Riddles and Brain Teasers

Train From Chicago to LA

An electric train is traveling on a 2000-mile journey from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA. It has 16 cars with a total of 320 passengers. The weather is cloudy and cool, with a warm front approaching from the south. Which direction will the steam blow?

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There is no steam. It’s an electric train.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Roast with the Most

How do you spell roast?
How do you spell most?
How do you spell coast?
How do you spell post?

What do you put into a toaster?

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Bread. (It turns into toast when it’s done toasting).

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville shaves all men living in Seville.
No man living in Seville is allowed to shave himself.
The Barber of Seville lives in Seville.

Who shaves the Barber of Seville?

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Nobody. The Barber of Seville is a woman. Female barbers are rare, but they exist.And for more fun with barbers, check out the Barber paradox.

Nobody. The Barber of Seville is a woman. Female barbers are rare, but they exist.

And for more fun with barbers, check out the Barber paradox.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Builds Its Table On My Shelf

From that which comes within itself,
it builds its table on my shelf.

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A spider. The silk comes from within the spider, and the “table” (web) is often built in corners like there are on a bookshelf.By Sef Daystrom

A spider. The silk comes from within the spider, and the “table” (web) is often built in corners like there are on a bookshelf.

By Sef Daystrom

Posted in Riddles

Everyone Is Doing This Same Thing

Right now everyone in the world, no matter where they are, is doing the exactly same thing. What is it?

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Getting older. Sad but true, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. If you thought of breathing, it’s not entirely accurate because not everyone takes a breath at the same time. Living is an arguably suitable alternate answer as well.

Posted in Riddles

Highest Number Without the Letter N?

What is the highest regular counting number that is spelled without the use of the letter “N”? (No numbers like Googolplex or Graham’s number)

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Eighty-eight. From then on, they all have the letter “N”.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Boat at High Tide

A boat has a ladder that has six rungs. Each rung is one foot apart. The bottom rung is one foot from the water. The tide rises at 12 inches every 15 minutes. High tide peaks in one hour.

When the tide is at its highest, how many rungs are under water?

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None. The boat is floating on the water, so as the tide rises, so does the ladder.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Bank Wait Times

Suppose a small bank has one teller and customer transactions take 10 minutes on average. With 5.8 customers arriving per hour, what is the expected wait time? What would it be if you added a second teller?

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With one teller, customers will wait nearly five hours on average. But adding a second teller makes the wait go down to 3 minutes.Thanks to John D. Cook for this one.