The Potato Paradox

Fred brings home 100 pounds of potatoes, which (being purely mathematical potatoes) consist of 99 percent water. He then leaves them outside overnight so that they consist of 98 percent water. What is their new weight?

50 pounds.

100 lb of potatoes with 99% water weight means there’s 99 lb of water and 1 lb of solids, a 1:99 ratio.

If the water decreases to 98%, then the solids account for 2% of the weight. The 2:98 ratio reduces to 1:49. Since the solids still weigh 1 lb, the water must weigh 49 lb for a total of 50 lbs for the answer.

Read more at the Potato Paradox wikipedia page.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Remove Four And I’m The Same

I am an English word with five letters. If you remove my last four I am still pronounced the same. What am I?

Queue.

Posted in Riddles

The Camel Race

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What did the wise man say?

The wise man said to switch camels.

Each son owns a camel, let’s call them Camel A and Camel B. If Camel A is slower, son A gets the fortune. If Camel B is slower, son B gets the fortune. Neither of the sons want to enter the city first because they won’t get the fortune.

When they switch camels, son A is now riding his brother’s camel (camel B) and son B is riding his brother’s camel (camel A). Now, they each want the camel they’re riding to get to the city first. If son A wins the race on camel B, that means his camel, camel A, was slower and he wins the fortune. The same is true for the other way around if the second son wins the race on camel A.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I Am And Yet Cannot

I am and yet cannot,
I’m an idea, yet can rot,
I’m two but none,
On land but on sea.

What am I?

A paradox / pair of docks.

Posted in Riddles

The Most Impressive Boundary

The most impressive boundary’s not a wall.
It’s not a manufactured thing at all.
Moving towards it won’t reduce the gap
and nothing marks its presence on a map.

The horizon.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

From Standard to Sequence

Starting with the word STANDARD, how can you take away two letters and add three digits to make a logical sequence?

Remove the two A’s, leaving: ST ND RD
Add 1, 2, 3 to produce: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Apples for Leather

Apples for leather,
leather for silk,
silk for tobacco,
all to get milk.

Bartering.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Into the House Through the Keyhole

What always comes into the house through the keyhole?

The key.

Posted in Riddles

What Runs Around the Yard

What runs around the yard without moving?

A fence.

Posted in Riddles
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Odd Row Out

Which row is the odd one out?

A. K N Q T W Z
B. B F J N R V
C. A F K P V Z
D. 3 6 9 12 15 18
E. 7 11 15 19 23 27
F. 13 18 23 28 33 38

C is the odd row out.

In A two letters are skipped between each letter.
In B three letters are skipped between each letter.
In C four letters are skipped between each letter except V, which should be U.
The numbers in rows D, E and F follow the same pattern.

Posted in Brain Teasers