10 tricky tasks to test your logic and ingenuity

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Find out if you can find the right answers without Google's hints and help.

– 1 –

Kolya was making an important report, but the electricity was suddenly cut off. Kolya's laptop is discharged, there is no calculator at hand, and the report needs to be submitted urgently. Kolya takes a pencil and a piece of paper, starts counting in a hurry.

When adding up, he makes mistakes: he takes the number of units 2 as 9, and the number of tens 4 as 7. In total, Kolya comes out with 750. What number should have turned out from the would-be bookkeeper, if he was not in a hurry and did not make mistakes?

Having taken the number of units from 2 to 9, Kolya-hurrying increased the amount by seven units. And taking the number of tens 4 for 7 - by three tens, that is, by 30. The total amount increased by 37. The correct number is 750 - 37 = 713.

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– 2 –

Masha went to the market, bought 35 pears and put them in two baskets. If you transfer as many fruits from the right basket to the left as there were in the left, then there will be three more fruits in the right than in the left. How many pears were in each basket from the beginning?

There were 35 pears in both baskets. After shifting the fruits from the right basket to the left one, there are three more pears left in the right basket than in the left one: 35 - 3 = 32. Let's divide the amount of fruits in half: 32: 2 = 16. Let's assume that there are 16 pears in the left basket, then in the right after shifting, it became three more: 16 + 3 = 19.

It should be borne in mind that there were 16 fruits in the left basket only after they put in it as much as it had before. So, you need to divide the number of pears in half: 16: 2 = 8. There are eight fruits in the left basket. Let's calculate how many fruits are in the right basket: 35 - 8 = 27.

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– 3 –

Mother is 55 years old. She has three daughters. The first is 15 years old, the second is 7, and the third is 21 years old. In how many years will the mother's age be equal to the sum of the years of her daughters?

To solve the problem, you first need to find out the total age of all daughters. Add up: 15 + 21 + 7 = 43 years. Now we find out how many years their total age is less than the mother's age: 55 - 43 = 12 years.

It must be remembered that the total age of daughters every year increases by three years, and the age of the mother during the same time is added only by a year.

Let's calculate the difference in age change over the year: 3 - 1 = 2 years. Let us divide the difference in the ages of the daughters and the mother by the difference in the increase in age for the year: 12: 2 = 6. This means that in six years the age of the mother will be equal to the sum of the years of her daughters.

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– 4 –

The figure shows the dial. Can you divide it into six parts with straight lines so that the sum of the numbers in each part is the same?

In order for the sum of the numbers in each part to be the same, you need to draw the dial with lines as shown in the figure.

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– 5 –

There are three opaque jars on the kitchen shelf: with buckwheat, pasta and sugar. The first container says "Buckwheat", the second - "Pasta", and the third - "Buckwheat or sugar". What is in which jar, if the contents of each do not correspond to the inscription on it?

It's simple. Since each inscription does not correspond to reality, it turns out that the third can contains pasta, the first contains sugar, and the second contains buckwheat.

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– 6 –

Yulia, Masha, Vova, Artyom and Sasha are standing in line for the electric scooters. Julia is ahead of Masha, but after Artyom. Vova and Artyom are not standing next to each other, and Sasha is not next to either Artyom, or Yulia, or Vova. What order are the guys in?

Julia is ahead of Masha, but after Artyom. This means that the following sequence is obtained: Artyom, Julia, Masha. Sasha is not next to Artyom, Yulia, or Vova. Accordingly, he stands after Masha. That is, the sequence is as follows: Artyom, Julia, Masha, Sasha.

It remains to deal with Vova. Since Vova and Artyom are not standing next to each other, and Sasha is not near Vova either, Vova's place is between Yulia and Masha. It turns out this order: Artyom, Julia, Vova, Masha, Sasha.

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– 7 –

There is a toy clock in the shape of a cat on the table. In addition to timing, they can do a lot of different fun things. After observing the clock, you can identify the following patterns:

• if now the cat is waving its paw, then in a minute it will blink;
• if the cat is winking now, then in a minute he will meow;
• if the cat is yawning now, then in a minute he waves his paw;
• if now the cat is scratching behind the ear, then in a minute he yawns;
• if the cat is blinking now, then in a minute he winks;
• if the cat meows now, then in a minute he scratches behind the ear.

Now the cat is yawning. What will he do in 40 minutes?

Let's arrange the sequence of the cat's actions: he yawns → waves his paw → blinks → winks → meows → scratches behind the ear → yawns, and so on. The full cycle of his actions takes 6 minutes. 40 minutes = 6 × 6 + 4. Therefore, if the cat is yawning now, then in 40 minutes it will meow.

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– 8 –

Friends Katya, Nastya, Lena and Vika bought a huge box of peaches together and agreed to divide it equally. Katya immediately took her part and left. After a while, Nastya took a fourth of the remaining peaches and also left. Then Lena and Vika took turns doing the same. After that, 81 peaches remained in the box.

How many fruits were in the box and how many of them did each girl take? Who should take more peaches and how many?

After Vika took the peaches, there were 81 of them left in the box. So, before she took them, there were 81: 3 × 4 = 108 fruits in the box. Before Lena took peaches, there were 108: 3 × 4 = 144 in the box. Before Nastya received some of the fruits, there were 144: 3 × 4 = 192 in the box.

The starting amount is 192: 3 × 4 = 256 peaches. This means that each girl was supposed to pick up 64 fruits. Katya got her share, Nastya needs to take 16 more, Lena - 28, and Vika - 37.

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– 9 –

Guess on what principle these sequences of numbers are built.

1 … The numbers are one after another in alphabetical order: e - eight, d - two, d - nine, n - zero, and so on.

2 … To get the next number in the chain, you need to do the following: 972 - 97 = 875; 875 - 87 = 788; 788 - 78 = 710; 710 - 71 = 639; 639 - 63 = 576.

3 … The pattern is as follows: add 1, then multiply by 1; add 2, then multiply by 2; add 3, then multiply by 3, and so on.

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– 10 –

On one side of the river there is a boy Misha and a tangerine tree, on the other - Sasha, Misha's friend. The banks are connected by a bridge. Sasha asked Misha to get him two tangerines from the tree and bring them. The only way to do this is to cross the bridge. But here's the bad luck: the bridge can only withstand one boy and one tangerine, and besides, you can walk along it only once.

How can Misha transfer the fruit? You can't swim on water, throw citrus fruits - too, dig tunnels, fly and look for other workarounds is also unacceptable. Sasha cannot go and pick tangerines on his own: his mother forbade him to go to the other side. So what should Misha do?

Misha needs to walk across the bridge and juggle with tangerines.

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