The Shortest Sentence In the World

What is the shortest sentence in the English language?

Jelly donuts (ice cream is better)

The typical answer to this is “I am,” but some argue that it’s not a complete sentence. However, if someone asked a man named Rupert if he was Rupert, he could reply, “I am” and it would make a complete sentence in my book.

But that’s not the whole answer. There is an even shorter sentence using an imperative with an implied subject (how’s that for an English terminology-filled sentence?) With “Go,” the “you” is implied. For example, if your wife wanted you to go with her to pick up some donuts and you were busy, she might say, “I really want to get some donuts, I’m starving!” and you might reply, “Go!” The implication being you never wanted to get donuts in the first place because you like ice cream more anyway and if you’re busy you’re probably doing something worthwhile and important and can’t be disturbed for such trivial matters as acquiring sweet pastries with holes in them, no matter how much of a waste of time your wife says your pursuits are. In short, “Go” is the shortest sentence in the English language that also has the longest implied meaning. Do you want to get get some ice cream? Go!

Ava pointed out in the comments that No is another viable alternative.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Death By Marbles

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles and 2 empty bowls and instructs you to divide the 100 marbles into the two bowls. You can divide them however you want as long as all the marbles are in the bowls. You will be blindfolded and the bowls and marbles will be thoroughly mixed. You will then choose a single marble from one of the bowls. If the marble is white, you live. Black and you will be put to death.

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a white marble?

Place one white marble in one bowl and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (49 whites, and 50 blacks).

This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with one white marble and living. Even if you choose the other bowl, you still have an almost 50% chance of picking one of the 49 white marbles. There are no guarantees in life, but this gives you the best change of surviving.

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Seemingly Simple Math Problem

What is the answer to this problem?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
1 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

30.

There are two tricks to this one. The first is 1 × 0. But it’s mostly there as a distraction. Yes, 1 × 0 is 0, but that doesn’t affect anything else in the equation. The second, far trickier element is that the lines ending with 1 don’t have a + sign next to them. That means they should be combined with the following line.

Let’s put the equation all on one line, shall we?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 11 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

And the answer to that equation is 30.

Posted in Brain Teasers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

This equation is incomplete: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

One way to make it accurate is by adding seven plus and minus signs, like so.

1 + 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 + 6 + 78 + 9 = 100

How can you do it using only 3 plus or minus signs?

123 – 45 – 67 + 89 = 100

Posted in Brain Teasers

One Three Five

What word comes next?

one three five four ______

Four. Each word is the number of letters in the previous word. And since four has four letters, it would continue with four forever after.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Cheese Made Backwards

What cheese is made backwards?

Edam cheese.

Posted in Brain Teasers

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

Buying Chickens

You must buy 100 chickens for exactly $100, and purchase at least one chicken from each store. The first store charges 5 cents/chicken, the second charges $1/chicken and the third charges $5/chicken. How many chickens should you buy from each store?

80 from store 1 = $4
1 from store 2 = $1
19 from store 3 = $95

Posted in Brain Teasers

Oh, Oh, Oh, No

What number do the three letters O, H and N represent in order to make this addition problem correct?

OH
OH
OH
OH +
-----
NO

O = 2
H = 3
N = 9

23
23
23
23 +
-----
92
Posted in Brain Teasers

Starts With T

What starts with a T, ends with a T, and has “T” in it?

A teapot.

Posted in Riddles