#1041 - life or death

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles and 2 empty bowls. He then says, 'Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove ONE marble. If the marble is WHITE you will live, but if the marble is BLACK... you will die.'

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a WHITE marble?

life or death
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Place 1 white marble in one bowl, and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (49 whites, and 50 blacks).

This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with just one white marble, therefore life! BUT even if you choose the other bowl, you still have ALMOST a 50/50 chance at picking one of the 49 white marbles.

#1042 - Find next number in series

What are the next two numbers in this sequence?

7, 14, 17, 21, 27, 28, 35, 37, ?, ?

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42, 47.

They are the numbers that either contain the digit 7 or are divisible by 7.

#1043 - Engineer Physicist Mathematician puzzle

A farmer challenges an engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician to fence off the largest amount of area using the least amount of fence.

The engineer made his fence in a circle and said it was the most efficient.

The physicist made a long line and said that the length was infinite. Then he said that fencing half of the Earth was the best.

The mathematician laughed at the others and with his design, beat the others. What did he do?

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The mathematician made a small fence around himself and declared himself to be on the outside.

#1044 - Number Trick Riddle

Sonal asked the class to see if they could find the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. As everyone settled down to their addition, Lavesh ran to her and said, 'The sum is 2,500.' Ms. Sonal thought, 'Lucky guess,' and gave him the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Within 20 seconds, Lavesh was back with the correct answer

How does Lavesh find the sum so quickly and what is the answer ??

View Answer Discuss

The following pattern holds: The sum is equal to n x n, when n is the number of consecutive odd numbers, starting with 1. For example, the sum of the first 3 odd numbers is equal to 3 x 3, or 9; the sum of the first 4 odd numbers is equal to 4 x 4, or 16; the sum of the first 5 odd numbers is equal to 5 x 5, or 25; and so on.

#1045 - Friday The 13th Riddle

Many people would think Friday the 13th will be an unlucky day. Is it possible that there is no Friday on 13th through the whole year? How many Fridays at 13th can we have in a year at most? Can you calculate it out?

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We can calculate out how many days there will be for the 13th on each month if we count from the beginning of the year (January 1). Then we divide total days by 7 to get the remainders. We also need to consider the leap year. Through the whole year we had all kinds of remainders, from 0 to 6. The minimum of occurence for all the unique remainders was 1. It means that we have at least one Friday on 13th. In a regular year, the best chance you can get 3 Fridays on 13th, which are in February, March and December because the remainders of these 3 months are 2. In a leap year, the best chance you also can get 3 Fridays on 13th, which are in January, April and July because the remainders of these 3 months are 6.

#1046 - What word am I 1

I am eight letters long - “12345678”
My 1234 is an atmospheric condition.
My 34567 supports a plant.
My 4567 is to appropriate.
My 45 is a friendly thank-you.
My 678 is a man’s name.
Q: What word am I?

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MISTAKEN

#1047 - Equation Puzzle

Replace the 'X' by any mathematical symbol to make the expression equal to 99.

18 X 12 X 2 X 3 = 111

View Answer Discuss

18 x 12 ÷ 2 + 3 = 111

#1048 - Mothers Name Humour Puzzle

A cat had three kittens: January,March and May. What was the mother's name.

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What
It stated 'WHAT' was the mothers name.

#1049 - Science Puzzle

How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you even if it doesnt hit anything there is nothing attached to it and no one else catches or throws it?

Science Puzzle
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Throw the ball straight up in the air.

#1050 - Probability Of Having Same Birthday

How many people must be gathered together in a room, before you can be certain that there is a greater than 50/50 chance that at least two of them have the same birthday?

View Answer Discuss

Only twenty-three people need be in the room, a surprisingly small number. The probability that there will not be two matching birthdays is then, ignoring leap years, 365x364x363x...x343/365 over 23 which is approximately 0.493. this is less than half, and therefore the probability that a pair occurs is greater than 50-50. With as few as fourteen people in the room the chances are better than 50-50 that a pair will have birthdays on the same day or on consecutive days.