part of the life package, but once you lose those you get to pay for dentures (or scare small children with your sunken face).

Posted in Riddles

How Many Fs?

Read this sentence.

   Finished files are the re-
   sult of years of scientif-
   ic study combined with
   the experience of years.

How many times does the letter F appear?

Six times. Most people skip the word ‘of’ and only count three.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Charming Dimple

There are two meanings to me. With one I may need to be broken, with the other I hold on. My favorite characteristic is my charming dimple. What am I?

A tie.

Posted in Riddles

You Got Me in the Woods

When you went into the woods you got me.
You hated me yet you wanted to find me.
You went home with me cause you couldn’t find me.

What was it?

A splinter.

Posted in Riddles