| Hi there,
Here you go… How did you get on?
Happy New Year!
Andy
Question One
One of the people who Geraldine loves most in the world binds her to a chair. But Geraldine doesn’t mind at all. Why not?
Geraldine is a baby. Her parents have strapped her into her car seat
Question Two
Tom and Jack own a cube-shaped wooden container. It has plain walls – with no writing or markings on them. It has no lid. It’s approximately half-full of milk.
Tom thinks the container is more than half full. Jack thinks it’s less than half full.
Without measuring implements, and without removing any milk from the container, how can they easily check who is correct?
They must tilt the container until the milk reaches the rim of the container. If they can see the bottom of the container, then it’s less than half full
Question Three
If it takes two men two days to dig two holes, how long will it take four men to dig half a hole?
It’s impossible – you can’t dig half a hole!
Question Four
The letters in the number ‘FOUR’ are not in alphabetical order. Yes, ‘F’ appears in the alphabet before ‘O’, and ‘O’ before ‘U’. But ‘R’ appears before ‘U’ in the alphabet, so the letters aren’t all in alphabetical order. Two questions:
- What is the smallest number, whose letters all appear in alphabetical order?
Forty
- What is the smallest number, whose letters all appear in reverse alphabetical order
One
Question Five
What lives if it’s fed, but dies if you give it a drink?
Fire
Question Six
Maia owns a beautiful pear tree. She sells the fruit to a nearby school. The school has called her to see how much fruit is available for them to buy. Maia knows that the tree’s trunk has 24 branches. Each branch has exactly 12 boughs. And each bough has exactly 6 twigs. Since each twig bears one piece of fruit, how many plums will she be able to deliver to the school?
None. A pear tree does not have any plums!
Question Seven
What is it that – when you have it – you want to share it. But when you share it, you don’t have it any more?
A secret
Question Eight
Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on earth?
Mount Everest – it was still the biggest; it’s just that it hadn’t been discovered!
Question Nine
Megan always tells the truth. Emma always lies. One of them said, “The other one said she is Emma”. Who said it?
It was Emma. Megan couldn’t have said “The other one said she is Emma” – since this would be a true statement made by Emma
Question Ten
If a doctor gives you three pills, and she tells you to take one pill every half hour, how long will they last?
One hour. Assume it’s now 10am, you’d take the first pill now – 10am. The second, a half hour later – 10.30am. And the third, a half hour after that – 11am… So, the third one is exactly one hour after taking the first
Question Eleven
Amelie and Theo were in a 100 metre race. When Amelie crossed the finish line, Theo was only at the 90 metre mark. Amelie suggested they run another race. This time, Amelie would start 10 metres behind the starting line. All other things being equal – in the second race, will Theo win, lose, or will it be a tie?
Theo will lose again. In the second race, Amelie started ten metres back. By the time Theo reaches the 90 metre mark, Amelie will have caught up to him. Therefore the final 10 metres will belong to the faster of the two. Since Amelie is faster than Theo, she will win the final 10 metres and, therefore, the race
(Or maths-y version: X ran 90m while Y ran 100m. So X runs at 90% of the speed of Y. Now, Y has to run 110m (the original 100m plus the extra 10m). While Y is running 110m, X will run 90% of 110m – 99m. So X will have run 99m when Y crosses the finish line)
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