When Set Loose I Fly Away

When set loose
I fly away,
Never so cursed
As when I go astray.

A fart.

Posted in Riddles

4 Is Cosmic

1 is 3,
3 is 5,
5 is 4,
4 is cosmic.

What is 6? And what is meant by cosmic?

6 is 3 of course. Because six has three letters.

One = three letters
Three = five letters
Five = four letters
Four = four letters

Cosmic is a number that has the same number of letters as the value. Four is the only number I’m aware of that has this property.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Mario’s Racing Grandma

Mario is testing out a new car at the racetrack. His grandmother took it for a mile lap and averaged 30mph. How fast does Mario have to drive in the second lap to average 60mph for the two miles?

90mph is an alluring answer, but it’s impossible. At 90mph the second lap would take 40 seconds. If Grannie’s first lap at 30mph took 2 minutes, traveling 2 miles in 2 minutes and 40 seconds is an average speed of 45mph. Traveling an average speed of 60mph for 2 miles would take 2 minutes and since the grandma’s lap took all of those 2 minutes, even if Mario could break the sound barrier he wouldn’t be able to average 60mph.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Remove Six Letters

Remove six letters from this sequence to reveal a familiar English word.

BSAINXLEATNTEARS

The familiar English word that remains is BANANA after removing the phrase “SIX LETTERS”.

Posted in Riddles

Surf, School, Room

What word can be added before or after these words to make a new word or phrase?

Surf, School, Room

Board. Surf board, school board (or maybe boarding school), board room.

Posted in Riddles

No Eyes But Once Could See

I do not have eyes but I once could see. I used to have thoughts but now I’m empty.

A skull.

Posted in Riddles

Blindly Picking Socks

You have 12 black socks and 12 white socks mixed up in a drawer. You’re up very early and it’s too dark to tell them apart. What’s the smallest number of socks you need to take out (blindly) to be sure of having a matching pair?

Sock drawer

Three socks. If the first sock is black, the second one could be black, in which case you have a matching pair. If the second sock is white, the third sock will be either black and match the first sock, or white and match the second sock.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Special Sequence

What is special about the following sequence of numbers?

8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0

The numbers are in alphabetical order.

8 = eight
5 = five
4 = four
9 = nine
1 = one
7 = seven
6 = six
10 = ten
3 = three
2 = two
0 = zero

Posted in Brain Teasers
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ROFORKAD

What does this rebus represent?

ROFORKAD

A fork in the road.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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Rebellious Randall

You’re waiting to board your flight at the airport with 99 other passengers, each with an assigned seat. All but one of the passengers will gladly sit in their designated seat. The only exception is Randall, a scoundrel who refuses to follow the rules. When he boards, he will choose a random, unoccupied seat.

If a rule-following passenger finds someone in their spot, they will choose another one at a random from the remaining unoccupied seats.

What is the probability that the last person to board the plane will sit in their proper seat?

The randomness stops as soon as someone else sits in Randall’s assigned seat. The chances of this happening range from 1 out of 99 to 1 out of 1 (when only one seat remains).

Thus, the probability of the last person sitting in their own seat can be calculated as 1/99 plus the sum of 2 to 98 of the formula 1 / n × (n + 1), which works out to 0.5, or 50%.

So there’s a 50% chance the last passenger will sit in their own seat thanks to Randall for screwing up order and procedure when boarding an aircraft.

Posted in Brain Teasers