Questions tagged [word-problem]
A mathematical puzzle that's stated in words, usually in terms of a story or a situation that dresses the problem up.
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The Nuclear Missile Standoff
Three world powers have just entered a nuclear war!
They have been waiting for this day for decades; everyone has their nuclear missiles ready to fire, and only need to choose a target.
The Chinese ...
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5
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Air Miles Challenge
This isn't my own creation, it's an exercise that my partner had to do during a work exercise and seemed interesting to share here.
You've been given 86,400 Air Miles to explore the world and there'...
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Ernie and the disappointing drill bits
I was driving to Ernie's place a couple of days ago, with Ernie in the passenger seat, when we drove past an old building with a faded sign reading Lar's Tool's. Beneath it, scrawled on the front wall ...
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Mysterious Murder Mystery 2
"Take her away!" commands the police officer, as two other officers handcuff the blonde woman. "Good work, Detective! I can see why you were named the number one detective. Keep up the ...
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The Dwarves' Test
One day, the chief of the dwarves decided he wanted to test his tribe. So that night, he told the dwarves that he would paint on each dwarf's back a dot colored either red or blue. Each dwarf will ...
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100 Prisoners' Names in Boxes
Names in Boxes
The names of 100 prisoners are placed in 100 wooden boxes, one name to a box, and the boxes are lined up on a table in a room.
One by one, the prisoners are led into the room; each may ...
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Evil Kidnappers are the worst!
You wake up to the sight of a lamp hanging from a grey ceiling. You ask yourself, Where am I? The last thing you remember is falling asleep in bed last night. Sitting up, you look around. You're on ...
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Aside from brute force, how can I solve this puzzle?
Once upon a time, and old lady went to sell her vast quantity of eggs at the local market. When asked how many she had, she replied:
Son, I can't count past 100 but I know that:
If you ...
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3
answers
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How do I find the least number of times a shuttle can travel from one place to another?
I often see this situation in exams and I'd like to know if there is any kind of algorithm or shortcut that I can use to solve this puzzle instead of just guessing.
The problem is as follows:
A space ...
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1 rabbit, seeing 6 elephants, each seeing 2 monkeys, each having 1 parrot - how many went to the river? [closed]
A rabbit saw 6 elephants while going to the river. Every elephant saw 2 monkeys going to the river. Every monkey has 1 parrot each. How many of animals went to the river?
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Travellers across a desert
This is a problem I once found in a math textbook a tutor used with me.
A group of explorers is trying to get from their base camp to another camp which is eight days' walk through the desert.
...
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On which date was Marina born?
The puzzle is as follows:
In 2012, which began on a Sunday, Marina was happy because her birthday was on a Saturday and she celebrated it with her friends. We know, Marina was born in a year where ...
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votes
1
answer
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Who attempted to betray the Boston King?
The Castle of Weshire recently declared war on the Castle of Boston. The two armies soon met, the Boston King and Weshire King giving out orders from behind their lines of soldiers, surround by their ...
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Two players alternately name dates
Two players alternately name dates. The winner is the player who names 31st December, and the starting date is 1st January. If a player names Xst of Y Month, the other player can name the first of the ...
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About Knights and Knaves and their consistency
On an Island of Knights and Knaves (where Knights always tell the truth and Knaves always lie), a Knight will never contradict himself unless some true fact changes. I was wondering: can a Knave ...
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Find the least number of objects from a jar when those have two colors
I've been going in circles with this question which belongs to certainty about something. The original source of this problem is unknown. I found it in a textbook who doesn't have an author but rather ...
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Ernie and the literary criticism
When I dropped in on Ernie over the weekend he commented that he hadn’t seen me for a while. I had to confess that my evenings had been very busy recently - first at the local Community College doing ...
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Two Clever and Thirsty Soda Packaging Workers
You and your friend Roger are in charge of a soda packaging line. The sodas arrive on a pallet that is shaped like a cube. The two of you must take sodas from the pallet and fill four-pack holders (...
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Ernie and the Pirates of the Caribbean
A few weeks ago, I dropped in to see Ernie to ask if he was willing to look after the cat while I was on holiday in the Caribbean. “No problem.” he replied then showed me an old leather-covered book, ...
- 10.1k
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votes
2
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Find the competition rankings of three people based on their final scores
I found this puzzle in my Logic and Reason book from 2000's. The topic is ordering information. From the looks of it seems to be an adaptation from a reprinted version of Martin Gardner's 70's book of ...
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Winning an unfair game
I came across the following interesting problem today:
A game consists of a sequence of plays; on each play either you or your opponent scores a point, you with probability 𝑝 < 1/2, he with ...
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2
votes
1
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Which step is creaky?
The problem is as follows:
Ms. Flor has a 50-step wooden staircase that allows access from the
first floor to the second floor. One of the steps creaks when a person
stands on it. Diego and Mike are ...
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2
votes
1
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Number of bullets for each hunter [duplicate]
The problem is as follows:
Two hunters make a stop in the forest to eat their breads. One of them
has 5 breads and the other has 3 breads. Suddenly, another hunter
appears, who has no bread at all. ...
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0
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Problem Solving [duplicate]
Long time ago in Egypt, an old man died and left a herd of 41 camels to his three sons.
According to his will, the oldest son should get 1/2 of the camels, the second son 1/3,
and the youngest 1/7 of ...
9
votes
1
answer
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Ernie and the Chocolate Bomb
Last week when I visited Ernie he complained that his trousers had shrunk in the wash. I suggested an alternate possibility – he was putting on weight. So he decided to go on a diet and to support him,...
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Ernie and the Mastermind
Recently Ernie's twin niece and nephew Maria and Mario were spending a few days staying at his place. When I dropped in on a rainy Friday morning I found them a little dissatisfied with the ...
CommunityBot
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finding a number using clues [closed]
The digit on hundreds place of a three-digit number is 2, the digit on tens place is 3 less than the digit on ones place. 6 times the product of the three digits is 20 less than this number. What is ...
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N pirates steal their share of bananas to the benefit of a monkey
The following is a type of logic / math puzzle I've yet to see on this site. I feel it belongs because the kernel of this problem can be reworked into other puzzles.
$N$ pirates find themselves ...
CommunityBot
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votes
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Is there a way in which all the members can be seated?
Here's a puzzle where it is very difficult to find a possible seating arrangement of all the members.
I have been struggling to solve it. I have devoted so much of my time trying to figure out ...
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Forming numbers from a given word [closed]
How many integers can you form using the letters of the word "interchangeability"? Note: You can ignore spaces when forming numbers.
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Number whose letters are in alphabetical order [duplicate]
Can you find the smallest number whose letters are in alphabetical order when spelled out in English?
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Where am I? A scene of death
Hint (for those of you who are stuck):
In this question, I have given a total of 5 hints (or even more).
Once you have the answer, please include how these hints worked.
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Ernie and the Superconducting Boxes
I was in anticipation all last week. Ernie, who had been travelling for several months, was finally coming home. So over the weekend I dropped in on him.
He was bursting with news. "Some wonderful ...
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The CompuTaria Quest - A young Wizard's journey
Once Upon A Time In A Land FAR, FAR Away...
Our adventure begins in the enchanted land called "CompuTaria".
You are, "Binaryian" a 3rd year Wizard In Training. Today began like any other day - you ...
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Mensa 3rd Grade Recess Game [closed]
Mensa 3rd Graders At Recess
There are dozens of variations of this puzzle type, but I put my own spin and characteristics to it.
It is lunch time for the little ones at Mensa Mini's Private School. ...
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answers
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Oh boi! Dis waas never Engliz! #2
This puzzle is second in the series, the first one being this. But these are related in no way.
Below are some weird combinations of letters, which are actually words translated in some different ...
CommunityBot
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answer
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Oh boi! Dis aint Engliz! #1
First some Engliz:
These weird combination of letters are actually words translated in some different languages, and concatenated.
Each line has one word translated in different languages. These ...
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answer
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The Key to the Door
I need to get into this building. Next to the only door is a keypad with a simple 10-key numeric keypad.
I hear someone approaching so I hide in a nearby bush to observe.
They walk up to the door, ...
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What mysterious whole number am I?
From my second point of view I copy that amount of first.
I am the dominant side of two but for many I'm the worst.
I'll be tricky to find but today might be your day,
after all my neighbour is 2/3 of ...
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2
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Fuzzy the Fuzzball
Fuzzy the fuzzball was very sad.
He had lost his fuzz.
Everyone knew if you lost your Fuzz you could no longer be a fuzzball.
Fuzzy went to this friend Frizzy and shared his dilemma.
"Don't worry, ...
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votes
1
answer
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Rolling a dice - Expectation Question [closed]
I heard / read / acquired this puzzle from somewhere:
Roll a die, win $2\times$ the value of the face if it is an even number, or win $1\times$ the value of the face if it is an odd number.
How ...
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7
votes
2
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A Crucial Delivery
Planet Earth has been at war with the nefarious aliens of Planet XYZ for a while. The front lines are on Planet XYZ, and you, being Earth's lead scientists, need to find a way to get vital information ...
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Half and Double Value
A 3 year old child tried to input or copy a number (written on the paper) to a calculator but he messed up with the digit places. All the digits are there but the value of the number he inputed ...
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How many posts are needed to surround the perimeter? [closed]
Julie's garden with perimeter of 54 ft and width of 12 ft is to have posts put around it 3 feet away from the garden's edge on all sides. They are also to be three feet apart. how many posts will she ...
- 32.3k
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The Knights and the Hounds
(With thanks and congratulations to Lee Leon)
We rejoin our heroes several days after the events of
The Knights' Gift, at the head of a pack of enormous staghounds, 1000 strong. Such a pack ...
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Guess the object - What Am I Riddle (Part 3)
I'm lying down, with a dah-ditty-dah, in the middle of the end,
I'd hang upside-down similarly with my friend,
Were I to flip over, with a dah-ditty-dah, it'd be the middle of the day,
Right way up I ...
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2
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Can you find my friends' birthday
A friend of mine has an interesting birthday.
If you shorten the date month and year and use UK date format, it reads the year in full, his birthday falls on a Friday.
When he is as old as the year ...
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1
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Ernie and the Case of the Singing Sisters
On my way to work each morning I pass a news-agency that usually has a sandwich-board displaying the latest headlines of a somewhat disreputable tabloid newspaper (not that I would ever buy such a ...
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How does the hit-man assassinate his target using only two questions?
You are a hit-man undercover at a dinner party. You are in a conversation with three people. One of them is your target. You get to ask two questions before they get tired and leave. You know that one ...
8
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1
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To Plunder Treasure Islands
Captain Etarip, wants to plunder all the treasure islands that he can. There is exactly one island for every $n\in\mathbb N$. The $n^{\text{th}}$ treasure island contains three cities, each with $n$ ...
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