Puzzle 31 | (Minimum cut Puzzle)

Days	Gold Bars(Vendor)	Gold Bars(Worker)	Comments
Day 0	[1, 2, 2]	[]	Initially Worker have 0 Gold Bars unit.
Day 1	[2, 2]	[1]	Pay the worker Gold Bar with 1 unit.
Day 2	[1, 2]	[2]	Pay the worker Gold with 2 units and take back the gold bar with 1 unit.
Day 3	[2]	[1, 2]	Pay the worker Gold Bar with 1 unit.
Day 4	[1]	[2, 2]	Pay the worker Gold with 2 units and take back the gold bar with 1 unit.
Day 5	[]	[1, 2, 2]	Pay the worker with only left Gold Bar with 1 unit.

Days	Gold Bars(Vendor)	Gold Bars(Worker)	Comments
Day 0	[1, 1, 3]	[]	Initially Worker have 0 Gold Bars unit.
Day 1	[1, 3]	[1]	Pay the worker Gold Bar with 1 unit.
Day 2	[3]	[1,1]	Pay the worker Gold with other 1 units.
Day 3	[1,1]	[3]	Pay the worker Gold Bar with 3 unit and take back all the gold bar with 1 unit.
Day 4	[1]	[1, 3]	Pay the worker Gold with 1 unit.
Day 5	[]	[1, 1, 3]	Pay the worker with only left Gold Bar with 1 unit.

Puzzle 9 | (Find the fastest 3 horses)

There are 25 horses among which you need to find out the fastest 3 horses. You can conduct a race among at most 5 to find out their relative speed. At no point, you can find out the actual speed of the horse in a race. Find out the minimum no. of races which are required to get the top 3 horses. Fin

4 min read

Puzzle 5 | (Finding the Injection for Anesthesia)

In a Medical Laboratory, you have 240 Injections, one of which is for Anesthesia for a rat. If Anesthesia injection is injected in a rat, it will faint in within 24 hours. You have 5 rats available to determine which one injection contains the Anesthesia. How do you achieve this in 48 hours ? Clarif

3 min read

Puzzle 4 | (Pay an employee using a gold rod of 7 units ?)

An employee works for an employer for 7 days. The employer has a gold rod of 7 units. How does the employer pay to the employee, so that the number of employeeâ€™s rod units increases by one at the end of each day? The employer can make at most 2 cuts in the rod. (Hint- after the end of the day employ

1 min read

Puzzle 7 | (3 Bulbs and 3 Switches)

There is a room with a door (closed) and three light bulbs inside the room. Outside the room, there are three switches, connected to the bulbs. You may manipulate the switches as you wish, but once you open the door you canâ€™t change them. All bulbs are in working condition and you can open the door

1 min read

Puzzle 15 | (Camel and Banana Puzzle)

A person has 3000 bananas and a camel. The person wants to transport the maximum number of bananas to a destination which is 1000 KMs away, using only the camel as a mode of transportation. The camel cannot carry more than 1000 bananas at a time and eats a banana every km it travels. What is the max

4 min read

Puzzle 8 | (Find the Jar with contaminated pills)

Puzzle: You have 5 jars of pills. Each pill weighs 10 grams, except for contaminated pills contained in one jar, where each pill weighs 9 grams. Given a scale, how could you tell which jar had the contaminated pills in just one measurement? Solution: To find the contaminated Jar, follow this step-wi

1 min read

Puzzle 10 | (A Man with Medical Condition and 2 Pills)

Puzzle: A man has a medical condition that requires him to take two kinds of pills, call them A and B. The man must take exactly one A pill and exactly one B pill each day, or he will die. The pills are taken by first dissolving them in water. The man has a jar of A pills and a jar of B pills. One d

2 min read

Puzzle 13 | (100 Prisoners with Red/Black Hats)

100 prisoners in jail are standing in a queue facing in one direction. Each prisoner is wearing a hat of color either black or red. A prisoner can see hats of all prisoners in front of him in the queue, but cannot see his hat and hats of prisoners standing behind him. The jailer is going to ask colo

3 min read

Puzzle 24 | (10 Coins Puzzle)

You are blindfolded and 10 coins are placed in front of you on the table. You are allowed to touch the coins but canâ€™t tell which way up they are by feel. You are told that there are 5 coins head up, and 5 coins tails up but not which ones are which. Can you make two piles of coins each with the sam

1 min read

Puzzle 14 | (Strategy for a 2 Player Coin Game)

Puzzle: Consider a two-player coin game where each Player A and Player B gets the turn one by one. There is a row of even number of coins, and a player on his/her turn can pick a coin from any of the two corners of the row. Â The player that collects coins with more value wins the game. Develop a str

5 min read

Puzzle 19 | (Poison and Rat)

There are 1000 wine bottles. One of the bottles contains poisoned wine. A rat dies after one hour of drinking the poisoned wine. How many minimum rats are needed to figure out which bottle contains poison in hour.Solution:We need to figure out in hour. We need 10 rats to figure out the poisoned bott

1 min read

Puzzle 20 | (5 Pirates and 100 Gold Coins)

There are 5 pirates, they must decide how to distribute 100 gold coins among them. The pirates have seniority levels, the senior-most is A, then B, then C, then D, and finally the junior-most is E. Rules of distribution are: The most senior pirate proposes a distribution of coins.All pirates vote on

2 min read

Puzzle 31 | (Minimum cut Puzzle)

Puzzle: You have got someone working for you for five days and a gold bar to pay him. You must give them a piece of gold at the end of every day. What are the fewest number of cuts to the bar of gold that will allow you to pay him 1/5th each day? Answer: 2 cuts. Solution: Explanation 1: After two cu

2 min read

Puzzle 34 | (Prisoner and Policeman Puzzle)

Policeman decided to punish the Prisoner and asked him to make a statement. The Prisoner should make such a statement so that he would be alive. If the statement is held true by Policeman, the Prisoner will be hanged to death and if the statement is held false, the Prisoner will be shot dead. Answer

1 min read

Puzzle 36 | (Matchstick Puzzle)

Question: How to make 4 equilateral triangles with 6 identical match sticks? Method - I: Make a tetrahedron. Method-II: Method - III: Make one equilateral triangle by three sticks . then put each remaining stick on straight line passing through middle points of each two arms of triangle. Method IV:

1 min read

Missionaries and Cannibals

Question: In the missionaries and cannibals problem, three missionaries and three cannibals must cross a river using a boat which can carry at most two people, under the constraint that, for both banks, if there are missionaries present on the bank, they cannot be outnumbered by cannibals (if they w

4 min read

Puzzle 41 | (Guess Color of Hat)

There are 20 people standing in a line, one behind the other. Each is made to wear a hat, which can either be white or black. There can be any number of white or black hats between 0 and 20. Each person can see the hat of all the persons ahead of him in the line, but not those of the people standing

2 min read

Puzzle 43 | Muddy Heads

A mother tells her two children, a boy and a girl, to play without getting dirty. However, while playing, both children get mud on their foreheads. The mother says â€œAt least one of you has a muddy foreheadâ€. She then asks the children to answer â€œYesâ€ or â€œNoâ€ to the question: â€œDo you know whether you

2 min read

Puzzle | Heaven and Hell

There are two gates, one to hell and the other to heaven. Two gatekeepers, one for each gate. One of them always speaks the truth and the other always lies but you don't know which one guards which gate. You are allowed only one question and you need to find out the gate to heaven. What is the quest

1 min read

Puzzle | Mislabeled Jars

Puzzle : There are 3 jars, namely, A, B, C. All of them are mislabeled. Following are the labels of each of the jars: A: CandiesB: SweetsC: Candies and Sweets (mixed in a random proportion) You can put your hand in a jar and pick only one eatable at a time. Tell the minimum number of eatable(s) that

1 min read

Puzzle | 8 balls problem

Puzzle: You are provided with 8 identical balls and a measuring instrument. 7 of the eight balls are equal in weight and one of the eight given balls is defective and weighs less. The task is to find the defective ball in exactly two measurements. Solution: Step 1: Divide the balls into three catego

2 min read

Puzzle 51| Cherylâ€™s Birthday Puzzle and Solution

(Wiki) Cheryl's Birthday is the unofficial name given to a mathematics brain teaser that was asked in the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad, and was posted online on 10 April 2015 by Singapore TV presenter. It is an interesting problem and might be asked in the interviews. It is based on log

3 min read

Puzzle | Measure 4L using given 3 buckets

Suppose you have 8L, 5L and a 3L bucket with you. The buckets have no measurement lines on them and you are asked to measure exactly 4L of water using the three buckets. How could you measure exactly 4L water using only those buckets and provided you have as much extra water as you need ? Solution:-

3 min read

Puzzle | 3 Priests and 3 devils Puzzle

There are 3 devils and 3 Priests.They all have to cross a river in a boat.Boat can only carry two people at a time.As long as there are equal number of devils and priests,then devils will not eat Priest.If the number of devils are greater than the number of priests on the same side of the river then

2 min read

Puzzle | Farmer, Goat, Wolf and Cabbage

There is a farmer who wishes to cross a river but he is not alone. He also has a goat, a wolf, and a cabbage along with him. There is only one boat available which can support the farmer and either of the goat, wolf or the cabbage. So at a time, the boat can have only two objects (farmer and one oth

3 min read

Puzzle | Water Jug Problem

We have two water jugs, one measures 4 Gallons (4G) while the other measure 9 Gallons (9G). But there is no measuring label mentioned on either of these two jugs i.e. we cannot know the exact amount filled in the jug. Now, assuming there is an infinite amount of water supply, can we measure all 1G,

2 min read

Puzzle | Blind man and Pills

Puzzle: A blind man is alone on a deserted island. He has two blue pills and two red pills. He must take exactly one red pill and one blue pill or he will die. How does he do it?Solution:Way 1: Firstly, break each of the pills in half, and as you do this pop one half in your mouth and lay the other

2 min read

Puzzle | The Burning Candles

Problem Statement: Given two candles. Each of them burns for one hour. They burn unevenly in different parts though. In addition, let's have a box of matches. Measure 45 minutes and 15 minutes. Solution: Step1: Both ends of the first candle should be lit, but only one end of the second candle should

2 min read

Birthday Puzzle

Puzzle:On a new year day, two old friends (A and B) meet at a party. As they met after a long time person B wanted person A to guess his birthday. As both friends are not in touch for a long time person A was unable to guess his birthday. So person B decided to give some hints. Below are the hints:

2 min read

Puzzle | Rat and Poisonous Milk Bottles

You have 4 bottles of milk. One of them is poisonous while the other 3 are non-poisonous. There is a rat which dies exactly after 10 hours of drinking the poisoned bottle. You have a clock that measures time only in hours. Suggest an optimal strategy to identify the poisoned bottle within 24 hours.

1 min read

Measuring 6L water from 4L and 9L buckets

Question: Suppose you have a 4 liter jug and a 9 liter bucket . The buckets have no measurement lines on them either. How could you measure exactly 6 liter using only those buckets and you have as much extra water as you need ? Solution: Consider 2 buckets one 4L and other 9L. : Bucket 1 (4L) and Bu

1 min read

Puzzle | Six Houses P, Q, R, S, T, and U

There are three houses on each side of the road. These six houses are labeled as P, Q, R, S, T, and U. The houses are of different colors, namely, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, and White. The houses are of different heights. T, the tallest house, is exactly opposite to the Red-colored house.The

3 min read

Melting Candles | Puzzle

Problem Statement: There are two candles of equal lengths but of different thicknesses.The thicker candle lasts for 6 hours while the thinner one lasts for 2 hours lesser than the thicker one.A person lights the two candles at the same time and goes to play.After returning home, the person saw that

3 min read

Puzzle 47 | Red Hat vs Blue Hat

A team of three people decide on a strategy for playing the following game. Each player walks into a room. On the way in, a fair coin is tossed for each player, deciding that playerâ€™s hat color, either red or blue. Each player can see the hat colors of the other two players, but cannot see her own h

3 min read

Puzzle | Find the Culprit

Joe is a person who can't keep his secrets. He is that much careless that all his relatives and friends know his Debit Card PIN. Today Joe makes a profit of $1000. So he decided to throw a party and he invited his 3 friends: Leena, Paul, and Andrew. He was in a hurry to reach the home as soon as pos

2 min read

Puzzle 54 | Fill the Jug

There are two jugs each of 4 and 3 liters respectively , without any measuring marks. how many minimum steps are required to have 2 liters of water into the 4 litre jug (the jugs can be filled any number of times with water, and they can be emptied any number of times). Note that this puzzle is diff

2 min read

Puzzle 46 | Rich or Poor

A place has two kinds of residents, Poor, who always tell the truth, and their opposites, Rich, who always lie. You encounter two people A and B. What are A and B if A says â€œB is a Poorâ€ and B says â€œThe two of us are opposite typesâ€ ? Answer: Both A and B are Rich Solution: Let p and q be the statem

2 min read

Puzzle | Light all the bulbs

Problem Statement: Consider a circle with 2014 light bulbs and only 2 of them are on and the rest are off. Anyone can choose any of the bulbs and change the state of the neighboring bulbs. The task is to switch all the 2014 light bulbs on?Solution: Yes, it is possible to get all the light bulbs ON.F

2 min read

Puzzle | Distribute the Water

Problem Statement: Suppose there are three containers; container I (3L), container II (5L), container III (8L). Container III is filled with 8L of water while the other two are empty. With the help of these 3 containers, how to distribute the water in equal volumes i.e. 4L in container II and, 4L in

2 min read

Puzzle 50 | The Boat Wreckage

Letâ€™s make this one easy! Ankur with his friends went to river the bank of river Ganges, as the exams are over for fun and recreation. But while crossing to other side of the river, a storm came and he along with fourteen other people are trapped in a boat in the mid of the river. None of them know

2 min read

Puzzle | Weight of Heavy Ball

Puzzle: There are 2187 balls, out of which 1 is heavy. Find the minimum number of attempts the balls have to be weighed for finding out the heavy ball. Solution: The minimum amount of measurements needed to be done will be equal to 7 times. 2187 = 3^7 Step 1: Divide the 2187 balls into 3 equal group

4 min read

Puzzle | Guess the bit string

Puzzle: Your friend thinks of an N bit string that will refer to it as a code. The task is to guess the code by asking your friend a series of queries. In each query, you can provide your friend with an N bit string of your choice, and your friend will tell you the number of bits in your string that

3 min read