Brain teasers

[Oniya]

The classic answer

One - I was going to St. Ives

[Songbird]

The classic answer

One - I was going to St. Ives

Bingo! :D You win the prize! ;D

[wxiyn]

It appears there're lots of assumptions here. By any chance, these girls were mermaids?

So I've already posted this for one of my group games to figure out. This math problem was given to me via an AD at work.

7 girls on a bus.
Each girl has 7 bags.
Each bag has 7 cats.
Each cat has 7 kittens.
How many legs are on the bus?

The answer is not, "Buses don't have legs."


Also- feel free to post your own brain teasers!

[Cthonig]

Four cars are stopped at a four-way intersection. At the same time and at the same speed, they all drive forward and continue their journeys without colliding.
How is this possible?

NOTES:
All the cars are facing forward into the intersection.
The intersection is not large enough for the cars to
cross at the same time and miss each other
(this is possible on larger intersections).
There are no tricks such as overpasses or tunnels.

I didn't see anyone answer this so here's my answer: One road has four lanes, two in each direction - call it the east-west road - and the four cars are two eastbound and two westbound.

[BadForm]

There is a misleading word in the four-way stop question, that being the word "forward." While the drive forward a few inches they all actually turn right (left if you're in the UK I guess) so their paths never cross.

Ok, I haven't read back so forgive me if this has been asked before, but a man is moving towards the center of a field. He is praying because he knows when he reaches the center of the field he will die. Based solely on the information given, how does he know this?
HINT: This can be worked out purely on that information. So there is no need to add strange things about the field being a minefield or having a firing squad etc. However most fail to answer it because of a specific assumption they make about the way the man is moving.

[Oniya]

Ok, I haven't read back so forgive me if this has been asked before, but a man is moving towards the center of a field. He is praying because he knows when he reaches the center of the field he will die. Based solely on the information given, how does he know this?
HINT: This can be worked out purely on that information. So there is no need to add strange things about the field being a minefield or having a firing squad etc. However most fail to answer it because of a specific assumption they make about the way the man is moving.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

His parachute didn't open?

[TheGlyphstone]

You are driving a bus from New York to Chicago. When the bus left New York, it was travelling at 65 miles per hour with eighteen passengers, averaging 36 years of age. In Harrisburg, the bus picked up six passengers and dropped off three. Of the new total of passengers, five were men and the rest women, all between the ages of 18 and 55. Between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, the bus passes seven Amish buggies on the road carrying a total of exactly two-thirds of the current passenger load, but with a sum total of double their cumulative age. In Pittsburgh, a number of passengers board that doubles the total load, simultaneously with one-third of the load previous to the additional passengers departing. This includes three passengers each over the age of 65, and skews the ratio of hair colors onboard to where the bus contains twice as many brunettes as it does redheads, and as many blondes as redheads, brunettes, and bald men combined. Halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the oldest man on the bus reveals himself to be a terrorist who has rigged the bus to explode if its speed drops to lower than 55 miles per hour. The next 116 minutes are a thrilling action-packed series of twists and turns before an aging SWAT officer boards the bus via helicopter, disarms the bomb, and kills the bad guy. Three people have thrown up in the meantime, two fainted, and one dead of a heart attack, so the bus pulls over for 2.7 hours and lets everyone take a bathroom break. Two passengers end up trespassing in a farmer's field and are trampled by the bull, but four people board the bus, three of which act very strangely and will later be revealed as extraterrestrials scouting Earth for invasion. One baby is born via Caesarean section and the bus is abducted and thoroughly probed by a flying saucer retrieving its three lost scouts before wiping everyone's memories nothing else of notable importance happens. After fifteen hours and twenty minutes, not including time lost at gas stations and toll booths, everyone disembarks in Chicago. One young lady decides to write down the story in her diary, but can't remember an important detail - what was the name of the bus driver?

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

[you], of course.

[BadForm]

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

As you do not say if you are using the individual or plural meaning of "you" I am unsure if you are referring to just me, whose UserID rather than name I shall give as BadForm, or if everyone reading your post are sharing the driving in which case I cannot possibly provide a full answer

Oniya, you correctly avoided the wrong assumption most make and provided a correct answer. It need not be that specific of course since something else may have caused the motion, but kudos!


Ok, a woman lives on the twentieth floor of an apartment block. Every morning she leaves her apartment, rides the elevator down to the garage, and drives to work. Every night she returns to her block, rides the elevator to the tenth floor, gets out and walks up the remaining ten flights of stairs. However, if someone else gets on the elevator she takes it all the way to her floor. Why is that?

[TheGlyphstone]

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

As you do not say if you are using the individual or plural meaning of "you" I am unsure if you are referring to just me, whose UserID rather than name I shall give as BadForm, or if everyone reading your post are sharing the driving in which case I cannot possibly provide a full answer

Oniya, you correctly avoided the wrong assumption most make and provided a correct answer. It need not be that specific of course since something else may have caused the motion, but kudos!


Ok, a woman lives on the twentieth floor of an apartment block. Every morning she leaves her apartment, rides the elevator down to the garage, and drives to work. Every night she returns to her block, rides the elevator to the tenth floor, gets out and walks up the remaining ten flights of stairs. However, if someone else gets on the elevator she takes it all the way to her floor. Why is that?

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

The woman is a dwarf, and/or otherwise unable to reach higher than the 10th floor button on the elevator panel.

[BadForm]

Absolutely correct, TheGlyphstone! I may come up with others later, but for now I'll let y'all take the floor.