Three Children’s Names

Tom’s mother has three children. One is named April, one is named May. What is the third one named?

Tom

Posted in Brain Teasers

777, 888 and 999

You are given the numbers 777, 888 and 999. Using the numbers once and adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing, how can you make 999?

(7 x 7 x 7) + (9 x 9 x 8) + ((9 – 8) x 8) = 999
(77 + 7) + 888 + (9 + 9 + 9) = 999

If other operators were allowed, another solution would be 999 modulo (888 x 777). I’m sure there are more solutions.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Two Sisters Give Birth to the Other

They are two sisters. One gives birth to the other, who in turn gives birth to the first. What are the two sisters?

Night and day. When night is over, the day breaks, and when the day ends, night is born anew.

Posted in Riddles

You Are My Brother

You are my brother but I am not your brother. Who am I?

Your sister.

Posted in Riddles

A Home But No Family

I have an end but no beginning, a home but no family, a space without room. I never speak but there is no word I cannot make. What am I?

A keyboard.

Posted in Riddles

Longest AIOTS word

What is the longest word you can find using only the letters AIOTS (each letter can be used any number of times)?

Tattooists, which has 10 letters.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Remove My Middle And Still I Remain

Begin with a word, five letters to my name,
Remove the first and last but I am the same
Take out my middle and still I remain.

What word am I?

Empty. (mpt, emty or mt depending on your interpretation)

Posted in Riddles

Crazy Taxi Driver

A taxi driver runs through four red lights, two stop signs and goes through a house. A police officer witnesses this but doesn’t do anything. Why not?

The taxi driver is not in his cab, he’s out for a run. The house he went through was his own because he was done running.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Bottle and a Cork

A bottle and cork cost $1.10. If the bottle costs a dollar more than the cork, how much does the cork cost?

Most people guess 10 cents, but $1 more than 10 cents is $1.10, which would mean the total cost would be $1.20, not $1.10.

The correct answer is 5 cents. If the cork costs 5 cents, then the bottle costs a dollar more, or $1.05, making the total cost $1.10.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Wily Winifred and the Case of the Odd Numbers

Mrs. Shine was having a rough day and wanted a break. So she asked her class to calculate the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. In a few moments, Winifred was at her desk with the correct answer of 2,500. Stunned, Mrs. Shine figured she must have gotten lucky, and sent precocious Winifred back to her seat with the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Again, Winifred returned in seconds with the correct answer (5,625).

How did Winifred find the answer so quickly?

Winifred, being the precocious child she is, realized there was a pattern when computing smaller sums of odd numbers.

First 3: 1 + 3 + 5 = 9
First 4: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16
First 5: 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25

Do you see the pattern like our dear friend Winnie?

For the first n odd numbers, the sum is equal to n2. Thus the first 50 is 502, or 2,500, and the first 75 is 752, or 5,625.

Posted in Brain Teasers