Sunday 2 September 2012



MATH PUZZLES……………

….  Anjali.J.VIIIA

1. Light Bulb
A light bulb is hanging in the first floor of the room. There are three switches in the ground floor room. One of these switches belongs to that light bulb. The light bulb is not lit and the switches are in off state. There is only one chance to visit the room. How can it be determined which of these switch is connected to the light bulb.

Solution:
First turn ON the first switch and leave it for few minutes. Then turn OFF the first switch and ON the second switch. Now enter the first floor room. If the light bulb is lit, the second switch must be connected to it. If it is not lit, it might the first or the third switch. Now touch the light bulb, it is hot it will be the connected to the first switch. Nor if it is cold, then it should be the third one.

2. Eleven Apples Puzzle: 

Question: 
Miss Anne has eleven kids in her class. She has a bowl containing eleven apples. Now Miss Anne want to divide the eleven apples to the kids, in such a way that a apple should remain in her bowl.
How can Miss Anne do it?

Solution:
Ten kids will get each one apple. The eleventh kid will get the apple with the bowl.


3. Two Fathers Puzzle:

Question:
Two fathers took their sons to a fruit stall. Each man and son bought an apple, But when they returned home, they had only 3 apples. They did not eat, lost, or thrown. How could this be possible?

Solution:
There were only three people. Son, his father and his grandfather.

4. Handshakes Puzzle: 

Question:
Jack and his wife went to a party where four other married couples were present. Every person shook hands with everyone he or she was not acquainted with. When the handshaking was over, Jack asked everyone, including his own wife, how many hands they shook. To his surprise, Jack got nine different answers.
How many hands did Jack's wife shake?

Solution:
Because, obviously, no person shook hands with his or her partner, nobody shook hands with more than eight other people. And since nine people shook hands with different numbers of people, these numbers must be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
The person who shook 8 hands only did not shake hands with his or her partner, and must therefore be married to the person who shook 0 hands.
The person who shook 7 hands, shook hands with all people who also shook hands with the person who shook 8 hands (so in total at least 2 handshakes per person), except for his or her partner. So this person must be married to the person who shook 1 hand.
The person who shook 6 hands, shook hands with all people who also shook hands with the persons who shook 8 and 7 hands (so in total at least 3 handshakes per person), except for his or her partner. So this person must be married to the person who shook 2 hands.
The person who shook 5 hands, shook hands with all people who also shook hands with the persons who shook 8, 7, and 6 hands (so in total at least 4 handshakes per person), except for his or her partner. So this person must be married to the person who shook 3 hands.
The only person left is the one who shook 4 hands, and which must be Jack's wife. Jack's wife shook 4 hands.

5. Gold Puzzle: 

Question: 
There are three boxes in a table. One of the box contains Gold and the other two are empty. A printed message contains in each box. One of the messages is true and the other two are lies.
The first box says "The Gold is not here".
The Second box says "The Gold is not here".
The Third box says "The Gold is in the Second box".
Which box has the Gold?

Solution:
As the message contains one truth, the third says that the gold is in the second box, if it is to be true, then the first box message will also become true. So Gold cannot be in second and third boxes. Gold is in the first box.

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