Brain Teasers –

1. Coffee and Tea –

Suppose we put down two cups in front of you. One of the cups is filled with tea and the
other one with coffee. Now we ask you to take a spoonful of tea and mix it with the
coffee. At this moment, the coffee cup has a mixture of tea and coffee. You have to take
that mixture (spoonful) and add it back to the tea. Can you now tell if the cup of coffee
has more tea or the cup of tea has more coffee?

Solution –
The fact is that both the amounts are same. After the swap has been done, you must know
that the quantity of liquid is same in both the cups as you have taken and mixed a spoonful
only in both the cases. So, there is no change in the quantity of the liquids. Now if there is
any tea missing from the teacup, it is now in the coffee cup. Also, since the quantity is
same, then the same amount of coffee must be missing from the coffee cup and is now in
the teacup.

2. Matchstick Math –
Move one matchstick to get another correct equation. Challenge: Inequality does not
count as a solution! What is the new equation?

There are two opportunities:

3 + 3 = 6 and 8 - 3 = 5
 3. Mrs. Knifflig's daughters –

One day it is ringing at Mrs. Knifflig’s door. There is an insurance agent standing outside.
Mrs. Knifflig is not really interested, but is willing to give the salesman a chance: “If you
are able to guess the ages of my three daughters right, I will listen to your offer. I will give
you two hints.

a. The product of my daughters’ years of life is 36.

b. If you add the ages of my girls, the sum equals my house number”. The salesman
listens to these hints and complains that he needs more information to answer the
question right. Mrs. Knifflig agrees: “Ok, I will give you one last tip: The oldest of
my daughters is at her grandmother at the moment”.

After a little while, the salesman gives the right answer. How old are the daughters?

Solution

First hint: Possible combinations to get 36

1, 2 and 18 years
1, 3 and 12 years
1, 4 and 9 years
2, 3 and 6 years

If Mrs. Knifflig has twins:

1, 1 and 36 years
1, 6 and 6 years
2, 2 and 9 years
3, 3 and 4 years

Second hint: The sums of the above noted combinations

21, 16, 14, 11, 38, 13, 13, 10

As the salesman could easily look at the house number but still needs another hint, only
one number can be right: 13.

Hence, following combinations are possible:

1, 6, 6 years
2, 2, 9 years

The tip that the oldest of the three daughters is at her grandmother makes only one
answer possible: The daughters are 2, 2 and 9 years old.

4. Villages –
There is a straight highway. Four different villages lie on that highway. The distance
between them is different. The third village is 60km away from the first village; the fourth
is 40 km away from the second; the third is 10 km near to the fourth that it is to the
second. Can you calculate the distance between the fourth and the first village?

Solution

75
First Village = A
Second Village = B
Third Village = C
Fourth Village = D
Distance between B and D = 40km

Distance between B and C + Distance between C and D = 40km

Distance between B and C + (Distance between B and C - 10) = 40 km

2 * Distance between B and C = 50km

Distance between B and C = 25km
Therefore distance between C and D = 15km
Thus, distance between A and D = 60 + 15 = 75km

5. Next Digit –
Can you find out the next digit in the following series. 0, 0, 1, 3, 2, 6, 3, 9, 4, 12, 5 ?

Solution

The next number is 15.

In the given series, there is actually a pair of series. Pick the alternate digits.
One series is:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Here the digits are progressing by one.

Second series is:

0, 3, 6, 9, 12, _
Here the digits are a multiple of 3. Therefore, the next number will be 15.

6. Clock observations –
Hannah was sitting in front of a clock. When she observed it for the first time, the hour
hand was at a minute mark and the minute hand was six minutes ahead. After some time,
she observed the clock again to find that the hour hand was exactly on a different minute
mark and the minute hand was seven minutes ahead of its time. Can you calculate how
much time has elapsed between two observations?
Solution

When Hannah first observed, the time was 1:12 and when she noticed again, the time was
3:24. Hence, 2 hours and 12 minutes have passed between two observations.
References –
https://www.preplounge.com/en/daily-brain-teasers.php