Conundrums VI

151. John was going home after a stay in the country. He went halfway by train, 15 times as fast as he could go on foot. The second half, however, he travelled by ox-wagon - and he could have walked twice as fast as that! As he dawdled along he wondered whether he would have saved time if he had walked all the way? And if so, how much?	Answer 19
152. The day before the day after tomorrow is Saturday. You had a date to go to the dentist the day before the day before the day after tomorrow. You couldn't make it and changed it to five days later. When did you go?	Answer 19
153. There are 120 students in a freshman class. Their final examination in zoology was given in two parts. 75 of the students passed the first part and 55 of them passed the second part. 38 passed both parts. Can you tell how many of the students in the freshman class failed both exams?	Answer 19
154. "After a week of hard work I have earned _abc_ Euro" says Jan. When I have paid _dde_ Euro on taxes I have _cfe_ Euro left. Then there is the rent of my house, which is _gc_ Euro per week, leaving me with _bgb_ Euro! We also have to eat and drink, my wife needs a new hat, some make-up, etc., which on average cost me _def_ Euro a week. Every week I save the pathetic sum of _hb_ Euro . I have been doing this for _dc_ weeks now. Do you know how much I have in my savings account now?	Answer 19
155. During one of his rambles, Professor Rackbrain happened to come upon a man digging a deep hole. "Good morning", he said. "How deep is that hole?" "Guess", replied the laborer. "My height is exactly 5 feet 10 inches." "How deep are you going?" asked the Professor. "I am going twice as deep," was the answer, "and then my head will be twice as far below ground as it is now above ground." Professor Rackbrain now asks if you can tell how deep that hole will be when it's finished. What would the answer be if the Professor asked, "How much deeper are you going?"	Answer1 Answer2 19
156. To conserve the contents of a 16oz. bottle of tonic, a castaway adopts the following procedure. on the first day he drinks 1 oz. of tonic and then refills the bottle with water; on the second day he drinks 2oz. of the mixture and then refills the bottle with water;on the third day he drinks 3oz. of the mixture and then again refills the bottle with water. He continues this procedure until the bottle is empty. How many ounces of water did he drink altogether? He does not drink from the bottle if there is no tonic in it.	Answer 19
157. When I came in our kitchen one day I saw that a number of wasps were attracted by the jar of our home-made jam. I took a towel and started hitting. However, the battle was not easy to win. No sooner had I killed one wasp, or the surviving wasps doubled. I killed a second wasp, and again the surviving ones doubled. I realised that, if I continued with my course of action, the moment I killed the tenth wasp, there would be 683 times as many wasps as there were when I first entered the kitchen. How many wasps were there in the beginning, and how did I got rid off those blasted wasps?	Answer 19
158. Two brothers are twins, born in Europe in 1926. Their mother gave birth first to Günter, and then to Falco exactly 15 minutes later. When the brothers celebrated their 70th birthdays, first Günter had his birthday, and then Falco had his birthday two days later. How can this be?	Answer 19
159. Two brothers are twins, born in Europe in 1926. Their mother gave birth first to Karl, and then to Franz exactly 15 minutes later. Last year the brothers celebrated their 70th birthdays first Franz on his birthday, then Karl on his birthday two days later. And this remarkable separation of birthdays could not have arisen if the two births (15 minutes apart) had occurred even 1 minute later than they did. At what time of day was Karl, the elder twin, born?	Answer 19
161. Several members of a university mathematics department found their logic skills put to the test one day when their copy machine broke down. The machine featured seven buttons for making copies, ranging from 10% to 250% its size. The buttons are 10%, 50%, 100%, 125%, 128%, 200%, 250%. 1. If the 100% button breaks, can you make a 100% copy with only 6 buttons? 2. If also the 50% button breaks, can you make a 100% copy with only 5 buttons? 3. If also the 250% button breaks, can you make a 100% copy with only 4 buttons? 4. If also the 200% button breaks, can you make a 100% copy with only 3 buttons? 5. If also the 10% button breaks, can you make a 100% copy with only 2 buttons?	Answer 19
162. Every day I drive to work on my bicycle. One day I worked out that if I had pedaled at an average speed of 30Km/h I would have been there one hour earlier of the fixed time and that if I had pedaled at 20Km/h I would have been there one hour later. What was my average speed in order to get at work at the exact time?	Answer 19
163. A man was born before his father and he married his three sisters. He did nothing against the laws of God or man. How was this so?	Answer 19
164. My four nieces and I went to the cinema a couple of weeks ago. We had great places on the first row, which were numbered from from 8 to 12. Now two weeks later we discussed in which order we were seated. Alice said, "my number was 8". Bea said, "I was seated between two others, I'm sure". Celeste remembered sitting on number 10 and Doortje said, "I was seated "immediately" between Celeste and Bea ". I myself didn't doubted that my number was 11. However one of us five, had to be mistaken. Can you tell which of us was in error?	Answer 19
165. A bookkeeper asked each of four children to think of a four-digit number. "Now transfer the first digit to the end and add the new number to the old number. For example: 1234 + 2341 = 3575. Tel me your results". child1: 8612 \| child2: 4322 \| child3: 9867 \| child4: 13859 Everyone could have made a calculating mistake, but only one child could have been right. Which child, and how did he know?	Answer 19
166. In Maria's Bar the prices for drinks are calculated in an unusual way. Can you work it out and find out what Maria charges for Whiskey? Drink A: Sherry 1.70 Drink B: Sambucco 2.10 Drink C: Grand Marnier 3.20 Drink D: Chianti 1.80 Drink E: Cognac 1.60 Drink F: Whiskey ?.??	Answer 19
167. Debbie got her allowance on Friday, and skipped off to the shops on Saturday morning. She spent half of what she had, plus fifty dollars for a new set of lunchbags. Then she spent half of what was left for a ballpoint pen, and half of what was left after that on some postcards. Debbie then had $50 left to buy donuts. Question: With how much money did she start?	Answer 19
168. You go the fair and see some plates for $5 a piece, spoons for $1 a piece and beads for a nickel a piece. You buy 100 items, which cost you $100. You bought a number of each three items. How many of each item did you buy?	Answer 19
169. You go the fair and buy some plates for $5 a piece, but only a few spoons for $1 a piece and some beads for five nickels a piece. You buy 100 items, which cost you $100. How many of each item did you buy?	Answer 19
170. A prisoner is enclosed in a room. This room has no doors, no windows and no other hole large enough for the prisoner to escape via. He has no tools, he has no assistance. He does have a table and a chair in the centre of the room. The room is quite large, walls are two foot thick. How can the prisoner escape?	Answer 19
171. You have 100 lbs of cucumbers that are 99% water (by weight). How much would the cucumbers weigh if, by evaporation, they were reduced to 98% water?	Answer 19
172. "You had more than these," said Don, putting down the picture. "What happened to the others?" "Sold." replied Mike. "If two-thirds of those I've got had been sold, and if I had half those I sold, I'd have sold four more than what I would have left. But if I'd sold half of those I have and if I had two-thirds of those I sold, then I have two more than I would have sold." Well! Don had only asked a friendly question. But how many had been sold, and how many remained unsold?	Answer 19
173. In the mail you receive a survey and you are asked to participate. On the form is an assurance that it is completely anonymous, so no name, number or anything else is found on the form, except each is stamped with the city of domicille of the participant. For the rest the forms are identical in every respect, There are about 1000 participants. You all were supposed to send it in by mail, but you forgot. After a few days only you get a phone call, and they ask why you didn't send in the form. How is this possible?	Answer 19
174. Take one from the circumference to diameter ratio, add three from Games with medals, then the gravitational pull and many at the end. What am I?	Answer 19
175. "What a fine display," said Tom, admiring the cards in the living room. "I didn't know you had so many friends." "Some were for Sally alone, addressed to her," Peter told him. "A few were addressed to me, and the rest jointly to the two of us." "Those were for you as well," his friend commented. "How many cards altogether?" Peter smiled. "Exactly 200. Taken together, those for Sally totalled one-seventh as many as the square of all the cards for me." Now you can figure out how many were addressed to Sally alone.	Answer 19
176. Heard at the market... "This guy Xian is so smart, he can weigh 60 pound-bags in half an hour." "Oh that's nothing, our guy Niax can cut 3 pieces of one meter off a roll of cloth in one minute." On my way home I decided to think up a match between Xian and Niax. Xian had to weigh 48 pound-bags, while Niax had to cut a roll of 48 meters of cloth into one-meter pieces. They started exactly at the same time. But while they were doing their task, customers entered the shop who had to be helped first. Together they were detained for 9 minutes, but Niax was detained 17 times as long as Xian. Who do you think won the match, and why?	Answer 19
177. You are on a 50000 km trip in a car that has only three tires. For safety's sake, let's bring along a spare tire. As you drive the 50,000 kilometers, you rotate the spare with the other tires so that all four tires get the same amount of wear. Can you figure out how many km of wear each tire accumulates.	Answer 19
178. "Oh, no!" explained Martha, throwing down her novel. "The middle 24 pages are missing, and I'd just come to the exciting bit." John picked up the book. "Too bad," he commented after a while. "But it's odd the way the remaining pages work out. The numbered pages after the break total five times as much as those before the break, and there are of course the same number before and after." His wife shook her head. "All very interesting, I'm sure. But it doesn't help me." How many numbered pages did the book have originally?	Answer 19
179. An eccentric host challenges his dinner guests one evening. He produces two unopened bottles of something rather nice (say, 1986 Penfolds Grange Hermitage) and says: "I'll bet you a case of Grange that if I open this bottle, I can drink all the wine from the other without opening it." The guests examine both bottles and find them sealed and intact. Further, their host assures them that the second bottle will remain sealed and intact for the duration of the bet. Is this a wise challenge to accept?	Answer 19
180. Below you will find a triangle of 10 balls numbered 1 to 10. Arrange them so that the number on each ball is the difference between the numbers on the two balls directly beneath it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Answer 19

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