= KISS (each letter represents a different digit.)
This is HARD, but it can be done without the aid of a computer.
Please use a calculator, though!
Here are some "math" problems that will put your logical and number sense skills to work. Most of which do not require algebra to solve, but for some of them, algebra can be helpful. Some are slightly tricky, in that you need to read the statement of the problem very carefully. Have fun!
Brain Teasers 1
1. A man buys a seagull and a fish for a total of $1.05. The seagull costs a dollar more than the fish. How much did each cost?
2. Half the employees in a firm went to lunch at noon. Since then, 25 have returned and 7 others have gone out. At this point, there are twice as many people working as there are people out to lunch. How many people are employed at the firm?
3. Arrange 8 pennies in a row. The object of the game is to move the pennies one at a time into an arrangement of four "stacks" of two pennies each. The restriction is that whenever you move a penny, you must jump two other pennies. To describe your answer, number the pennies from 1 to 8, and describe a move, for example, by "move #1 on top of #4".
4. A monk leaves at 6:00 A. M., climbs a trail to the top of a mountain at a variable rate of speed, and arrives at the summit at 6:00 P. M. He sleeps until 6:00 A. M., and begins his descent along the same trail, arriving at the bottom at 6:00 P. M. Show that there is at least one place on the trail that he crosses at the same time of day going up and coming down. The answer is not "halfway up the mountain"!
5. Total the numbers from 1 to 100 by doing one addition and one multiplication. (The famous mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss solved this as a grade-school student).
6. Eric starts at 3:00 P. M. driving his car from New York to Philadelphia going 50 mph. Sixty minutes later Steve leaves in his car enroute from Philadelphia to New York going 40 mph. When the two cars meet, which one is closer to New York?
7. A hunter left camp at 6:00 A. M. and traveled in a due south direction 5 miles, where he saw a bear. The bear headed off due east, and the hunter tracked him for 5 miles, at which point he gave up, and then travelled due north 5 miles back to his camp. What color was the bear?
8. If it takes 5 seconds for a clock to strike 6:00 (from the first "bong" to the last "bong"), how many seconds will it take to strike 12:00?
9. Write an expression for 100 using only four 9's and any of the arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).
10. Two doctors are walking down the street. If one doctor is the biological father of the other doctor's biological son, how are the two doctors related?
11. How can two American coins equal 30 cents if one is not a nickel?
12. Obtain the next three items in the following sequences of items:
15. Five students are sitting in a circle. Two pairs of students have the same color hair. Those with the same hair color are not sitting next to each other. Celeste is on the right side of Theresa and on the left side of Jane. Celeste has the same color hair as Ruth. Jane has the same color hair as Alice. Identify the positions of the girls in the circle.
16. A farmer has 25 calves. All but 19 die. How many does he have left?
17. A rope is tied around the equator of the earth, at the surface. A second rope is also tied around the equator, directly above the first one at a distance of one foot from it.
1. A college student sent a postcard home with the following message:
2. Solve the coin game (Part 1 -- #3) starting with 12 coins.
3. Mr. Dithers is paid a salary of $1000 a week for 22 weeks. Dagwood earns 1 cent the first week, 2 cents the second week, with his salary doubling every week for 22 weeks. Whose 22-week income is more?
4. What arithmetic symbol can be placed between 2 and 3 to make a number greater than 2 but less than 3?
5. Why would a hair stylist rather cut the hair of two blondes than of one brunette?
6. My friend and I step onto an "up" escalator. I walk up the moving escalator, while he enjoys the ride. As soon as I reach the top, the escalator stops. I look back, and he is halfway down. He then walks up the remaining distance. If my friend and I climb at the same rate, who has walked more steps to reach the top?
7. The mathematician Augustus de Morgan (who was born in the 19th century) once said, "I was x years old in the year x2." When was he born?
8. A farmer has hens and rabbits. These animals have 50 heads and 140 feet. How many of each are there?
9. A farmer's wife drove to town to sell a basket of eggs. To her first customer she sold half her eggs plus half an egg. To her second customer, she sold half her remaining eggs plus half an egg. The third customer bought half her remaining eggs plus half an egg. After these transactions, three eggs were left. How many did she start with?
10. What do the following words have in common?
12. On their way back to St. Ed's, Lindsey, Allison, and Monica took turns driving. Lindsey drove 50 miles more than Allison. Allison drove twice as far as Monica. Monica only drove 10 miles. How many miles was the trip back to St. Ed's?
13. Rafael buys only blue socks and brown socks. He keeps all his socks in one drawer (unpaired) in which he has 8 blue socks and 6 brown socks. If he reaches into the drawer without looking, what is the smallest number of socks he must take out to be sure of getting two of the same color? If he wants a pair of blue? A pair of brown?
14. Solve:
= KISS (each letter represents a different digit.)
This is HARD, but it can be done without the aid of a computer.
Please use a calculator, though!
15. Please help Corey the Camel by creating a plan which gets as many bananas to market as possible. Corey has 3000 bananas, and needs to take her bananas to market which is 1000 miles away. The only problem is that Corey can carry only 1000 bananas at any given time, and must eat 1 banana for every mile she walks. Corey only needs to get to the market and not return. How many bananas can Corey get to market?