Have you received one of our 'Brain Exercise' cards and you're keen to check your answer? Or are you a fan of puzzles and conundrums? Whatever your reason - welcome!
Here you'll find some brain teasers, logic problems, grey-cell stimulus, and more... all aimed at exercising your brain and switching your ThinkingOn (see what we did there?!).
Below each puzzle is its solution. And if you're interested in other ways to advance your mental faculties then drop us a line!
Here you'll find some brain teasers, logic problems, grey-cell stimulus, and more... all aimed at exercising your brain and switching your ThinkingOn (see what we did there?!).
Below each puzzle is its solution. And if you're interested in other ways to advance your mental faculties then drop us a line!
Which figure completes the collection?
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Here is a fly in a wineglass. Move 2 matchsticks to place the fly outside the glass, while keeping the glass in its original form.
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CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION
Answer: D Explanation: All the figures provided in the options are present in the 'collection', as reflections or reorientations, except for D. At first sight it might seem identical to the figure in the first column-second row, but close examination would reveal that it has 5 teeth instead of 4 teeth. |
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Move 4 matchsticks to make 10 Squares.
(Not all the matches need to be flat on the surface and squares don't have to be the same size.) CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION
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How many randomly selected people would you need in a group, for there to be a 50–50 chance that two of them share a birthday?
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Answer = 23 This feels counter-intuitive (most people guess an answer over 50), but it illustrates how bad we are at naturally multiplying exponents of probability. For a full explanation of the answer see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem For lots more explanation about how our decision-making is flawed read 'Thinking Fast, and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman |
2 jockeys set up an unusual race: the horse that crosses the finish line LAST will win a fortune for its owner. Each rider selects their worst steed and the race starts. Both drift for days, unwilling to cross the finish line, until a wise man offers some advice. Both jockeys then leap on the horses and charge for the finish line. What did the wise man say?
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The wise man simply told them to switch horses. The rules of the race were that the owner of the horse that crosses the finish line last wins the fortune. |
Add 8 matchsticks to divide the sphinx into 4 parts, all equal in size and shape.
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You’re running a race and you pass the person in second place. What place are you in?
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Move 3 matchsticks to create 4 equal-sized triangles. (Not all the matches need to be flat on the surface.)
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You’re in second place. You’ve simply replaced someone in the second-place spot. To be in first place, you’d have to overtake the first-place person. This simple puzzle can trip us up because our 'fast' brain picks up the 'second place' statement, and jumps to the erroneous conclusion that we've moved into first place. |
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Move only 2 matchsticks to form 4 squares equal in size. (No ‘open squares’ should be left.)
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Emily’s father has three daughters. The first two are named April and May. What is the third daughter’s name?
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No, not June. If there 3 daughters and the first two are April and May, the third daughter must have the only other name we’re given: Emily. My guess is this didn't catch you out! |
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 24 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake?
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Move 3 matchsticks to create 4 equal-sized squares. (No ‘open squares’ should be left.)
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CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION
If you take the first answer that pops into you're head you might well be wrong. If you guessed 12 days, that's your 'fast brain' taking over, and giving the wrong answer! The correct answer 23 days, since the patch doubles every day, it would only take one day to go from half covered to fully covered. For more on the fast, and slow brain read the book by Daniel Kahneman |
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You place a rope around the earth’s equator. (It is about 40,075,160 meters in length). You now increase the rope length by 10 meters uniformly around the globe so that it’s suspended over the surface equally. What is the gap between the surface of the earth and the rope?
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That’s a really long rope! What difference would 10 more meters make? The intuitive answer would imagine the rope barely less snug around the equator, but the actual gap is enough to walk under. You’re changing the radius of the rope circle by 10/2π = 1.59 meters. |
Add 5 matchsticks to form 8 triangles. (Not all the matches need to be flat on the surface.)
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You’re in a room with three light switches, each of which controls one of three light bulbs in the next room. Your task is to determine which switch controls which bulb.
All lights are initially off, and you can’t see into one room from the other. You may only leave the room you're starting in once (i.e. you can't go to and fro). How can you know which switch is connected to which light bulb? |
What number should replace the question mark?
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Assign the switches with numbers 1, 2 and 3. Leave switch 1 off. Turn switch 2 on for one minute, then turn it off. Turn on switch 3 and leave it on. Leave the start room immediately and check on the bulbs:
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7 Add together the two numbers at the top of each square to give the two digit number at the bottom of the square. |
Four legionnaires have been buried up to their necks in the ground as a punishment (see picture). They can’t move – they can only look forward.
Between A and B is a brick wall which is completely opaque (they can’t see through it).
They are all aware that each of them is wearing a hat: two are wearing black hats, two are wearing white hats. But they don’t know what colour hat they themselves are wearing.
The sergeant tells them they can end their punishment if one of them correctly calls out the colour of his own hat. But they only get one go, and if they get it wrong their punishment will double in length.
They can’t talk to each other and have only 10 minutes to work it out.
After 60 seconds, one of them calls out the right answer. Who?
Between A and B is a brick wall which is completely opaque (they can’t see through it).
They are all aware that each of them is wearing a hat: two are wearing black hats, two are wearing white hats. But they don’t know what colour hat they themselves are wearing.
The sergeant tells them they can end their punishment if one of them correctly calls out the colour of his own hat. But they only get one go, and if they get it wrong their punishment will double in length.
They can’t talk to each other and have only 10 minutes to work it out.
After 60 seconds, one of them calls out the right answer. Who?
CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION
Prisoner C
Explanation: The prisoners know that there are only two hats of each colour.
If B and C have hats of the same colour, then D would deduce that his own hat is the opposite colour, and call it out correctly.
However, since B and C have different coloured hats, then D can say nothing.
Prisoner C therefore, after allowing an appropriate interval for D to answer (based on the reasoning above), deduces from D's silence that B and C must be wearing different hats. Since C can see B's hat, he can predict his own hat's colour.
For more on this particular logic puzzle click here.
Explanation: The prisoners know that there are only two hats of each colour.
If B and C have hats of the same colour, then D would deduce that his own hat is the opposite colour, and call it out correctly.
However, since B and C have different coloured hats, then D can say nothing.
Prisoner C therefore, after allowing an appropriate interval for D to answer (based on the reasoning above), deduces from D's silence that B and C must be wearing different hats. Since C can see B's hat, he can predict his own hat's colour.
For more on this particular logic puzzle click here.