Math Puzzles:

Puzzle 1:
You are going to visit your grandmother on Mother's day. You want to give
her two cakes. However, to get to her house you must cross seven bridges.
At each bridge is a troll who demands of all of your cakes as the price to
pass. However, this troll, being a nice troll, feels bad and gives you back 1 of
the cakes that he took.
Answer: Do the math and you will see that this puzzle is based on the fact
that (2)= 1 and 1 + 1 = 2
Puzzle 2:
Jennifer and Jose live in different sections of their town but go to the same
school. Jennifer left for school ten minutes before Jose and they met in the
park. When they met, who was closer to school?
Answer: They are equidistant since they meet in the same place.
Puzzle 3:
An apple costs half a dollar while a pear costs a dollar. Bob at first bought an
apple, then he tought: "I already paid half a dollar, and I have an apple that
is also worth half a dollar. So if I give teh apple to the shopkeeper, , he would
overall receive a dollar from me. That should be enough to get me a pear." Is
Bob right?
Answer: No, if Bob were right then the apple and the pear cost the same
amount. He is mistakenly counting his apple twice which is why he thinks he
can exchange for a pair that is worth double the apple.
Puzzle 4:
2 fathers and and 2 sons ate 3 eggs for breakfast, each eating exactly one
egg. How could that be?
Answer: There are three people --a grandfather, a father, and a grandson.
Therefore, the father is both a son (of the grandfather) and a father (of the
grandon). Example to illustrate answer to puzzle. Joseph is a 70 year old
man whose son Michael is 40 years old. Michael has a son named Jeffrey. In
this example, Michael is both a son of the grandfather, Joseph, and Michael is
the father of jeffrey.
Puzzle 5:
Frank and his brother Jack are going to meet each. Frank is leaving school in
a sportscar and Jack is on a bike and leaving their house. Although the two
boys are going in opposite directions, they take the exact same roads to go
to and from school. When they meet who was closer to their home?
Answer: They are in the same spot since they 'met' so neither is closer.
Puzzle 6:
11 21 1211 111221
What will be the next one in the above sequence?
Answer: It is a strange sequence. Each number describes the resemblance
of the previous one, except the first one.
11 describes the previous '1' which contains one '1'
21 describes the previous '11' which contains two '1'

1211 describes the previous '21' which contains one '2' and one '1'
111221 describes the previous '1211' which contains one '1', one '2' and two
'1'.
So the next sequence will be 312211, that is the previous '111221' contains
three '1', two '2' and one '1'.
Puzzle 7:
Parrots and Cages
Tina have some parrots and some cages for it. If she put 4 parrots into each
cage then she will have one cage left. If she put 3 parrots into each cage
then she will have one parrot left over.
How many parrots and cages does she have?
Answer: The number of parrots is equal to number of cages multiplied by 4
minus one left.
That is :
P = 4(C - 1) -> (1)
Then the number of parrots will be equal to the number of cages times three
plus one left.
That is :
P = 3C + 1 -> (2)
Now substitute the 1st and 2nd equations:
P = 4(C - 1)
P = 3C + 1
C = 5, P = 16.
Therefore Parrots = 16 and cages = 5.
Puzzle 8:
Frog in the Well
A frog is at the bottom of the well which is 20 meters deep. Everyday the
frog jumps 5 meters upwards and fall 4 meters down. How many days it will
take for the frog to reach the top?
Answer: First day it jumps 5 meters and falls 4 meters. Now it will be at a
height of 1 meter.
Second day it jumps to 6 meters and falls back to 2 meter.
Third day it jumps to 7 meters and falls back to 3 meter.
Fifteenth day it jumps to 19 meters and falls back to 15 meters.
Finally, sixteenth day it jumps to 20 meters, but now the frog have reached
the top of the well.
So the Frog reaches the top of the well at the sixteenth day.
Puzzle 9:
Bridge Crossing 1
Jim, Jeanne, Louis and Anne wants to cross the bridge at night. They have
only one torch light with them. Only two can cross the bridge at a time. They
need torch light to cross the bridge. Each of them walks at a different speed.
Jim needs 1 minute, Jeanne needs 2 minutes, Louis needs 5 minutes and
Anne needs 10 minutes.
A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower person.
How these people can cross the bridge within 17 minutes?
Answer: First Jim and Jeanne walks across the bridge, it takes 2 minutes.
Jim walks back with the torch light, which takes 1 minute.
Then Louis and Anne walk on the bridge, which takes 10 minutes.
Jeanne comes back with the torch light, it takes 2 minutes.
Finally Jim and Jeanne walks across the bridge, which takes 2 minutes.
Total = 2 + 1 + 10 + 2 + 2 = 17 minutes.
Puzzle 10:
Bridge Crossing 2

John and his family members want to cross to the other side of the bridge at
night. They have only one lamp which lasts for only 30 minutes. A maximum
of only two persons can cross at one

time, and they must have the lamp with them.

Each person walks at a different speed. John walks at a speed of 1 min, his
brother jack walks at 3 min, his mother Julie walks at 6 min, his father Jeff
walks at 8 min and his grandpa George walks at 12 min.
A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower person.
How can Johns family cross the bridge?
Answer: First John and his brother Jack cross the bridge, which takes 3
minutes.
After this, John walks back with lamp, it takes 1 minute. Then Johns gives the
lamp to his father Jeff and grandpa George.
Jeff and George cross the bridge with 12 minutes.
Jack returns back with the lamp, which takes 3 minutes and handover the
lamp to john.
John and his mother Julie crosses the bridge, it takes 6 minutes.
Now again john takes the lamp and cross the bridge with 1 minute.
Finally John and Jack cross the bridge with 3 minutes.
Total = 3 + 1 + 12 + 3 + 6 + 1 + 3 = 29 minutes
There is 1 minute left!

Math Trivias:
1.What

do you call the longest side of a triangle?

Answer: Hypotenuse
2.What is the number that cannot be written as a fraction?
Answer: 3.1416 or Pi
3.What number, a one followed by 100 zeros, was first used by
nine-year-old Milton Sirotta in 1940?
Answer:Googol
4. What's a polygon with four unequal sides called?
Answer: Quadrilateral
5. What number does "giga" stand for?
Answer: One billion
6. What's the top number of a fraction called?
Answer: Numerator
7. What T-word is defined in geometry as "a straight line that
touches a curve but continues on with crossing it"?
Answer: Tangent
8. What number is an improper fraction always greater than?
Answer: One
9. How many equal sides does an icosahedron have?
Answer: Twenty
10. What do you call an angle more than 180 degrees and less
than 360 degrees?
Answer: Reflex Angle