Brain teaser thread - Page 3

loinburger · October 18, 2002, 18:25

Wutang is not wicked, and Cheese is not beautiful.

Combat Ingrid · October 18, 2002, 18:32

I think I got it: What does a man from Barcelona know?

NeOmega · October 18, 2002, 18:34

nothing... doh.

Immortal Wombat · October 18, 2002, 18:39

nothing

loinburger · October 18, 2002, 18:43

Yup, nothing.

Ingrid's turn.

Combat Ingrid · October 18, 2002, 18:46

I'm going to bed so I give you an easy one:

Two hunters leave their camp and are headed for bear hunting. They walk 10 km south, then 10 km east. They kill a bear. They walk 10 km north and get back to their camp, exactly where they left. Question is...what was the color of the bear?

Immortal Wombat · October 18, 2002, 18:47

white

NeOmega · October 18, 2002, 18:47

White, they were on the south pole.

Combat Ingrid · October 18, 2002, 18:48

Your turn

NeOmega · October 18, 2002, 18:48

Doh!

Immortal Wombat · October 18, 2002, 18:49

There are an infinite number of places where their camp could be, but only one of them is in a region where bears live. The north pole.

The north pole has white bears

Combat Ingrid · October 18, 2002, 18:50

Btw, how do you move south from the south pole?

Immortal Wombat · October 18, 2002, 18:50

ok, this is a real b!tch of a question, and its been posted here before, but if anyone wants to explain how they got the answer (

) they are more than welcome.

A rope over the top of a fence has the same length on each side. It weighs one third of a pound per foot. On one end hangs a monkey holding a banana, and on the other end a weight equal to the weight of the monkey. The banana weighs two ounces per inch. The rope is as long (in feet) as the age of the monkey (in years), and the weight of the monkey (in ounces) is the same as the age of the monkey's mother. The combined ages of the monkey and its mother are thirty years. One half the weight of the monkey, plus the weight of the banana, is one fourth as much as the weight of the weight and the weight of the rope. The monkey's mother is half as old as the monkey will be when it is three times as old as its mother was when she was half as old as the monkey will be when it is as old as its mother will be when she is four times as old as the monkey was when it was twice as old as its mother was when she was one third as old as the monkey was when it was as old as its mother was when she was three times as old as the monkey was when it was one fourth was old as it is now.

How long is the banana?

NeOmega · October 18, 2002, 18:51

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dude..... Why? I'm not wasting my time on that one.

Double doh.... I saw the new riddle was up, but also knew time was short, I panicked :P

JohnM2433 · October 18, 2002, 23:59

I know how to solve the dwarf problem for any number of dwarves, putting the ones with blue hats on the left and the ones with red hats on the right, even if they do not know how many there are of each hat.

One dwarf stands up against the wall. One by one, the remaining dwarves follow these rules:

1. If all the dwarves by the wall are wearing blue hats, go stand to their right.
2. If all the dwarves by the wall are wearing red hats, go stand to their left.
3. Otherwise, go stand between the dwarves by the wall wearing blue hats and the dwarves by the wall wearing red hats. (The dwarves already in line take this cue to move over, making room for more dwarves.)

It should be clear that no dwarf's actions will change the line's arrangement from the desired one, so when they are all done, it will still be in the desired arrangement. Even with the problem given as it was originally, it didn't even occur to me that they should count the hats; this was what I came up with. Of course, with either strategy, if your fellow dwarves aren't smart enough to figure out what to do, you're doomed. Luckily, you do know where you should go in line when the others are lined up correctly (the "middle", in the general case).

It's impossible to divide up land into five contiguous pieces that all touch each other. In fact, it's impossible to make a 2D map that requires five colors, if only adjacent countries require different colors (IIRC). I think a computer program was used to finally prove that theorem. Four pieces is trivial, unless they have to be the same shape as well as the same size.

OzzyKP · October 19, 2002, 00:43

Quote:

Originally posted by rah

I used pen'n'paper for that one too. But being part german, I had to make a real NEAT grid to help me solve it. It took me almost an hour, where you took less than 30 minutes. If someone had posted it in less than 15 minutes, I would have declared cheat, that they must have seen it already or looked it up on the internet..

I did it in 15 minutes, or not much longer than that with a pen and paper.

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 00:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
ok, this is a real b!tch of a question, and its been posted here before, but if anyone wants to explain how they got the answer (

) they are more than welcome.

A rope over the top of a fence has the same length on each side. It weighs one third of a pound per foot. On one end hangs a monkey holding a banana, and on the other end a weight equal to the weight of the monkey. The banana weighs two ounces per inch. The rope is as long (in feet) as the age of the monkey (in years), and the weight of the monkey (in ounces) is the same as the age of the monkey's mother. The combined ages of the monkey and its mother are thirty years. One half the weight of the monkey, plus the weight of the banana, is one fourth as much as the weight of the weight and the weight of the rope. The monkey's mother is half as old as the monkey will be when it is three times as old as its mother was when she was half as old as the monkey will be when it is as old as its mother will be when she is four times as old as the monkey was when it was twice as old as its mother was when she was one third as old as the monkey was when it was as old as its mother was when she was three times as old as the monkey was when it was one fourth was old as it is now.

How long is the banana?

Gar! 5.75 inches.

NeOmega · October 19, 2002, 01:00

1 inch

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 01:02

Quote:

Originally posted by NeOmega
1 inch

Your monkey must have been hungrier than mine.

NeOmega · October 19, 2002, 01:10

2 inches..... I'm figuring it's a whole number. I'm just gonna gues till Im right cuz this one sucks and it's been done already. Of course dude posted it like 6 hours ago, but nobody really even wnats to try and figure it out.... cuz, well, it SUCKS.

NeOmega · October 19, 2002, 01:14

now my monkey is getting mad and flinging dung at immortal wombat.

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 01:22

No, calm down. It's 5.75 inches. Work it out.

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 01:25

Da momma was six when the baby was born.

NeOmega · October 19, 2002, 01:25

good, if it's 5.75 post the next one please.........

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 01:40

Caught in a flood four moderators are trapped on the wrong side of a river. They will drown unless they can all get across a log to the other side in 17 minutes. The log will only support the weight of two people at once, and it is dark and will require a flashlight to cross. There is only one flashlight. Ming is spry and can cross in one minute, Rah is quick and can cross in 2. But MTG is timid and takes 5 minutes and Markos is fat and requires 10 minutes to get across.

How can all four get across in 17 minutes?

Zero-Tau · October 19, 2002, 01:54

First Ming and rah crosses (2 min).
Then Ming returns with the flashlight (1 min).
Then Markos and MTG crosses (10 min).
Rah goes back with the flashlight (2 min).
Then Ming and rah crosses (2 min).

That's 17 minutes total.

Capt Dizle · October 19, 2002, 01:57

Damn, and I hoped we would finally be rid of them all!

Your turn.

Zero-Tau · October 19, 2002, 02:03

Well, I've posted a riddle here already, and I don't have one handy right now, so....

First come, first served. First person to post a new riddle gets to continue.

CapitanGarlic · October 19, 2002, 02:11

Easy one.

A man was born before his father, he killed his mother, and he married his sister.

Despite this, he was considered 'normal'. How?

OzzyKP · October 19, 2002, 02:19

Quote:

Originally posted by jimmytrick
No, calm down. It's 5.75 inches. Work it out.

Tell me how you solved that. I spent an hour working on it. I assumed the part about the ages of the monkey and mama monkey was extra info to mislead you, so I disregarded that.

I got as far as (and lord I hope this at least is right):

the rope length (rl) in inches is equal to three times the banana length (bl) in inches minus 15 over 2.

rl = (3bl-15)/2

If that is correct, and if the banana length is 5.75, then the rope length would be 1.125 inches.

Tell me how you solved it.