Strawberry Puzzle
After a day picking strawberries I had a basket full. I ate 5 and gave Geoff half of the remaining. I then ate another 3 and gave Simon one third of the remaining. I ate another 6 and then gave Kim two thirds of the remaining. I now had 34 strawberries left. How many did I start with ? |
Star Number Puzzle
Place the numbers 1 to 12 in the circles so that each line has the same total. |
Weight Problem
The five school children in couples weigh 129 pounds, 125 pounds, 124 pounds, 123 pounds, 122 pounds, 121 pounds, 120 pounds, 118pounds, 116 pounds and 114 pounds on a weighing machine. What was the weight of each one of the five children if taken separately? |
Doggy Dilema
7 dogs were boarding at the local Pet Lodge. Each dog was in a separate run, all in a single row. One of the employees left the cages unlocked and the dogs have all gotten out of their runs. She needs to put each of them back in the right cage, but this is all she remembers. Help her get them in the right cages, and QUICK! 1. Spike doesn't like other dogs much, so he was on one of the ends. 2. Princess was somewhere to the left of Beau. 3. Rover was in the third run from the right. 4. The only dog between Fluffy and Lady was Princess. 5. Duke was directly to the left of Lady. |
Car Puzzle
Mel owns an antique car, which is on its second engine. The combined age of the car and the engine is 84 years. The car is currently twice as old as the engine was when the car was as old as the engine is now. How old are the car and the engine now ? You must justify your answer to collect the prize. |
Golfish Bowls
Rosie bought 15 goldfish. She put them in 5 bowls. Each bowl received a different number of goldfish. Each line of three bowls received the same number of goldfish. How did Rosie do it ? Find three different ways. |
Campers Puzzle
Aaron, was just about to begin preparing the picnic lunch for a group of campers. He already knew he needed to fill 55 bowls of the same size and capacity with the same amount of food. When he was done, he decided to read the guidelines for the picnic, just out of curiosity. The guidelines said: 1 Every camper gets their own bowl of soup. 2 Every two campers will get one bowl of spaghetti to share. 3 Every three campers will get one bowl of salad to share. 4 All campers are required to have their own helping of salad, spaghetti, and soup. How many campers were there ? You must explain your answer to collect a prize. |
Chocolate Puzzle
Joe can eat 27 chocolates in a hour, Ann can eat 2 chocolates in 10 minutes, and Karl can eat 7 chocolates in 20 minutes. How long will it take them to share and eat a large box of 120 chocolates whilst watching a movie? You must explain your answer to claim the prize. |
Packing Problem
A merchant can place 8 large boxes or 10 small boxes into a carton for shipping. In one shipment, he sent a total of 96 boxes. If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many cartons did he ship? |
What number is missing ?
1164 2432 3916 ???? 5254 Give a reason for your answer to claim a prize. |
Scout Puzzle
Four Scouts need to cross a river in a canoe. The canoe can only carry 100kg. Alex weighs 90kg, Brook weighs 80kg, Chris weighs 60kg and Dusty weighs 40kg, and they have 20kg of supplies. How do they get across? |
Odd One Out
Which number is the odd one out ? 8 12 18 27 31 45 Give a reason for your answer. |
Shop Til You Drop
Janie took her sister Marge out shopping. They each bought three items and by coincidence each spent exactly £ 222.22. Janie noticed that if you look at the price of each item the value in poundsis the square of the pence value. If one of Janie’s items cost £1.01 and one of Marge’s cost £169.13, what are the prices of the other four items ?_ |
Number Puzzle
Find the smallest possible number that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 but which can be divided by 7 with no remainder. |
CREEPIE CRAWLIES
A spider has 8 legs. A dragonfly has 6 legs and 2 pairs of wings. A cicada has 6 legs and one pair of wings. There are all 3 kinds and a total of 18 insects in a bathroom. There are a total of 118 legs and 20 pairs of wings. How many insects do we have of each kind ? |
Frog Puzzle
Kermit calculated that the average number of flies eaten per minute by this tree frog is 1.090909091 He found this by dividing a whole number of flies by a whole number of minutes. What were those two whole numbers ? |
What's Next?
What comes next ? 2 5 26 677 Explain your answer. |
Brainbender
Add letters to make the following true. 48 = 1461 = 35064 = 2103840 =126230400 |
Lollipop Puzzle
You can only buy Curran Lollies in packs of six, nine or twenty. What is the largest number of lollies such that you can not order any combination of packs to achieve exactly the number you want ? |
Betty's Puzzle
Each letter represents a different non-zero digit less than seven. A - B = E D - B = F E - C = B E - D = F Complete the following by adding the missing letters. A/D + BE - F - C = ? DC + 2B = A + 2? Many thanks to Betty Andrews for inventing this puzzle. |
Safe Cracking
In order to open a safe the nine keys must be pressed in the correct order by following the instructions on each pad, for example: It is necessary to find the starting point, then visit every pad, finally finishing with the centre pad. In what order do you press the pads to open the safe ? You must justify your answer to claim a prize.
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Xmas Pressie Puzzle
Alice, Bob, Cathy and Dan gathered together to exchange Christmas presents. Each of them brought two gifts. Alice wrapped her gifts in green wrappers. Bob wrapped his gifts in yellow wrappers. Cathy wrapped her gifts in blue wrappers. Dan wrapped his gifts in red wrappers. They drew lots to determine which gifts they are supposed to receive. Each of the receive two gifts in wrappers of different colors, and did not get the gifts they brought. Alice did not receive any gift wrapped in yellow. Cathy did not receive any gift wrapped in red. Bob did not receive any gifts wrapped in Blue. From whom did Alice, Bob, Cathy and Dan each received gifts ? |
Spider Puzzle
"Dad, where had you been?" asked Jimmy. "I had been to the attic, my son," replied Dad. "And do you know what I saw there ? There was a big web with 15 insects on it - all spiders and flies." "How many spiders were there ?" asked the little boy with curiosity. "Well, there were a total of 102 legs on the web," answered Dad with a smile. "Now you can find out how many spiders were there by yourself. Can't you ?" Find out how many spiders and how many flies were on the web in the attic ? |
Age Puzzle
When I add two times my age two years from now to three times my age three years from now, I get six times my current age. How old will I be ten years from now ? |
Pool Puzzle
A swimming pool has two inlet pipes (a large one and a small one) and one outlet pipe. It takes 10 hours to fill the pool with the large inlet pipe. It takes 60 hours to fill the pool with the small inlet pipe. The outlet pipe allows the full pool to be emptied in 70 hours. What fraction of the pool (initially empty) will be filled in 2 hours and 25 minutes if all three pipes are in operation ? |
Sir Cumference
Sir Cumference has a new car which he drives around the estate where he lives. The estate has a perfectly circular ring road of length 3770 metres and several straight roads across the middle. How long will it take him (calculated to the nearest second) to drive across the middle at 36 kilometres per hour ? |
Trainteaser
A train covers an outward journey at 120 mph. It returns over exactly the same distance at 80 mph. What is the train’s average speed over the entire journey ? |
Money Madness
A man left a legacy of £10,000 to three relatives and their wives. Together, the wives received £3960. June received £100 more than Camille, and Martha received £100 more than June. Jack Smith was given just as much as his wife, Horace Saunders got half as much again as his wife, and Terry Conners received twice as much as his wife. Which wife belongs to which husband ? |
Kakuro Puzzle
What is the sum of the missing numbers ? |
Dinosaur Puzzle
A triceratops dinosaur has three horns on its head. A billy goat has two horns on its head. You are in a field with some triceratops and some billy goats. You count the horns in the field and there are thirteen. You count the number of heads in the field and there are six. How many triceratops and how many billy goats are in the field ? |
Square Puzzle
Slice the picture into 2 sections from which you could make a 8 x 8 square. |
Diophantus
Diophantus was a Greek mathematician who lived in the third century. He was one of the first mathematicians to use algebraic symbols. Most of what is known about Diophantus's life comes from an algebraic riddle from around the early sixth century. The riddle states: Diophantus's youth lasted one sixth of his life. He grew a beard after one twelfth more. After one seventh more of his life, he married. 5 years later, he and his wife had a son. The son lived exactly one half as long as his father, and Diophantus died four years after his son. How many years did Diophantus live ? |