Brain Teasers

[Oorang]

What the dogs need is a mouse.

 

[RobMatthews]

What the dogs need is a mouse.

Either that or the cats need a lion.

 

[Oorang]

My dog's mouse removes a thorn from the paw of your lion. Your lion now has the "loyalty" effect and must make a saving roll to attack.

 

[BubbaBBQ]

Three weary business men arrive at the motel counter at the same time late one night. Each ask for a room. The night clerk explains that he only has one room left. Fortunately, it's a 3 bedroom suite. He offers them a discount on the room, so tax and all, the room is $ 30.00 for the night. (What a deal!) Each of the business men put a $ 10 bill on the counter, keys were issued and the bell hop called to assist.

A short while later, the night clerk notices that he didn't calculate the tax correctly and the room should have been $25.00 for the night. He calls the bell hop over, hands him 5 one dollar bills and sends him to the room to return the money.

On the way to the room, the bell hop is troubled by how the business men were bad tippers and how will he split $5 evenly to 3 men . To resolve both issues, he puts $2 in his pocket to add to his original tip and gives each man $1 back.

Each man originally paid $10 and less the dollar back means each paid $9.

3 men times $9 = $27 plus the $2 dollar extra tip = $29.00.

What happen to the other dollar?

Bubba

 

[Ron Coderre]

Nice bit of mis-direction there.
I won't spoil the fun by revealing it.

 

[Domski]

The men paid $9 each = $27. $25 for the room and $2 the bell hop = $27, the $29 is irrelevant.

Or is that too simple?

Dom

 

[Colin Legg]

The men did not pay $9 each, which is the misdirection Ron was referring to.
They paid $25 for the room in total, which is $8.33 each. Then they were each given a dollar back ($9.33 x 3 = $28) and the remaining $2 kept as a tip.

 

[Colin Legg]

5 men of equal weight need to cross a bridge in the fastest time possible.

The bridge is not very sturdy so only 2 men can cross the bridge at the same time.

The men only have 1 torch. It is very dark so the bridge can only be traversed if someone is carrying the torch. The men crossing the bridge must carry the torch (the way cannot be shone by someone holding the torch from either end) and they must stay together during the crossing.

This means that once 2 men have crossed the bridge, the torch has to be taken carried back to the other side to the remaining men otherwise they would not be able to cross. The torch cannot be thrown back (or some other workaround): it must be carried back.

The men have different fitness levels which means that it takes them different amounts of time to cross the bridge:

Man A       1 minute
Man B       2 minutes
Man C       3 minutes
Man D       5 minutes
Man E       10 minutes

So, for example, if Man A and Man E cross the bridge together it would take them 10 minutes because they must stay together.


There are no tricks in this question. They all must cross the bridge (no swimming etc...); it is a straightforward maths problem: what is the quickest way for them to cross the bridge?

 

[Domski]

The men did not pay $9 each, which is the misdirection Ron was referring to.
They paid $25 for the room in total, which is $8.33 each. Then they were each given a dollar back ($9.33 x 3 = $28) and the remaining $2 kept as a tip.

That'll teach me for logging on here not having slept for quite some time and slightly worse for it

 

[crimson_b1ade]

I actually agree with Domski. The $30 is actually irrelevant! Why? Because the 3 business men each received back $1. So collectively, their cash outflow is -$27 (-30 original payout + 3 received back = -27 outflow). ($25 to the hotel or $8.33 each, and $2 to the bellhop or $0.67 each for a total of $9 each)