Math Riddles - Page 5

You have been given the task of transporting 3,000 apples 1,000 miles from Appleland to Bananaville. Your truck can carry 1,000 apples at a time. Every time you travel a mile towards Bananaville you must pay a tax of 1 apple but you pay nothing when going in the other direction (towards Appleland).

What is highest number of apples you can get to Bananaville?
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There is a 100 pound watermelon laying out in the sun. 99 percent of the watermelon’s weight is water. After laying out for a few hours 98 percent of the watermelon’s weight is water.

How much water evaporated?

How much water evaporated?
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An ant gets onto one end of a tight rope that is 1 meter long. The ant is traveling at 1 centimeter per second, but the entire rope is being stretched an extra 1 meter a second (it can be stretched forever).

Will the ant ever reach the other end of the rope?
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Four people need to cross a bridge in 17 minutes in the middle of the night. The bridge can only hold two or less people at any time and they only have one flashlight so they must travel together (or alone). The flashlight can only travel with a person so every time it crosses the bridge it must be carried back. Tom can cross in 1 minute, John can cross in 2 minutes, Sally can cross in 5 minutes, and Connor can cross in 10 minutes. If two people cross together they go as fast as the slower person.

How can they cross the bridge in 17 minutes or less?
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A knight comes to a castle where his love is trapped. The castle is surrounded by a square moat that is 10 feet wide (it forms a square around the castle). The knight is able to fashion two 9 foot long planks to cross the moat.

How can he do this?
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A man goes into a barbershop and gets a $15 haircut. He pays the barber with a $20 bill, but the barber doesn’t have change because it is an especially slow day. The barber goes to the flower shop next to his own and trades the $20 bill for a $10 dollar bill and two $5 bills. Then he gives the man his $5 in change.

Later the lady from the flower shop confronts the barber and tells him that the $20 bill he gave her was counterfeit. The barber agrees and he gives the lady a different $20 bill.

Later that day he tries to figure out how much money he lost. What did he lose?
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Five pirates are parting ways after finding a treasure of 100 pieces of gold. The pirates decide to split it based on a vote. Each pirate, from oldest to youngest, gets to propose a plan on how to split the gold.

If at least 50 percent of the other remaining pirates agree on the plan, that is how they will split the gold. If less than 50 percent of the pirates agree, the pirate who came up with the plan will be thrown overboard. Each pirate is smart, greedy, and wants to throw as many others overboard as possible without reducing the amount of gold they get.

What plan can the first (oldest) pirate propose to live and get as much gold as possible?
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A hobo picks up cigarette butts from the ground and can make a cigarette with 4 butts. If he finds 16 cigarette butts, how many cigarettes can he make?
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There are three jars full of equal amounts quarters, dimes, and penny’s. Which one has the highest value?
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Thomas has missed an excessive number of days of school, so he must meet with Principal Davis. Mr. Davis asks him “Why on Earth have you missed so many days?”

Thomas replies “There just isn’t enough time for school. I need 8 hours of sleep a day, which adds up to about 122 days a year. Weekends off is 104 days a year. Summer vacation is about 60 days. If I spend about an hour on each meal, that’s 3 hours a day or 45 days a year. I need at least 2 hours of exercise and relaxation time each day to stay physically and mentally fit, adding another 30 days.

Add all of that up and you get about 361 days. That only leaves 4 days for school.”

The principal knows Thomas is full of it, but can’t figure out why. Where is Thomas going wrong?
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A fast food restaurant sells chicken in orders of 6, 9, and 20.

What is the largest number of pieces of chicken you cannot order from this restaurant?

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In 1940, a correspondent proposed the following question:

A man’s age at death was one twenty-ninth of the year of his birth. How old was he in 1900?
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Mr. Smith has two children. If the older child is a boy, what are the odds that the other child is also a boy?
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When is 99 more than 100?
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Little Johnny is walking home. He has $300 he has to bring home to his mom. While he is walking a man stops him and gives him a chance to double his money. The man says “I’ll give you $600 if you can roll 1 die and get a 4 or above, you can roll 2 dice and get a 5 or 6 on at least one of them, or you can roll 3 dice and get a 6 on at least on die. If you don’t I get your $300.”

What does Johnny do to have the best chance of getting home with the money?

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A man was born on January 1st, 23 B.C. and died January 2nd, 23 A.D. How old did he live to be?
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Jasmine has a toaster with two slots that toasts one side of each piece of bread at a time, and it takes one minute to do so.

If she wants to make 3 pieces of toast, what is the least amount of time she needs to toast them on both sides?
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What is 40 divided by 1/2, plus 15?
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A man in New York City has $10. He spends $6.50 on flowers, and $3 on lunch (hot coffee and a hot dog). He then gets on the subway which will take him 7 stops for 50 cents. But he is forced to get off of the subway just 5 stops away from where he began.

Why is this?
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What is the next number in the sequence?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
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