Sample Aptitude questions

1. You work at a fruit factory. There are 3 crates in front of you. One crate
contains only apples. One crate contains only oranges. The other crate
contains both apples and oranges. And each crate is labeled. One reads
apples! one reads oranges! and one reads apples and oranges. "ut the
labeling machine has gone cra#y and is now labeling all bo$es incorrectly.
%f you can only take out and look at &ust one of the pieces of fruit from &ust
one of the crates! how can you label A'' of the crates correctly(
). A light bulb is hanging in a room. Outside of the room there are three
switches! of which only one is connected to the lamp. %n the starting situation!
all switches are *o+* and the bulb is not lit. %f it is allowed to check in the room
only once to see if the bulb is lit or not ,this is not -isible from the outside.!
how can you determine with which of the three switches the light bulb can be
switched on(
3. There are / rational pirates! A! "! 0! 1 and 2. They 3nd 144 gold coins. They
must decide how to distribute them. The pirates ha-e a strict order of
seniority5 A is superior to "! who is superior to 0! who is superior to 1! who is
superior to 2. The pirate world*s rules of distribution are thus5 that the most
senior pirate should propose a distribution of coins. The pirates! including the
proposer! then -ote on whether to accept this distribution. %n case of a tie
-ote the proposer has the casting -ote. %f the distribution is accepted! the
coins are disbursed and the game ends. %f not! the proposer is thrown
o-erboard from the pirate ship and dies! and the ne$t most senior pirate
makes a new proposal to begin the system again. 6irates base their decisions
on three factors. 7irst of all! each pirate wants to sur-i-e. Second! gi-en
sur-i-al! each pirate wants to ma$imi#e the number of gold coins he recei-es.
Third! each pirate would prefer to throw another o-erboard! if all other results
would otherwise be equal. The pirates do not trust each other! and will
neither make nor honor any promises between pirates apart from the main
proposal.
8. 7our people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at
night. 9nfortunately! they only ha-e one :ashlight and it only has enough
light left for se-enteen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without
a :ashlight! and it;s only strong enough to support two people at any gi-en
time. 2ach of the campers walks at a di+erent speed. One can cross the
bridge in 1 minute! another in ) minutes! the third in / minutes! and the slow
poke takes 14 minutes to cross. <ow do the campers make it across in 1=
minutes(
/. A 1>metre stick is broken into two pieces at random. ?hat is the length of the
shorter piece! on a-erage(
@. You ha-e a basket containing ten apples. You ha-e ten friends! who each
desire an apple. You gi-e each of your friends one apple.
Aow all your friends ha-e one apple each! yet there is an apple remaining in
the basket.
=. 0annibals ambush a safari in the &ungle and capture three men. The cannibals
gi-e the men a single chance to escape uneaten.
The capti-es are lined up in order of height! and are tied to stakes. The man
in the rear can see the backs of his two friends! the man in the middle can
see the back of the man in front! and the man in front cannot see anyone.
The cannibals show the men 3-e hats. Three of the hats are black and two of
the hats are white.
"lindfolds are then placed o-er each man*s eyes and a hat is placed on each
man*s head. The two hats left o-er are hidden. The blindfolds are then
remo-ed and it is said to the men that if one of them can guess what color
hat he is wearing they can all lea-e unharmed.
The man in the rear who can see both of his friends* hats but not his own
says! % don*t know. The middle man who can see the hat of the man in front!
but not his own says! % don*t know. The front man who cannot see
AAY"O1Y*S hat says % knowB
<ow did he know the color of his hat and what color was it(
C. You ha-e three bags! each containing two marbles. "ag A contains two white
marbles! "ag " contains two black marbles! and "ag 0 contains one white
marble and one black marble.
You pick a random bag and take out one marble.
%t is a white marble.
?hat is the probability that the remaining marble from the same bag is also
white(
D. Take from a pack of cards all the Aces! Eings! Fueens and Gacks.
Arrange them in a 8 H 8 square so that e-ery row! column and diagonal
contains one card of each -alue ,A!G!F!E. and one card of each suit ,<eart!
Spade! 1iamond! 0lub..
14.A man is stranded on an island co-ered in forest.
One day! when the wind is blowing from the west! lightning strikes the west
end of the island and sets 3re to the forest. The 3re is -ery -iolent! burning
e-erything in its path! and without inter-ention the 3re will burn the whole
island! killing the man in the process.
There are cli+s around the island! so he cannot &ump o+.
<ow can the man sur-i-e the 3re( ,There are no buckets or any other means
to put out the 3re.
11.You are at an unmarked intersection ... one way is the 0ity of 'ies and another
way is the 0ity of Truth.
0iti#ens of the 0ity of 'ies always lie.
0iti#ens of the 0ity of Truth always tell the truth.
A citi#en of one of those cities ,you don*t know which. is at the intersection.
?hat question could you ask to them to 3nd the way to the 0ity of Truth(
1).7our ad-enturers ,Ale$! "rook! 0hris and 1usty. need to cross a ri-er in a
small canoe.
The canoe can only carry 144kg.
Ale$ weighs D4kg! "rook weighs C4kg! 0hris weighs @4kg and 1usty weighs
84 kg! and they ha-e )4kg of supplies.
<ow do they get across(
13.At a restaurant downtown! Ir. Jed! Ir. "lue! and Ir. ?hite meet for lunch.
9nder their coats
they are wearing either a red! blue! or white shirt.
Ir. "lue says! <ey! did you notice we are all wearing di+erent colored shirts
from our names(
The man wearing the white shirt says! ?ow! Ir. "lue! that*s rightB
0an you tell who is wearing what color shirt(
Answer key
1. Ans5 Take a piece of fruit from the apples and oranges crate. %f it*s an
apple then you know that is the apples crate since A'' T<2 0JAT2S AJ2
'A"2'21 %A0OJJ20T'Y. This means the crate marked apples must be
oranges and the crate marked oranges must be apples and oranges.
). Ans5 put the switch A ! keep it on for 1/ min then turn o+ switch A and
put switch ". Aow go inside and see. %f the bulb is on the switch " is the
correct switch. %f bulb is o+ then tou-h the bulb and see. %f it is hot then A
was the correct switch . %f it is cold then 0 is the correct switch.
3. Answer5 %t might be e$pected intuiti-ely that 6irate A will ha-e to allocate
little if any to himself for fear of being -oted o+ so that there are fewer
pirates to share between. <owe-er! this is quite far from the theoretical
result. This is apparent if we work backwards5 if all e$cept 1 and 2 ha-e
been thrown o-erboard! 1 proposes 144 for himself and 4 for 2. <e has the
casting -ote! and so this is the allocation. %f there are three left ,0! 1 and
2. 0 knows that 1 will o+er 2 4 in the ne$t roundK therefore! 0 has to o+er
2 1 coin in this round to make 2 -ote with him! and get his allocation
through. Therefore! when only three are left the allocation is 05DD! 154!
251. %f "! 0! 1 and 2 remain! " considers what will happen if he is thrown
o-erboard! when he makes his decision. To a-oid being thrown o-erboard!
he can simply o+er 1 to 1. "ecause he has the casting -ote! the support
only by 1 is suLcient. Thus he proposes "5DD! 054! 151! 254. One might
consider proposing "5DD! 054! 154! 251! as 2 knows he won*t get more! if
any! if he throws " o-erboard. "ut! as each pirate is eager to throw each
other o-erboard! 2 would prefer to kill "! to get the same amount of gold
from 0. Assuming A knows all these things! he can count on 0 and 2*s
support for the following allocation! which is the 3nal solution5
A5 DC coins
"5 4 coins
05 1 coin
15 4 coins
25 1 coin
M)N
Also! A5DC! "54! 054! 151! 251 or other -ariants are not good enough! as 1 would
rather throw A o-erboard to get the same amount of gold from ".
8. Answe key 5To get e-eryone across in 1= minutes! we need the two
slowest people to tra-el across togetherK otherwise we*re wasting too
much time. Once we
get them across! how do we not make one of them walk back with the
:ashlight( Gust ha-e one of the faster people already there waiting to
sprint the :ashlight back across.
person A5 1 minute
person "5 ) minutes
person 05 / minutes
person 1514 minutes
1. A O " cross. total time5 ) minutes.
0 P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P A
1 P P "
P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P :ashlight
). " comes back. total time5 8 minutes.
0 P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P A
1 P P
" P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P
:ashlight
3. 0 O 1 cross. total time5 18 minutes.
" P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P A
P P 0
P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P 1
:ashlight
8. A comes back. total time5 1/ minutes.
A P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P 0
" P P 1
P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P
:ashlight
/. A O " cross. total time5 1= minutes.
P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P A
P P "
P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>P 0 1
:ashlight

Another -alid solution is to ha-e A bring the :ashlight back in step )
/. The shorter piece will be randomly from 4cm to /4cm long! with an
a-erage of )/cm
@. You gi-e an apple each to your 3rst nine friends! and a basket with an
apple to your tenth friend.
2ach friend has an apple! and one of them has it in a basket.
,Alternati-e answer5 one friend already had an apple and put it in the
basket..
=. The man in front knew he was wearing a black hat because he knew the
3rst man did not see two white hats and he knew that the second man did
not see one white hat because if he saw a white hat! the second man
would ha-e known that his hat was black from hearing the 3rst man*s
statement.
C. )Q3 ,not 1Q).
You know that you do not ha-e "ag " ,two black marbles. so there are
three possibilities
You chose "ag A! 3rst white marble. The other marble will be white
You chose "ag A! second white marble. The other marble will be white
You chose "ag 0! the white marble. The other marble will be black
So ) out of 3 possibilities are white.
?hy not 1Q)( You are selecting marbles! not bags.
D. <ere is one solution of many5
14.The man picks up a piece of wood and lights it from the 3re on the west
end of the island.
<e then quickly carries it near the east end of he island and starts a new
3re. The wind will cause that 3re to burn out the eastern end and he can
then shelter in the burnt area.
The man sur-i-es the 3re! but dies of star-ation! with all the food in the
forest burnt.
11.You ask %n which of those two directions do you li-e(
A 0iti#en of the 0ity of 'ies will point to the 0ity of Truth
A 0iti#en of the 0ity of Truth will point to the 0ity of Truth
1).
0hris and 1usty row across! 1usty returns.
Ale$ rows o-er! and 0hris returns.
0hris and 1usty row across again! 1usty returns.
"rook rows across with the Supplies! and 0hris returns.
0hris and 1usty row across again for the last time.
,Aote5 some -ariations on this are possible
13.Ir. "lue could only be wearing white or red and we know that there is
already someone else wearing the white shirt so Ir. "lue could only be
wearing the red shirt.
Ir. ?hite could ha-e only been wearing a blue or a red shirt! and red is
already taken! so Ir. ?hite is wearing a blue shirt.
Ir. Jed now has to be wearing a white shirt.