WELCOME TO THE PUZZLES

1) Draw an H.
then adding three more lines,
try to construct so you have 7 disjoined triangles

http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/answer/h.gif

2) Draw a W.
then adding three more lines,
try to construct so you have 9 disjoined triangles

http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/answer/W2.gif

3) Draw a 5 pointed star
then adding two more lines,
try to construct so you have 10 disjoined triangles http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/answer/starans.gif

4) A bookworm eats from the first page of an encyclopedia to the
last page. The bookworm eats in a straight line. The encyclopedia
consists of ten 1000 page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in
the usual order. Not counting covers, title pages, etc., how many
pages does the bookworm eat through? 8004

5)See if you can figure out a way to set up a problem
that equals 24. You have to use the numbers 1, 3, 4, 6
once and only once. You may use the operations of +, -, *, / 6 / (1 - (3/4))

5.5)Now try to obtain 24 from four 0's. This time you can use any valid mathematical operation. ((0! + 0!)! + (0! + 0!)!)! = 24 of course (0! + 0! + 0! + 0!)! works also but not near as impressive

6)Find the missing numbers.
0, 6, 24, 60, 120, 210, ___, ___, ___, ...n^3-n=ans

7)You have a piece of wood that is exactly 10 inches long. You
need to make as few marks as possible and yet still be able to
measure any thing from 1 to 10 inches. How many marks Must you make?
For example you can make a mark at one inch and measure 1 and 9.

8)There is only one more number in this series.
Can you figure this one out?
20,22,24,26,32,40,110,202, ?????????????base10,...,base 2 for last

9)What is the next (and last) number in this series?
77, 49, 36, 18, ?????8 --> numbers * number

10)What are the next numbers in this series?
0, 6, 6, 20, 20, ?, ?, ?, ?, x^2 + x * (-1)^x

Does this pattern persist?

Can you write an equation using one variable?

11)Can you continue the following sequence of letters:
OTTFFSSE......?One,Two,Three,Four,...

12)A bottle of wine costs $10. If the wine is worth $9 more than the bottle, what is the cost of the bottle? .50

13)Three men ate in a restaurant and the check came to $25. Each man gave the waiter $10 and told him to keep $2 out of the change as a tip. The waiter returned with $3 and each man took $1. Each man had paid $9 making a total of $27, and the waiter got $2, what happened to the other $1? they really paid 25 got 3 back plus waiter got 2

14)You have two hourglasses, a 4-minute glass and a 7-minute glass. You want to measure 9 minutes. How can this be done? 7 and 4 turn over both when 4 runs out turn over 4 when 7 runs out.

15) A boy selling fruit has only 3 weights, but with them he can weigh any whole number of pounds between 1 and 13. What weights does he have?Answer: 1lb, 3lb, 9lb,,,, ,1=1,2=3-1,3=3,4=3+1,5=9-(1+3),6=9-3,7=(9+1)-3,8=9-1,9=9,10=9+1,11=(9+3)-1 ,12=9+3,13=9+3+1

16)Divide 30 by half and add 10, what is the answer? 70

17)If you have a match and you walk into a room where there is an oil burner, a kerosine lamp, and a wood stove, which would you light first? match

18)A clerk in a butcher shop is 5' 10" tall, what does he weigh? meat

19)What was the President's name in 1960? Bush

20)Some months have 31 days, how many have 28? all 12

21)How many two cents stamps are there in a dozen? 12

22)How many birthdays does the average man have? 1

23)Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada? he is alive

24)How many outs are there in an inning? 6

25) Can you draw a line through each edge on the diagram below without crossing any edge twice and without lifting your pencil from the paper?

impossible!

26) A family of four (father, mother, son, and daughter) went on a hike. They walked all day long and, when evening was already drawing on, came to an old bridge over a deep gully. It was very dark and they had only one lantern with them. The bridge was so narrow and shaky that it could hold no more than two persons at a time. Suppose it takes the son 1 minute to cross the bridge, the daughter 3 minutes, the father 8 minutes, and the mother 10 minutes. Can the entire family cross the bridge in 20 minutes? If so, how? (When any two persons cross the bridge, their speed is equal to that of the slower one. Also, the lantern must be used while crossing the bridge.) 1&3, 3, 8&10, 1, 1&3 --total 20

27) The Impossible Equation

Using the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and the signs "+" and "=", can you create a valid equation? For example; 2+3=45. That doesn't work, but it is using the signs and numbers that I asked. You may not use a number or sign more then once. Also, you may not use any other signs or numbers, or anything else. V II = III + IV ---- or ---- 3^2=4+5 (2 is exponent)

28) The Unusual Paragraph

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour. There are no E's in the entire paragraph

29) I Want 4 Gallons..

Using a 3 gallon jug and a 5 gallon jug, can you get exactly 4 gallons in the 5 gallon jug assuming that you only have the two jugs and an unlimited supply of water?fill 5 pour 3 out have 2 dump 3 put 2 in 3 fill 5 pour 1 from 5 into 3 (has 2) then there are 4 in 5

30) The Bell Ringer

If it takes Eric 25 seconds to ring out 5 o'clock while on clock tower duty, how long does it take him to ring out 10 o'clock?

31) Insert +, -, *, and / or parentheses between the numbers to find a total of 30. Use all the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.(1+2)*3+4+5+6+7+8-9=30

32) Add contiguous numbers (horizontally and vertically) so that they total 30. Each number may be used only once.

4	5	3
2	1	8
7	6	9

7+2+4+5+1+8+3=30

33) A man wears a clean shirt every day. If he drops off his laundry and picks up the previous week's load every Tuesday night, how many shirts must he own to keep him going?15

34) What is the next row of digits?
1
1 1
2 1
1 2 1 1
1 1 1 2 2 1
3 1 2 2 1 1
1 3 1 1 2 2 2 1
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
read it aloud - one one, two one's etc.

35) How many squares are on a chess board? 204

36) Make ONE WORD from the following jumbled letters: 0 R E N 0 D W.
ONE WORD

37) In 10 seconds can you figure out(without a calculator) which is greater:354 x 357 or 355 x 356? 355*356 is bigger

38)You are given twelve balls. All are the same size and weight, except one which is heavier or lighter than the others. Using a balance scale, can you determine the odd ball in three weighings?

39)See if you can read these all correctly (as fast as possible)

black blue green orange pink yellow purple red black white

40)If a rubber ball is dropped from the Leaning Tower of Pisa at a height of 90 meters from the ground, and on each bounce the ball rises exactly one-tenth of its previous height, what distance will it travel before it comes to rest? 90+9u+9d+.9u+.9d+....=110m

41) Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I? TON

42) Decode this: YYUR - YYUB - ICURYY4ME Too wise you are, Too wise you be, I see you are too wise for me.

43) At a department store, a watch is discounted 20 percent, and then 30 percent after the first discount is applied. Would I be better off if the watch had a single discount of 50 percent? It's better to get the single 50% discount- 20% and then 30% would be about 6% more

44) Can you name three consecutive days withoug using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? yesterday, today, tomorrow

45) figure out the series.
2, 6, 20, 42, 110, ?, ? goes on and onseries of (prime-1)*(prime)

46) 5 + 5 + 5 = 550
Add one straight line to make the above statement true. 5 + 5 4 5 = 550

47) 2 + 2 = 4 and 2 x 2 =4
1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6
With these two sets of numbers (2,2 and 1,2,3) you get the same answer when you add the numbers up as you do when you multiply them. What 4 single digit numbers will work the same way?
1,1,2,4

if you are interested in an answer - send me a new puzzle with the answers and I'll send you an answer.

IF I get time I will add more soon! What is soon? -- who knows!

find any answers hidden within?

Puzzles here soon

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