MATH RIDDLES
Jennifer and Jose live in different sections of their town but go
1. How can you add eight 8's to get the number 1,000? (only use
addition)
Ans: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000
2. Two fathers and two sons sat down to eat eggs for breakfast.
They ate exactly three eggs, each person had an egg. Explain
how all of them had eggs.
Ans: One of the 'fathers' is also a grandfather. Therefore the
other father is both a son and a father to the grandson. In other
words, the one father is both a son and a father.
3. A merchant can place 8 large boxes or 10 small boxes into a
carton for shipping. In one shipment, he sent a total of 96 boxes.
If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many
cartons did he ship?
Ans: 11 cartons total
7 large boxes (7 * 8 = 56 boxes)
4 small boxes (4 10 = 40 boxes
11 total cartons and 96 boxes
4. A farmer is trying to cross a river. He is taking with him a
rabbit, carrots and a fox, and he has a small boat. He can only
bring 1 item at a time across the river because his boat can only
fit either the rabbit, the carrots or the fox. You can assume that
the fox does not eat the rabbit if the man is present, you can also
assume that the fox and the rabbit are not trying to escape and
run away. How does he cross the river?
Ans: take the rabbit first on the other side, leaving both the fox
and the carrot in the shore. Next is to go back and get the fox
and switch it with the rabbit on the other side, taking the rabbit
then back to the shore with the carrot. Then take the carrot to
the other side, leaving the rabbit behind and lastly, go back to
the shore to take the rabbit on the other side.
5. Three brothers live in a farm. They agreed to buy new seeds:
Adam and Ben would go and Charlie stayed to protect fields.
Ben bought 75 sacks of wheat in the market whereas Adam
bought 45 sacks. At home, they split the sacks equally. Charlie
had paid 1400 dollars for the wheat. How much dollars did Ben
and Adam get of the sum, considering equal split of the sacks?
Ans: Ben $1225, Adam $175
Every farmer's part is 1/3(45+75) = 40 sacks.
Charlie paid $1400 for 40 sacks, then 1 sack costs $1400/40 =
$35/sack.
Adam got $35*(45-40)=35*5 = $175.
Ben got $35*(75-40)=35*35 = $1225.
6. An athlete is able to jump FOREVER. However, everytime
that she jumps she gets a bit more tired, and every jump goes
1/2 as far as her prior jump. Now, for her very first jump, she
goes 1/2 of a foot. On her second jump, she goes 1/4 of a foot,
and so on and so forth. How many jumps does it take for her to
travel 1 foot?
Ans: She will never get to the 1 foot mark because you keep
adding smaller and smaller amounts.
7.
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?
Ans: They are equidistant since they meet in the same place.
8. An apple costs half a dollar while a pear costs a dollar. Bob
at first bought an apple, then he thought: "I already paid half a
dollar, and I have an apple that is also worth half a dollar. So if I
give the apple to the shopkeeper, , he would overall receive a
dollar from me. That should be enough to get me a pear." Is Bob
right?
Ans: 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 pear that is worth double
the apple.
9. When asked how old she was, Beth replied “In two years I will
be twice as old as I was five years ago”. How old is she?
Ans: twelve (12)
10. A farmer has 15 cows, all but 8 die. How many does he have
left?
Ans: Eight (8)
11. The amount of water flowing into a tank doubles every
minute. The tank is full in an hour. When is the tank half full?
Ans: at 59 minutes
12. Here is a list of months and a code for each
 January: 7110
 February: 826
 March: 5313
 April: 541
 May: 3513
 June: 4610
 July: 4710
What is the code for the month of August?
Ans: 681. The first digit is the number of letters, the second, the
position of the month in the calendar, and the final digit is the
position of the first letter of the word in the alphabet.
13. There are 60 sweets in a jar. The first person took one sweet,
and each consecutive person took more sweets than the person
before, until the jar was empty. What is the largest number of
people that could have eaten sweets from the jar?
Ans: 10 people. The first person takes 1 sweet, the second two,
the third three etc. 1+ 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45, so the
first nine people take 45 sweets between them. The 10th person
takes 15 sweets. He or she can't possibly take fewer than 9, nor
leave fewer than 11, else the jar will not be empty but there won't
be enough for the next person to follow the rule stated in the
question that each person take more than the one before.
14. At the University of Kent 36 students attended the LAW
lecture, 39 attended an ART lecture and 37 attended the
DRAMA lecture. How many attended the FILM lecture?
Ans: 40 students. Letter A = 1, B= 2, C = 3 and so forth, so FILM
= 6 + 9 + 12 + 13 = 40

15. 1/2 of 2/3 of 3/4 of 4/5 of 5/6 of 6/7 of 7/8 of 8/9 of 9/10 of
1,000 = ?

Ans: 100

16. How many times do the hands of a clock overlap in 24

hours?

Ans: twenty two (22). The minute hand will go round the dial 24
times, but the hour hand will also complete two circuits. 24 minus
2 equals 22.

17. I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become

even. What number am I?

Ans: Seven (7). Take away the ‘s’ and it becomes ‘even’.

18. Sally is 54 years old and her mother is 80, how many years
ago was Sally’s mother three times her age?

Ans: 41 years ago, when Sally was 13 and her mother was 39.

19. There is a basket containing 5 apples, how do you divide the

apples among 5 children so that each child has 1 apple while 1
apple remains in the basket?

Ans: 4 children get 1 apple each while the fifth child gets the
basket with the remaining apple still in it.

20.
2+3=5
3 + 7 = 17
4 + 5 = 19
5 + 8 = 37
6+7=?

Ans: forty one (41).