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1. How to cut a piece of cake equally in 8 pieces in 3 shots?

First cut the cake horizontally from middle


Then cut the cake vertically and horizontally.
2. Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. Unfortunately, they have only one torch and the
bridge is too dangerous to cross without one. The bridge is only strong enough to support two people at
a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person: 1 min, 2 mins, 7
mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the bridge?
It is 17 mins.
1 and 2 go first, then 1 comes back. Then 7 and 10 go and 2 comes back. Then 1 and 2 go again, it makes a total of 17
minutes.
3. How many squares are there in chess board?

If you thought the answer is 64, think again! :-)


How about all the squares that are formed by combining smaller squares on the chess board (22, 33, 44 squares
and so on)?
A 11 square can be placed on the chess board in 8 horizontal and 8 vertical positions, thus making a total of 8 x 8 =
64 squares. Lets consider a 22 square. There are 7 horizontal positions and 7 vertical positions in which a 22
square can be placed. Why? Because picking 2 adjacent squares from a total of 8 squares on a side can only be done in
7 ways. So we have 7 x 7 = 49 22 squares. Similarly, for the 33 squares, we have 6 x 6 = 36 possible squares. So
heres a break down.
11
22
33
44
55
66
77
88

8 x 8 = 64 squares
7 x 7 = 49 squares
6 x 6 = 36 squares
5 x 5 = 25 squares
4 x 4 = 16 squares
3 x 3 = 9 squares
2 x 2 = 4 squares
11 = 1 square

1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + . . . n ^2


Total = 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 = 204 squares
4. Sailor Cat needs to bring a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage across the river. The boat is tiny and can only
carry one passenger at a time. If he leaves the wolf and the goat alone together, the wolf will eat the
goat. If he leaves the goat and the cabbage alone together, the goat will eat the cabbage.
How can he bring all three safely across the river?

Solution:
The trick to this puzzle is that you can keep wolf and cabbage together. So the solution would be
The sailor will start with the goat. He will go to the other side of the river with the goat. He will keep goat there and will
return back and will take cabbage with him on the next turn. When he reaches the other side he will keep the cabbage
there and will take goat back with him.
Now we will take wolf and will keep the wolf at the other side of the river along with the cabbage. He will return back
and will take goat along with him. This way they all will cross the river.

5. You have 8 balls. One of them is defective and weighs less than others. You have a balance to measure
balls against each other. In 2 weighing, how do you find the defective one?
Solution:
Defective ball is light
Make three Groups G1 3 balls G2 3 balls G3 2 balls
First weight- G1 and G2 if G1 = G2 then defective ball in G3 ,
weigh the the 2 balls in G3 if EQUAL then 3rd ball of G3 is defective
else whichever lighter in 1st or 2nd is defective ball
else if G1 < G2 defective ball in G1
weigh 1 and 2 ball of G1 if EQUAL then 3rd ball of G1 is defective
else whichever lighter in 1st or 2nd is defective ball
else if G1 > G2 defective in G2
Again in 1 comparison we can find the odd ball.
So by following above steps in 2 steps, lighter ball can be find out.
6. A man has two ropes of varying thickness (Those two ropes are not identical, they arent the same
density nor the same length nor the same width). Each rope burns in 60 minutes. He actually wants to
measure 45 mins. How can he measure 45 mins using only these two ropes.
He cant cut the one rope in half because the ropes are non-homogeneous and he cant be sure how long
it will burn.
He will burn one of the rope at both the ends and the second rope at one end. After half an hour, the first one burns
completely and at this point of time, he will burn the other end of the second rope so now it will take 15 mins more to
completely burn. so total time is 30+15 i.e. 45mins.
7. You have 12 balls all look identical (in shape, color etc.). All of them have same weight except one
defective ball. You dont know that the defective one is heavier or lighter than other balls. You can use a
two sided balance system (not the electronic one). It is given that the minimum no. of measures required
to separate the defective ball is three. Find the way you separate the defective ball.
Divide the balls into 3 groups of 4 balls.
8. There are nine children in the house, and only them in the house so
A is ironing
B is watching tv
C is cooking
D is playing chess
E is bathing
F is listening radio
G is sleeping
I is dressing
And what is H doing right now?
Answer: H is playing chess with D.
9. You have a set of 3 light switches outside a closed door. One of them controls the light inside the room.
With the door closed from outside the room, you can turn the light switches on or off as many times as
you would like.
You can go into the room - one time only - to see the light. You cannot see the whether the light is on or
off from outside the room, nor can you change the light switches while inside the room.
No one else is in the room to help you. The room has no windows.
Based on the information above, how would you determine which of the three light switches controls the
light inside the room?
first any one of the switch and let it be on for 10 min and then close on the another switch and go inside the room if
the bulb is lighted then the correct switch is 2 and if the bulb if not lighted but it is hot (feel it by touching) then it is
the 1st switch otherwise the 3 rd switch
10.
There where six apples in a basket and six girls in the room. Each girl took one apple, yet one apple
remained in the basket how ?
The first five girls each took an apple. The sixth girl took the basket as well as the apple in it.
11.
Two men were playing tennis. They played five sets and each man won three sets. How did they do
this ?
The two men were partners playing doubles.

12.
A bag contains 64 balls of eight different colours. There are eight of each colour (including red).
What is the least number you would have to pick, without looking, to be sure of selecting 3 red balls?
59
The first 56 balls could be of all colours except red. This would leave 8 balls, all of which are red. so any three chosen
would be red.
13.
You have a 3 and a 5 litre water container, each container has no markings except for that which
gives you it's total volume. You also have a running tap. You must use the containers and the tap in such
away as to exactly measure out 4 litres of water. How is this done?
There are two ways to solve this, maybe the question could be modified to say the 5 litre can doesn't fit under the
tap...
Number 1
Fill the 5 litre can from the tap
Empty the 5 litre can into the 3 litre can - leaving 2 litres in the 5 litre can.
Pour away the contents of the 3 litre can.
Fill the 3 litre can with the 2 litres from the 5 litre can - leaving 2 litres in the 3 litre can.
Fill the 5 litre can from the tap.
Fill the remaining 1 litre space in the 3 litre can from the 5 litre can.
Leaving 4 litres in the 5 litre can.
Number 2
Fill the 3 litre can from the tap.
Empty the contents of the 3 litre can into the 5 litre can.
Fill the 3 litre can from the tap.
Empty the contents of the 3 litre can into the 5 litre can. - Leaving the 5 litre can full and 1 litre in the 3 litre can.
Pour away the contents of the 5 litre can
Pour the 1 litre from the 3 litre can into the 5 litre can.
Fill the 3 litre can from the tap.
Empty the contents of the 3 litre can into the 5 litre can.
Leaving 4 litres in the 5 litre can.

14.This is another one puzzle asked from Micrsoft. How many points are there on the globe where, by
walking one mile south, then one mile east and then one mile north, you would reach the place where you
started? Answer for this puzzle is given below.
Explanation :
The trivial answer to this question is one point, namely, the North Pole. But if you think that answer should suffice, you
might want to think again!
Lets think this through methodically. If we consider the southern hemisphere, there is a ring near the South Pole that
has a circumference of one mile. So what if we were standing at any point one mile north of this ring? If we walked one
mile south, we would be on the ring. Then one mile east would bring us back to same point on the ring (since it is
circumference is one mile). One mile north from that point would bring us back to the point were we started from. If we
count, there would be an infinite number of points north of this one mile ring.
So whats our running total of possible points? We have 1 + infinite points. But were not done yet!
Consider a ring that is half a mile in circumference near the South Pole. Walking a mile along this ring would cause us
to circle twice, but still bring us to back to the point we started from. As a result, starting from a point that is one mile
north of a half mile ring would also be valid. Similarly, for any positive integer n, there is a circle with radius
r = 1 / (2 * pi * n)
centered at the South Pole. Walking one mile along these rings would cause us to circle n times and return to the same
point as we started. There are infinite possible values for n. Furthermore, there are infinite ways of determining a
starting point that is one mile north of these n rings, thus giving us (infinity * infinity) possible points that satisfy the
required condition.
So the real answer to this question is 1 + infinity * infinity = infinite possible points!

15.

Two candles to measure time

Problem
You are given two identical candles which burn out in exactly 1 hour. How will you measure 45 minutes
with these two candles? You are notallowed to use any measuring scale or anything of that kind.
Solution
Light the first candle at both sides and second candle at one side at the same time. First candle will burn out in 30
minutes and second candle will be half burnt by that time. At that moment light the other end of the second candle.
then it will burn out in another 15 minutes. So total time will be 30+15=45 minutes.
16.
There are 10 bottles each containing 10 tablets. 9 of the bottles have each tablet weighing 1 gram
while one bottle has tablets weighing 0.9 grams. You are given a weighing machine (not a weighing
balance) and we have to determine in one attempt which is the unique bottle?
Ans : Take different number of tablets from each bottle and weigh them together. Better way would be to take n
number of tablets from the n'th bottle and weigh them together. The answer, in normal case (where each bottle has
same 1 gram of tablets) should be (1+2+3...+10) = 55 grams, but as there are some tablets of 0.1 gram lesser weight
the error would tell the value of n which is the bottle number. For example, if the total weight is 54.9 grams, the bottle
from which only 1 tablet had been taken has lesser weighing tablets.

17.
A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she
hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can
this be?
Answer:
The woman is a photographer. She shot/took a picture of him, develops it and hang it.
18.
You have two identical eggs. Standing in front of a 100 floor building, you wonder what is the
maximum number of floors from which the egg can be dropped without breaking it. What is the minimum
number of tries needed to find out the solution?
Answer: The easiest way to do this would be to start from the first floor and drop the egg. If it doesnt break, move on
to the next floor. If it does break, then we know the maximum floor the egg will survive is 0. If we continue this process,
we will easily find out the maximum floors the egg will survive with just one egg. So the maximum number of tries is
100 that is when the egg survives even at the 100th floor.
Can we do better? Of course we can. Lets start at the second floor. If the egg breaks, then we can use the second egg
to go back to the first floor and try again. If it does not break, then we can go ahead and try on the 4th floor (in
multiples of 2). If it ever breaks, say at floor x, then we know it survived floor x-2. That leaves us with just floor x-1 to
try with the second egg. So what is the maximum number of tries possible? It occurs when the egg survives 98 or 99
floors. It will take 50 tries to reach floor 100 and one more egg to try on the 99th floor so the total is 51 tries. Wow, that
is almost half of what we had last time.
Can we do even better? Yes we can (Bob, the builder). What if we try at intervals of 3? Applying the same logic as the
previous case, we need a max of 35 tries to find out the information (33 tries to reach 99th floor and 2 more on 97th
and 98th floor).
Interval Maximum tries
1 100
2 51
3 35
4 29
5 25
6 21
7 20
8 19
9 19
10 19
11 19
12 19
13 19
14 20
15 20
16 21
So picking any one of the intervals with 19 maximum tries would be fine.
Update: Thanks to RiderOfGiraffes for this solution.
Instead of taking equal intervals, we can increase the number of floors by one less than the previous increment. For
example, lets first try at floor 14. If it breaks, then we need 13 more tries to find the solution. If it doesnt break, then
we should try floor 27 (14 + 13). If it breaks, we need 12 more tries to find the solution. So the initial 2 tries plus the
additional 12 tries would still be 14 tries in total. If it doesnt break, we can try 39 (27 + 12) and so on. Using 14 as the

initial floor, we can reach up to floor 105 (14 + 13 + 12 + + 1) before we need more than 14 tries. Since we only
need to cover 100 floors, 14 tries is sufficient to find the solution.
Therefore, 14 is the least number of tries to find out the solution.

19.
How would you cut a rectangular cake into two equal pieces when a rectangular piece has already
been cut out of it? The cut piece can be of any size and orientation. You are only allowed to make one
straight cut.
Answer: Simple question right? There are two possible solutions to this problem. People often overlook the easier
solution to this problem. Lets start with the easiest solution. If you make one straight horizontal cut along the height of
the cake, the resulting slices are of equal sizes. But this solution may not work so well on a cake with icing. So lets
rethink.
In general, when a straight cut is made at any angle through the center of a rectangle, the resulting pieces are always
of equal area. So lets consider our situation. What if we make a straight cut such that it passes through the center of
both the rectangles? Since the cut halves both the rectangles, the resulting two pieces are guaranteed to have equal
area. Each piece has an area equal to half the original cake minus half the area of the missing rectangular piece. This
results in two pieces of equal size, assuming the cakes height is same at all points

20.
You have three jars that are all mislabeled. one contains peanut butter jelly beans, another grape
jelly jelly beans, and the third has a mix of both (not necessarily a 50/50 mix, could be a 1/99 mix or a
399/22 mix). how many jelly beans would you have to pull out, and out of which jars, to find out how to fix
the labels on the jars?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|jar 1|
|jar 2|
|jar 3|
|
|
|
|
|
|
=======
=======
=======
p.b.
grape
p.b./grape
Answer :

1. Need to open Apple+Orange jar. If it has apple. then it should be labeled as Apple. The jar which has label Orange
should be labeled as "Apple+Orange" and the last one should be "Orange".

2. You have three jars that are all mislabeled. one contains peanut butter jelly beans, another grape jelly jelly beans,
and the third has a mix of both (not necessarily a 50/50 mix, could be a 1/99 mix or a 399/22 mix). how many jelly
beans would you have to pull out, and out of which jars, to find out how to fix the labels on the jars?
|

|jar 1|
|

=======
p.b.

|jar 2|

|jar 3|

=======
grape

|
=======

p.b./grape

solution: 1 jelly bean from the p.b./grape jar will do the trick.
the trick here is to realize that every jar is mislabeled. therefore you know that the peanut butter jelly bean jar is not
the penut butter jelly bean jar, and the same goes for the rest.
you also need to realize that it is the jar labeled p.b./grape, labelled as the mix jar, that is your best hope. if you choose
a jelly bean out of there, then you will know whether that jar is peanut butter or grape jelly jelly beans. it cant be the
mix jar because i already said that every jar is mislabeled.
once you know that jar 3 is either peanut butter, or grape jelly, then you know the other jars also. if it is peanut butter,
then jar 2 must be mixed because it cant be grape (as its labelled) and it cant be peanut butter (thats jar 3). hence
jar 1 is grape.
if jar 3 is grape, then you know jar 1 must be the mix because it cant be p.b. (as its labelled) and it cant be grape
(thats jar 3). hence jar 2 is peanut butter.
if you pick jelly beans from jar 1 or jar 2, then you would have to pick out all of the jelly beans before you knew what
that jar was. this is because jar 1 and 2 could be the mix, so in order to disprove that they were the mix, you would
have to pull out every jelly bean just to make sure (since there could just be one bean of the opposite flavor in there)

21.
A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the
ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor
and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking so why does he do it?
This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic.
Although there are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only the canonical answer is
truly satisfying.
Answer : The man is (of course) a dwarf. Variants of this puzzle include the clue that on rainy days he goes up in the
elevator to the tenth floor (he uses his umbrella!)

22.
Not far from Madrid, there is a large wooden barn. The barn is completely empty except for a dead
man hanging from the middle of the central rafter. The rope around his neck is ten feet long and his feet
are three feet off the ground. The nearest wall is 20 feet away from the man. It is not possible to climb up
the walls or along the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he do it?
Answer : He climbed on a block of ice which has since melted.
This one is often stated with the clue of a puddle of water, but surely this is too much assistance. It is one of several
problems which depend on the change of state of water (snow or ice to water or steam).

23.
A man is lying dead in a field. Next to him there is an unopened package. There is no other creature
in the field. How did he die?
Answer : The man had jumped from a plane but his parachute had failed to open. It is the unopened package. This is
sometimes given with the following rather elegant clue - as he approached the centre of the field he knew he was
going to die. This is another of the top classics which is right up there with 'The Man in the Bar'. If the solver is thinking
along the wrong lines (i.e. in the two dimensions of the ground) then the lateral jump to the third dimension can be
tough to make.

24.
If a bear walks one mile south, turns left and walks one mile to the east and then turns left again
and walks one mile north and arrives at its original position, what is the color of the bear.
Well,from the very framing of the question it is evident that we r talking about the poles,and all polar
bears are white.You can also very well arguethat any bear or man walking the same path will reach the
same starting position if he is at north
pole.he question can also be extended and that's what we are interested in.
The question is how many such points exists on the surface of the globe.
Well,whats your answer,is it one or infinity
25.
500 men are arranged in an array of 10 rows and 50 columns according to their heights. Tallest
among each row of all are asked to come out. And the shortest among them is A.
Similarly after resuming them to their original positions, the shortest among each column are asked to
come out. And the tallest among them is B.
Now who is taller A or B ?
Answer
No one is taller, both are same as A and B are the same person.
As it is mentioned that 500 men are arranged in an array of 10 rows and 50 columns according to their heights. Let's
assume that position numbers represent their heights. Hence, the shortest among the 50, 100, 150, ... 450, 500 is
person with height 50 i.e. A. Similarly the tallest among 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..... 48, 48, 50 is person with height 50 i.e. B
Now, both A and B are the person with height 50. Hence both are same.
26.

Divide half moon into 6 equal parts using two straight lines?

27.
Four glasses are placed on the corners of a square table. Some of the glasses are upright (up) and
some upside-down (down). A blindfolded person is seated next to the table and is required to re-arrange
the glasses so that they are all up or all down, either arrangement being acceptable, which will be
signalled by the ringing of a bell. The glasses may be re-arranged in turns subject to the following rules.
Any two glasses may be inspected in one turn and after feeling their orientation the person may reverse
the orientation of either, neither or both glasses. After each turn the table is rotated through a random
angle. The puzzle is to devise an algorithm which allows the blindfolded person to ensure that all glasses
have the same orientation (either up or down) in a finite number of turns. The algorithm must be nonstochastic i.e. it must not depend on luck.

On the first turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses and turn both glasses up.
On the second turn choose two adjacent glasses. At least one will be up as a result of the previous step. If the other is
down, turn it up as well. If the bell does not ring then there are now three glasses up and one down(3U and 1D).
On the third turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses. If one is down, turn it up and the bell will ring. If both are
up, turn one down. There are now two glasses down, and they must be adjacent.
On the fourth turn choose two adjacent glasses and reverse both. If both were in the same orientation then the bell will
ring. Otherwise there are now two glasses down and they must be diagonally opposite.
On the fifth turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses and reverse both. The bell will ring for sure.

28.
Four prisoners are arrested for a crime, but the jail is full and the jailer has nowhere to put them.
He eventually comes up with the solution of giving them a puzzle so if they succeed they can go free but
if they fail they are executed.
The jailer puts three of the men sitting in a line. The fourth man is put behind a screen (or in a separate
room). He gives all four men party hats. The jailer explains that there are two black and two white hats;
that each prisoner is wearing one of the hats; and that each of the prisoners is only to see the hats in
front of them but not on themselves or behind. The fourth man behind the screen cant see or be seen by
any other prisoner. No communication between the prisoners is allowed.
If any prisoner can figure out and say to the jailer what color hat he has on his head all four prisoners go
free. If any prisoner suggests an incorrect answer, all four prisoners are executed. The puzzle is to find
how the prisoners can escape, regardless of how the jailer distributes the hats.

Prisoner A and B are in the same situation they have no information to help them determine their hat colour so they
cant answer. C and D realise this.
Prisoner D can see both B and Cs hats. If B and C had the same colour hat then this would let D know that he must
have the other colour.
When the time is nearly up, or maybe before, C realises that D isnt going to answer because he cant. C realises that
his hat must be different to Bs otherwise D would have answered. C therefore concludes that he has a black hat
because he can see Bs white one.
29.
You have two sand timers with you. One can measure 7 minutes and the other sand timer can
measure 11 minutes. This means that it takes 7 minutes for the sand timer to completely empty the sand
from one portion to the other.
You have to measure 15 minutes using both the timers. How will you measure it ?

Mathematically
7 Minutes Sand Timer Finished.
Time Remaining in 11 minutes timer 4 minutes
Reversing the 7 minutes timer 4 minutes will elapse. 3 Minutes will left.
Once 11 minutes gets over reverse the 11 minutes timer again to use that 3 minutes. 8 Minutes left.
Now Reverse 7 minutes timer to measure 7+8 = 15 minutes.
30.
You have two beakers one of 4 liters and other of 5 liters. You are expected to pour exactly 7 liters
in a bucket. How will you complete the task?
Solution :
Step 1 : Fill in 5 liter beaker and empty it in the 4 liter beaker. You are left with 1 liter in the 5 liter beaker. Pour this 1
liter in the bucket.
Step 2 : Repeat step 1 and you will have 2 liters in the bucket.
Step 3 : Fill in the 5 liter beaker and add to the bucket.You now have 7 liters in the bucket.
31.

Puzzle 3: Find the defective coin

There are 10 stacks of 10 coins each. Each coin weights 10 gms. However, one stack of coins is defective
and each coin in that stack weights only 9gms. What is the minimum number of weights you need to take
to find which stack is defective? How?
10 coin stacks

Typical Solution:
The dumbest answer in this situation would be 10 (or 9) attempts, when you weigh each stack. A few people try to
arrive at a solution with divide and rule method divide the stacks in 2 groups of 5 each and weigh any one of them
if it weighs 500 gms then the other group has defectivestack. In the next turn you divide the remaining stacks in 2
groups and weigh again. In this manner, you can get to the defective coin in a maximum of 4 measurements at your
weighing machine. While this approach is smarter than 10 attempts, it is still not the most efficient way.

Correct solution:
The trick in solving this puzzle lies in creating a weighted stack for measurement. You can find the defective stack in
one measurement. How? You take 1 coin from the first stack, 2 coins from the second, 3 from the third and so on. In
total you will have 55 coins. If all of them were non-defective, they would weigh 550 gms. If stack 1 is defective, the
measure would read 549 gms. If stack 2 is defective, you will read 548 gms. and so on. So by taking one measurement
you can identify, which is the defective stack.
A variation How many measuring attempts would you need, if there were 11 stacks of 10 coins each and one was
defective?
32.

Red and Blue balls in a bag

You have 20 blue and 13 red balls in a bag. You pull out 2 balls one after another. If the balls are of same
color, then you replace them with a Blue ball but if they are of different color, you replace them with a
Red ball. Once you take out the balls, you do not put them back in the bag so the balls keep reducing.
What would be the color of the last ball remaining in the bag.
Typical solution:
A lot of people start calculating probabilities and try to create some sort of a series out of the pattern. I got a similar
puzzle in one of the interviews and I tried doing that as well. But, if you go down that route, this becomes very tough
and unmanageable. The key to solving this puzzle is to realize that there are odd number of red balls in the bag.
Correct solution:
The right answer is Red. This puzzle looks like a difficult one, till you find out the solution. But, the minute you get the
solution, you feel that this was dead simple. If you pull out 2 red balls, you replace them with a blue ball. On the other
hand, if you pull out one red and one blue you replace it with a red ball. So, the red balls would always be odd in
numbers either you remove 2 together or remove 1 and add 1 so they remain odd always. Hence, the last ball to
stay in the bag would be a red ball.
33.Pirate puzzle

There are 5 pirates in a ship. Pirates have hierarchy C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5.C1 designation is the highest
and C5 is the lowest. These pirates have three characteristics : a. Every pirate is so greedy that he can
even take lives to make more money. b. Every pirate desperately wants to stay alive. c. They are all very
intelligent.
There are total 100 gold coins on the ship. The person with the highest designation on the deck is
expected to make the distribution. If the majority on the deck does not agree to the distribution
proposed, the highest designation pirate will be thrown out of the ship (or simply killed). Only the person
with the highest designation can be killed at any moment. What is the right distribution of the coins
proposed by the captain so that he is not killed and does make maximum amount?
Maximum time to solve the puzzle : 15 Minutes
Difficulty level of the puzzle : High
What is the interviewer looking for : Your approach and solution structure.
Solution : The solution of this problem lies in thinking through what will happen if all the pirates were thrown one by
one and then thinking in reverse order.
Let us name pirates as A,B,C,D and E in hierarchy (A being highest).
If only D and E are left at end, D will simply give 0 coins to E and still escape because majority cannot be reached.
Hence, even if E gets 1 coin he will give his vote to the distributor.
If C, D and E are there on the deck, C will simply give one coin to E to get his vote. And D simply gets nothing. Hence,
even if D gets 1 coin he will give his vote to the distributor.
If B,C,D and E are there on the deck, B will simply give one coin to D to get his vote. C & E simply gets nothing.
If A,B,C,D and E are there on the deck, A simply gives 1 coin each to C and E to get their votes.
Hence, in the final solution A gets 98 coins and only C & E get 1 coin each.
34.There are 27 coins and a two-pan balance. All coins has same weight except for one, which is heavier than all others.
All coins looks identical. What is the minimum number of weighing required to certainly find out heavier coin?
require 3 weighing
step 1 take 9 each on each side of balance
eliminate the two sets ;remaining 9
step 2 take 3 each on each side of balance
eliminate the two sets; remaining 3

step 3 take 1 each on each side of balance


eliminate the two sets

35.
You have 10 Jars filled with marbles. Each marble weighs 10 gm, except one Jar which contains
defective marbles which weighs 9 gm. Given a scale to weigh, How do you find Jar with defective marbles
in just one measurement. Here scale is modern day electronic scale to measure weight.
take one marble from jar one, two from jar two, three from jar three etc... and weigh.
total weight if all jar contained 10 g each should be 550. Subtract the actual weight from 550, and that will be the
index of the jar(eg, if 5th jar contain 9 g marbles, then total weight would be 545; 550-545=5(5th jar)

36.
A person shoots her wife. Then holds her under water for 5 minutes. Finally, he hangs her. But after
10 minutes they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?
He is photograher.
37.
Question: You have 8 jars of the same size and shape. Seven of the jars weigh 5 ounces while the
eighth jar weights 6. You have a scale you can use to measure the jars but you can only measure twice.
How do you find out which is the heavier jar?
Answer: You take two jars away. Put 3 jars on one side of the scale and 3 jars on the other side. Measure. If neither of
them are heavier, the jar must have been in one of the two you took away. Measure and you will find the jar. If one of
the scales did tilt, take 1 jar away of the remaining 3 and measure the two remaining jars on each side of the scale. If
one tilts, that is the heavier jar. If neither tilts, the one remaining jar must be the heavy one.

38.
Question: A snail is at the bottom of a 30 foot well. Every hour the snail is able to climb up 3 feet,
then immediately slide back down 2 feet. How many hours does it take for the snail to get out of the
well?
Answer: 28 hours. The snail is travelling at one foot per hour, except on the 28th hour the snail has already reached
the top of the well, so it will not slide down the 2 feet.

39.
What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Stamp
40.
A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them among 5 kids so that each one has an
apple and one apple stays in the basket?
Answer to this riddle goes as follows: 4 kids get an apple (one apple for each one of them) and the fifth
kid gets an apple with the basket still containing the apple.
A poor farmer went to the market to sell some peas and lentils. However, as he had only one sack and
didn't want to mix peas and lentils, he poured in the peas first, tied the sack in the middle, and then filled
the top portion of the sack with the lentils. At the market a rich innkeeper happened by with his own
sack. He wanted to buy the peas, but he did not want the lentils.
Pouring the seed anywhere else but the sacks is considered soiling. Trading sacks is not allowed. The
farmer can't cut a hole in his sack.
How would you transfer the peas to the innkeeper's sack, which he wants to keep, without soiling the
produce?
Pour the lentils into the innkeeper's sack, bind it and turn inside out. Pour in the peas. Then unbind the sack a pour the
lentils back to your sack.
41.
Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager
finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives the bellboy $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the
room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to split among three people so he pockets $2 and
gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totaling $27.
The bellboy has another $2, adding up to $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?
This is a nice nonsense. Each guest paid $9 because they gave $30 and they were given back $3. The manager got
$25 and the difference ($2) has the bellboy. So it is nonsense to add the $2 to the $27, since the bellboy kept the $2.
42.
How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce
off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.
Throw the ball straight up in the air.

A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the
evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly.
Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?
(This is one of the more popular and most celebrated of all lateral thinking logic puzzles. It is a true classic. Although
there are many possible solutions that fit the conditions, only the canonical answer is truly satisfying.)
The man is of short stature. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push them for him. He
can also push them with his umbrella.
43.
Three missionaries and three cannibals want to get to the other side of a river. There is a small
boat, which can fit only two. To prevent a tragedy, there can never be more cannibals than missionaries
together.
1 cannibal and 1 missionary there, missionary back. 2 cannibals there, 1 cannibal back. 2 missionaries there, 1
missionary and 1 cannibal back. 2 missionaries there, 1 cannibal back. This one cannibal takes the remaining cannibals
to the other side.

44.
Parents with two children - a son and a daughter - came to a wide river. There was no bridge there.
The only way to get to the other side was to ask a fisherman if he could lend them his boat. However, the
boat could carry only one adult or two children.
How does the family get to the other side and return the boat to the fisherman?
First go the children. Son comes back, and father goes on the other side to his daughter. Then daughter goes back to
pick her brother up and they both go to the other side to the father. Son comes back to give the boat to mother who
goes to the other side (to father and daughter). Daughter jumps in and goes to her brother so they can both return to
their parents. Daughter gets off and son gives the boat back on the first side of the river to the fisherman, who goes on
the other side. There the daughter jumps in and goes to her brother to take him back to parents where she (where the
whole family meets at last) returns the boat to the fisherman.
The boat crossed the river 13 times.
45.
Given three bowls: 8, 5 and 3 liters capacity, divide 8 liters in half (4 + 4 liters) with the minimum
number of water transfers. Note that the 8-liter bowl is initially filled with 8 liters of water and the other
two bowls are empty - that is all water you have.
pour 5 litres from the 8-litre to the 5-litre bowl,
pour 3 litres from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl,
pour these 3 litres back to the 8-litre bowl,
pour the remaining 2 litres from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl,
pour 5 litres from the 8-litre to the 5-litre bowl,
pour the missing 1 litre from the 5-litre to the 3-litre bowl (there should be 4 litres left in the 5-litre bowl),
pour the 3 litres back from the 3-litre to the 8-litre bowl (and that's it - in 8-litre bowl 4 litres).

46.

How can you measure 6 liters of water using only 4 and 9-liter bowls?

First fill the 9-litre bowl. Then pour 4 litres to the 4-litre bowl (there are 5 litres in the 9-litre bowl afterwards) and pour
out the water from the 4-litre bowl. And again pour 4 litres to the 4-litre bowl and empty it. Then pour the remaining
litre to the 4-litre bowl but this time keep it there. Fill the 9-litre bowl to the top for the second time and pour water to
fill the 4-litre bowl to the top. Thus the required 6 litres stay in the 9-litre bowl.
47.
Measure exactly 2 liters of water if you have:
1. 4 and 5-liter glass
2. 4 and 3-liter glass
1st Fill the 5-litre bowl, pour water from it to fill the 4-litre bowl, which you empty afterwards. pour the remaining 1 litre
to the 4-litre bowl. Refill the 5-litre bowl and pour water from it to fill the 4-litre bowl (where there is already 1 litre).
Thus you are left with 2 litres in the 5-litre bowl.
2nd The same principle - this time from the other end. Fill the 3-litre bowl and pour all of the water to the 4-litre bowl.
Refill the 3-litre bowl and fill the 4-litre bowl to the top. And there you have 2 litres in the 3-litre bowl.
48.
Having 2 sandglasses: one 7-minute and the second one 4-minute, how can you correctly time 9
minutes?
Turn both sand-glasses. After 4 minutes turn upside down the 4-min sand-glass. When the 7-min sand-glass spills the
last grain, turn the 7-min upside down. Then you have 1 minute in the 4-min sand-glass left and after spilling
everything, in the 7-min sand-glass there will be 1 minute of sand down (already spilt). Turn the 7-min sand-glass
upside down and let the 1 minute go back. And that's it. 4 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 9
49.

Your job is to measure 45 minutes, if you have only two cords and matches to light the cords.

The two cords are twisted from various materials and so their different segments can burn at different
rates.
Each cord burns from end to end in exactly one hour.
Start fire on both ends of one igniter cord and on one end of the second igniter cord. The very moment the first cord
(where both ends burn) stops burning (that is after 30 minutes), start fire on the other end of the second cord
(otherwise it would burn another 30 minutes). Thus the second igniter cord burns just 15 minutes from then. And that
is all together 45 minutes.
50.
Connect all 9 dots with 4 straight lines without lifting the pencil off the paper, and without going
over the same line twice.

51.
Three boxes are all labeled incorrectly, and you must get the labels right.
The labels on the boxes read as follows:
To gain the information you need to move the labels to the correct boxes, you may remove a single item
from one of the boxes. You may not look into the boxes, nor pick them up and shake them, etc.
Can this be done? If so, how? If not, why not?
ox 1
nails
Box 2
screws
Box 3
nails and screws

Remove an item from box 3.


The item tells you what label to put on box 3.
Move the nails and screws label to the box labeled with the other item, and its label to the remaining box.
Example: you remove a nail from box 3.
Move the label nails from box 1 to box 3.
You can't move the nails and screws label to box 1: that would be a swap, and all three labels must be corrected.
Move it instead to box 2, and the screws label to box 1.
[box 1] screws
[box 2] nails and screws
[box 3] nails
52.
A man runs a mile south, a mile west, and a mile north and ends up back where he started! How did
it happen?
That might be easy but the harder part is that there are actually an infinite number of answers for where
the man could have started from. Explain.
Any point on the circle (1 + 1/2pi) miles from the South Pole.
After going South 1 mile, you're (1/2pi) miles from the Pole,
which allows you to run West 1 mile [1 lap of a 1-mile circumference circle]
and be able to go a mile North to the starting point.
There is an infinite number of starting distances:
1 + 1/2Npi miles North of the South pole where N is any positive integer.
N is then the number of circular laps in your westerly mile.
e.g. N=5280 - you'd run 5280 laps around a 1-foot circumference circle.

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