The Pattern of Numbers

These series follow a pattern.
2 4 8
1 17 476
65 20987 3571890

This series does not follow the pattern
18 79 45

What is the pattern?

The numbers must be in ascending order. This can be a fun one to have people work out in person, as they test out three-number series and you can tell them whether or not they satisfy the pattern.

Thanks to Patrick for sending this in and thanks to this video from Veritasium for inspiring Patrick.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Throw It Out To Use

What do you throw out to use and take in when you’re done?

An anchor.

Posted in Riddles

Sharpshooter

A sharpshooter hangs up his hat, turns around and walks 5000 meters in one direction, then turns around and shoots his gun, putting a hole right through his hat. How did he do it?

He hung the hat up on his gun.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Eight Eleven Five Sequence

Which two numbers are missing and where do they go in the sequence?

8, 11, 5, 14, 1, 7, 6, 10, 13, 3, 12, 2

The missing numbers are 4 and 9. The list is sorted alphabetically by the English spelling of the numbers, so four belongs after five and nine comes after fourteen.

Posted in Brain Teasers
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A Real Life Emergency

Mary was out riding a frisky pony in a meadow by the sea when the bridle came loose. The animal shook it off and started to gallop full speed toward the ocean, paying no attention to Mary’s yelling to slow down. She couldn’t bear to jump off and lose her beloved pony, so she stayed on and hoped for the best. When the cliff loomed ahead of her, she knew she had to stop the pony. How did she do it?

Mary clapped her hands tightly over the animal’s eyes, causing it to stop.

Posted in Brain Teasers

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.

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A Silent Murder Witness

Emily witnessed a murder in early January but didn’t call the police. Why?

It was a murder of crows.

Posted in Brain Teasers

2 + 2 = 5

What is the similarity between “2 + 2 = 5” and your left hand?

Neither is right. Two plus two equals five isn’t right, or correct and your left hand is not your right hand.

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How Old is Lilly?

Two days ago Lilly was 7 years old. Next year she will turn 10. How can this be?

Her birthday is December 31st. Today is January 1st so she was 7 two days ago, and turned 7 last year. Now she’s 8 and will turn 9 this year. And next year she’ll turn 10.

For example, if today is 01 Jan 2015:

30 Dec 2014 = age 7 (two days ago)
01 Jan 2015 = age 8 (today, she turned 8 on 31 Dec 2014, which was last year)
31 Dec 2015 = age 9 (her birthday this year)
31 Dec 2016 = age 10 (her birthday next year)

Posted in Brain Teasers

First In Flower and In Rose

My first is in FLOWER and in ROSE
My second is in FORK and well as HOSE
My third is in CROCUS but not in GNOME
My fourth is in RAKE never in HOME
My fifth is in HOE and also in WEEDS
My sixth is in SHEARS though not in SEEDS
My seventh is in LADYBIRD not in CREATURE

What am I?

Rockery

Posted in Riddles