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Brain-Teasers King Midas Coconut Chaos Pastor Petersen

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Fun with Fuses... Alien Alert... A Quiz... Troubled Traveler John & Julia
Square Puzzle 3 Heads & 5 Hats Missing Man To Know or not To Know

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Troubling Twenty-Four Zebra Colourful Dwarfs Pirate Treasure
Bizarre Boxes The Truel Numbers and Dots The puzzles are marked with

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stars ( ) that show the degree of difficulty of the given puzzle.

<../index_us.html> back to the main puzzle page. <../index_us.html>

i. K M ing idas

*
The legendary king Midas possessed a huge amount of gold. He hid this treasure carefully: in a
building consisting of a number of rooms. In each room there were a number of boxes; this number
was equal to the number of rooms in the building. Each box contained a number of golden coins that
equaled the number of boxes per room. When the king died, one box was given to the royal barber.
The remainder of the coins had to be divided fairly between his six sons.

The Question: Is a fair division possible in all situations?

!** . . .
The Answer: <king_midas_us.html> Click here!... <king_midas_us.html>

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ii. C oconut C haos

Five sailors survive a shipwreck and swim to a tiny island where there is nothing but a coconut tree
and a monkey. The sailors gather all the coconuts and put them in a big pile under the tree. Exhausted,
they agree to go to wait until the next morning to divide up the coconuts.
At one o'clock in the morning, the first sailor wakes up. He realizes that he can't trust the others, and
decides to take his share now. He divides the coconuts into five equal piles, but there is one coconut
left over. He gives that coconut to the monkey, buries his coconuts, and puts the rest of the coconuts
back under the tree.
At two o'clock, the second sailor wakes up. Not realizing that the first sailor has already taken his
share, he too divides the coconuts up into five piles, leaving one coconut over which he gives to the
monkey. He then hides his share, and piles the remainder back under the tree.
At three, four, and five o'clock in the morning, the third, fourth, and fifth sailors each wake up and
carry out the same actions.
In the morning, all the sailors wake up, and try to look innocent. No one makes a remark about the
diminished pile of coconuts, and no one decides to be honest and admit that they've already taken their
share. Instead, they divide the pile up into five piles, for the sixth time, and find that there is yet again
one coconut left over, which they give to the monkey.

The Question: What is the smallest amount of coconuts that there could have been in the original
pile?

!** . . .
The Answer: <coconut_chaos_us.html> Click here!... <coconut_chaos_us.html>

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P
iii. astor etersen P
In the pub of a quiet little village, the bartender and the local school teacher had the following
conversation. The bartender said: "Pastor Petersen was visited by three women today. Can you work
out how old they are, if you know that the product of their ages is 2450, and that together they are as
old as you are?" After a deep consideration, the teacher said: "No, I can't." Then the bartender said: "Of
course you can't, but if I tell you that the oldest woman is older than pastor Petersen, you should be
able to work it out."

The Question: How old is pastor Petersen?

!*** . . .
The Answer: <pastor_petersen_us.html> Click here!... <pastor_petersen_us.html>

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F
iv. un with uses... F
Assume that you have a number of long fuses, of which you only know that they burn for exactly one
hour after you lighted them at one end. However, you don't know whether they burn with constant
speed, so the first half of the fuse can be burnt in only ten minutes while the rest takes the other fifty
minutes to burn completely. Also assume that you have a lighter.
The Question: How can you measure exactly three quarters of an hour with these fuses?

! .
A Hint: <javascript:alert('Hint: Two fuses are sufficient to measure three quarters of an hour!')>
Click here!... <javascript:alert('Hint: Two fuses are sufficient to measure three quarters of an hour!')>
A 2nd Hint: <javascript:alert('Hint 2: A fuse can be lighted from both ends at the same time (which

! . . .
reduces its burning time significantly)!')> Click here!... <javascript:alert('Hint 2: A fuse can be
lighted from both ends at the same time (which reduces its burning time significantly)!')>

!*** . . .
The Answer: <fuses_us.html> Click here!... <fuses_us.html>

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v. A A lien lert...
There are three Federation Officers assigned to take three hostile aliens to "Peace Talks" on another
planet. However, they must follow the following rules:
• They have only one small space ship.
• Only two individuals can ride in the space ship each time.
• All Federation Officers can pilot the space ship, but only one alien can pilot the ship.
• If at any time there are both Federation Officers and aliens on a planet, then there must always
be more (or the same number of) Federation Officers than aliens on that planet. This is because
if there are more aliens than Federation Officers, then the aliens will kill the Federation
Officers. Count any individual in the space ship when it is on one planet as being on that planet.
• The one space ship is the only means of transportation. There is no other way to get to the
"Peace Talks". No one can exit the space ship while it is in flight.
• To start off, all the Federation Officers and aliens are on the same planet.
The Question: Can all Federation Officers and aliens get to the other planet alive, and if so: how?

!...
The Answer: <alien_alert_us.html> Click here!... <alien_alert_us.html>

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vi. AQ uiz...

***
You are a participant in a quiz. The quizmaster shows you three closed doors. He tells you that behind
one of these doors there is a prize, and behind the other two doors there's nothing. You select one of
the doors, but before you open it the quizmaster deliberately picks out a remaining empty door and
shows that there is nothing behind it. The quizmaster offers you a chance to switch doors with the
remaining closed door.

The Question: Should you stick to your choice?

!***. . .
The Answer: <quiz_us.html> Click here!... <quiz_us.html>

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vii. T roubled T raveler

A traveler, on his way to a certain village A, reaches a road junction, where he can turn left or right.
He knows that only one of the two roads leads to village A, but unfortunately, he does not know which
one. Fortunately, he sees two twin-brothers standing at the road junction, and he decides to ask them
for directions.

The traveler knows that one of the two brothers always tells the truth and the other one always lies.
Unfortunately, he does not know which one always tells the truth and which one always lies.

The Question: How can the traveler find out the way to village A by asking just one question to one
of the two brothers?

!***. . .
The Answer: <traveler_us.html> Click here!... <traveler_us.html>

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J
viii. ohn & ulia J
Julia is as old as John will be when Julia is twice as old as John was when Julia's age was half the sum
of their present ages.

John is as old as Julia was when John was half the age he will be 10 years from now.
The Question: How old are John and Julia?

!...
The Answer: <henk_helma_us.html> Click here!... <henk_helma_us.html>

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 S
ix. quare uzzle P

***
The five pieces shown below must be put together to a square.

The Question: How should this be done?

A Hint: Print the picture with the pieces, and cut the pieces out. It's more difficult than it looks!...

!***. . .
The Answer: <square_puzzle_us.html> Click here!... <square_puzzle_us.html>

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x. 3H eads & 5H ats

In a small village in the middle of nowhere, three innocent prisoners are sitting in a jail. One day, the
cruel jailer takes them out and places them in a line on three chairs, in such a way that man C can see
both man A and man B, man B can see only man A, and man A can see none of the other men. The
jailer shows them 5 hats, 2 of which are black and 3 of which are white. After this, he blindfolds the
men, places one hat on each of their heads, and removes the blindfolds again. The jailer tells his three
prisoners that if one of them is able to determine the color of his hat within one minute, all of them are
released. Otherwise, they will all be shot. None of the prisoners can see his own hat, and all are
intelligent. After 59 seconds, man A shouts out the (correct) color of his hat!
The Question: What is the color of man A's hat, and how does he know?

!*** . . .
The Answer: <three_hats_us.html> Click here!... <three_hats_us.html>

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xi. M issing M an
Look at the figure below, which shows fifteen men. The figure is subdivided into three areas (upper
left, upper right, and the bottom half).

By exchanging the upper two parts of the figure, one gets the figure below. This new figure however
only shows fourteen men! (If you don't belief what happened here: please print it, cut it, and try it out
yourself!)

The Question: Where did the missing man go?

!...
The Answer: <leprechaun_us.html> Click here!... <leprechaun_us.html>

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xii. To Know or not To Know

Two whole numbers, m and n, have been chosen. Both are unequal to 1 and the sum of both is less
than 100. The product, m × n, is given to mathematician X. De sum, m+n, is given to mathematician
Y. Then both mathematicians have the following conversation:
X: I have no idea what your sum is, Y.
Y: That's no news to me, X. I already knew you didn't know that.
X: Ahah! Now I know what your sum must be, Y!
Y: And now I also know what your product is, X!
The Question: What are the numbers m and n?

! *.**. .
The Answer: <know_or_not_us.html> Click here!... <know_or_not_us.html>

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xiii. T roubling T wenty- our F

With the numbers 1, 4, 5 and 6 you must make 24, using the following rules:
• Each number must be used exactly once.
• The allowed operations are: addition, substraction, multiplication and division.
• Numbers may not be concatenated (so, for example, it is not allowed to use 1 and 4 as 14).
• Brackets are allowed.
The Question: Give the two solutions to this problem.

!...
The Answer: <troubling_twentyfour_us.html> Click here!... <troubling_twentyfour_us.html>

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xiv. Z ebra

***
There are 5 houses. Each house has a unique color, and each owner has a different nationality. Each
owner keeps a different pet, drinks a different type of beverage, and smokes a different brand of
cigarettes. The Brit lives in the red house, the Sweed keeps a dog, and the Dane drinks tea. The green
house is on the immediate left of the white house. In the green house they drink coffee. The man who
smokes Pall Mall has birds. In the yellow house they smoke Dunhill. In the middle house they drink
milk. The Norwegian lives in the first house. The man who smokes Blend lives in the house next to the
house with the cats. In the house next to the house with the horse, they smoke Dunhill. The man who
smokes Blue Master, drinks beer. The German smokes Prince. The Norwegian lives next to the blue
house. They drink water in the house that lies next to the house where they smoke Blend.

The Question: Who owns the zebra?

!****. . .
The Answer: <zebra_us.html> Click here!... <zebra_us.html>

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xv. C olourful D warfs

In a distant, dark forest, lives a population of 400 highly intelligent dwarfs. The dwarfs all look
exactly alike, but only differ in the fact that they are wearing either a red or a blue hat. There are 250
dwarfs with a red hat and 150 dwarfs with a blue hat. Striking however, is that the dwarfs don't know
these numbers themselves and that none of them knows what the colour of his hat is (there are for
example no mirrors in this forest). But the dwarfs do know that there is at least one dwarf with a red
hat.

During a certain period of their year, there is a big party in this village, to which initially all dwarfs
will go. However, this party is only intended for dwarfs wearing a blue hat. Dwarfs with a red hat are
supposed never to return to the party again, as soon as they know that they are wearing a red hat.

The Question: How many days does it take before there are no more dwarfs with a red hat left at the
party?

!...
The Answer: <color_dwarfs_us.html> Click here!... <color_dwarfs_us.html>

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P
xvi. irate T reasure

****
A pirate ship captures a treasure of 1000 golden coins. The treasure has to be split among the 5
pirates: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in order of rank. The pirates have the following important characteristics:
Infinitely smart.

*
Bloodthirsty.

*
Greedy.

*
Starting with pirate 5 they can make a proposal how to split up the treasure. This proposal can either
be accepted or the pirate is thrown overboard. A proposal is accepted if and only if a majority of the
pirates agrees on it.

The Question: What proposal should pirate 5 make?

!**** . . .
The Answer: <pirate_treasure_us.html> Click here!... <pirate_treasure_us.html>

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xvii. B izarre B
oxes
Someone shows you two boxes and he tells you that one of these boxes contains two times as much as
the other one, but he does not tell you which one this is. He lets you choose one of these boxes, and
opens it. It turns out to be filled with $10. Now he gives you the opportunity to choose the other box
instead of the current one (and skip the $10 of the first box), because the second box could contain
twice as much (i.e. $20).

The Question: Should you choose the second box, or should you stick to your first choice to
maximize the expected amount of money?
A Hint: If you have $10, and you could double this with a chance of 1/2, or half it with a chance of
1/2, one would expect an average of 1/2 * $20 + 1/2 * $5 = $12.5 (so you would expect to gain
$2.5)!...

! . . .
The Answer: <double_box_us.html> Click here!... <double_box_us.html>

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xviii. T The ruel

****
On an early morning, three rivals get together on an open spot in a dark wood to compose a quarrel by
means of guns. A kind of duel, but with three persons: A, B and C. The rules of the game are:
• They draw lots who may fire first, second and third.
• Next, they will continue firing at each other in this order until only a single person is alive.
• Every person decides himself at which person he fires.
• Everyone knows that A hits (kills) in 100% of all shots, B hits (kills) in 80% of all shots and
C hits (kills) in 50% of all shots.
• Each person chooses his ideal strategy.
• No one is killed by a stray bullet.
The Question: Who has the largest chance of surviving the truel, and how big is this chance?

!****. . .
The Answer: <the_truel_us.html> Click here!... <the_truel_us.html>

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xix. N umbers and D

ots
This is a famous problem from 1882, to which a prize of $1000 was awarded for the best solution.
The task is to arrange the seven numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0, and eight dots in such a way that an
addition approximates the number 82 as close as possible. Each of the numbers can be used only once.
The dots can be used in two ways: as decimal point and as symbol for a recurring decimal. For
example, the fraction 1/3 can be written as
..3The dot on top of the three denotes that this number is repeated infinitely. If a group of numbers
needs to be repeated, two dots are used: one to denote the beginning of the recurring part and one to
denote the end of it. For example, the fraction 1/7 can be written as
...142857Note that '0.5' is written as '.5'.

The Question: How close can you get to the number 82?

!...
The Answer: <numdots_us.html> Click here!... <numdots_us.html>

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