Look closely and take your time. People have a tendency to over think some of the basic household concepts.
Purple numbers are greater than 12 and green numbers are less than 12.
What time is it?
10
The first thing to notice is that numbers in purple are greater than 12 and numbers in green are less than 13. Now before focusing in on the letter A take a look at some of the outer circles that are a bit less jumbled. Can you find any concept or pattern that starts to stick out? The numbers are on the inside edge of the circle. Hopefully the idea of a clock comes to mind. The bottom right circle contains a 3 right where 3 is on a typical clock. If you carry this concept to the purple numbers you can see it is still based on a clock but that purple is a 24 hour clock. So green numbers represent as 12 hour clock and purple numbers represent a 24 hour clock. You can now look at the circle that A is in and figure out that A is in place of 10:00. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You have 100 coins laying flat on a table, each with a head side and a tail side. 10 of them are heads up, 90 are tails up. How would you split the coins into two piles such that there are the same number of heads in each pile? You can't see, feel or use your senses in any way to see which side is up.
0 heads in either pile would solve the question
X heads and 10-X tails
Select 10 coins randomly and flip them.
There are three possible scenarios that could take place.
1) You select 10 heads which once flipped leaves you with zero heads in either pile.
2) You select 10 tails which once leaves 10 heads in each pile
3) You select X heads and 10-X tails. When you select 10 Coins you will have X number of heads, where X can be between 0 to 10. So you're left with 10-X number of heads in the original group. Then when you flip the pile of 10 it balances the number of heads.
As an example, say you choose 10 coins and four are heads. This means there are (10 - 4) heads in the original pile. When you flip the pile of 10 you'll end up with 6 heads an 4 tails - matching the number of heads in the original pile. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
How many times a day do the minute and hour hands of a clock overlap?
24 times? Time to give it another try.
No overlap occurs during 11:00
22 times
An "overlap" is each time the minute hand laps the hour in their race around the clock. So the ending 12:00 is not an overlap. There is no moment where the hands pass each other during the 11 o'clock.. Because the hour hand and minutes had are both moving around the clock they overlap about every 65 minutes. Everytime the minute hand makes a lap the hour hand has moved 1/12 of the clock, so 1 + 1/12 of a clock in minutes in 65. If you take 24 hours in a day times 60 you get to a total of 1,440 minutes. 1,440 divided by our 65 minutes get you to 22 overlaps.
1. 12:00 am
2. 1:05 am
3. 2:06 am
4. 3:17 am
5. 4:22 am
6. 5:27 am
7. 6:33 am
8. 7:38 am
9. 8:43 am
10. 9:49 am
11. 10:55 am
12. 12:00 pm
13. 1:05 pm
14. 2:06 pm
15. 3:17 pm
16. 4:22 pm
17. 5:27 pm
18. 6:33 pm
19. 7:38 pm
20. 8:43 pm
21. 9:49 pm
22. 10:55 pm Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
There are 3,182 players in a head-to-head knockout tennis tournament. How many matches must be played to crown a winner?
If you're doing tough math you're going about this the wrong way.
Only one person can win.
3,181
An important part of this question is that it is a knockout tournament. So if you are looking to crown a winner ALL but one must lose. The only way to lose is to play a match. In order to have a winner you need to have total particpates - 1 lose which requires exactly that many games. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You've stumbled into a topless bar and before long you awake at a table with other patrons, you notice a headless body in the corner of the room. There is a six chamber revolver on the table and a man explaining the rules of the game about to be played. The six chamber revolver will be loaded with two bullets side by side, the other chambers will remain empty and the cylinder will then be spun. After one player takes a shot the next player will have the option pull the trigger again or to spin the revolver before pulling. Next thing you know the patron next to you has the gun to his head and pulls the trigger, *click*, nothing happens. Now the gun is passed to you. Should you pull the trigger again or spin the chamber before pulling the trigger?
The two bullets are next to each other, this changes the game.
One of the bullets must come after another bullet.
Pull the trigger again without spinning.
This is a probability question but the important feature is that the two bullets are side by side. This means that one bullet follows another, so if the first shot is an empty that actually eliminates one empty but also means that the next chamber to fire can't be the second bullet. So you're now left with 4 options, 3 empties and 1 bullet: a 75% chance of surviving. If you were to re-spin you'd have 4 empties and 2 bullets, which only gives you a 66% chance of surviving. Take a look at these two images to help you visualize the process. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
Your sock drawer contains 11 red socks and 15 blue socks. Your light isn't working and you must select your socks without seeing them. What is the minimum number of socks you need to take from your drawer and carry to a well-lit room to guarantee at least a matching pair?
Try thinking about this very vividly and walk through the process.
How many socks make a pair?
Three socks must be chosen.
The answers and justifications I've heard for this question are why I love logic questions. The answer is three - the first two socks can be different but the third MUST match one of the first two, giving you a matching pair. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You are given a five gallon bucket, a three gallon bucket, and an unlimited supply of water. How can you exactly measure four gallons of water?
Start by filling the five gallon bucket.
You need to get it so that the three gallon bucket has only two gallons in it.
Fill the five gallon bucket up and dump water into the three gallon bucket until filled. You should now have two gallons in the five gallon bucket. Dump the three gallon bucket out. Now pour the remaining two gallons into the three gallon bucket (leaving you with one gallon left to fill). Fill up the five gallon bucket and pour the water into the three gallon bucket until filled. You now have eexactly four gallons left in the five gallon bucket.
The trick is getting exactly two gallons into the three gallon bucket so that you can take a full five gallon bucket and pour out exactly one gallon, leaving you with four. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
A king demands a tax of 1,000 gold coins from each of 10 regions in his nation. The tax collector for each region brings him the requested bag of gold coins at year end. An informant tells the king that one tax collector is cheating and giving coins that are consistently 10% lighter than they should be, but he does not know which collector is cheating. The king knows that one coin should weigh exactly one ounce. How can the king identify the cheat by using a weighing device exactly once?
You have a 1,000 coins from each region but you shouldn't need to weigh all 1,000.
What if you weigh a different number of coins from each region?
Take one coin from bag one, two coins from bag two, three coins from bag three, and so on, fishing with ten coins from bag ten. Then weigh this collection of coins.
When you place the above collection on the weighing device you should see a discrepancy of some number. If the actual weight is 0.30 ounces short, for example, then bag three is light, and collector three must be the cheat. Why? You placed three coins from bag three and if coins from collector three are 10% lighter then each one will be 0.10 ounces lighter than it's supposed to be. So by putting a different number of coins from each region you can find out which collector is providing light payments. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
What is the angle (if any) between the hour and minute hands of a clock when the time is 9:45?
Try drawing this out the best you can. Make sure your answer stays logical.
One hour is one-twelfth of the full circle and 45min is three-quarters of one hour.
22.5 Degrees
If the time is 45 minutes into the hour then the hour hand must be three-quarters of the way to the next hour. A full circle is 360 degrees and a clock is a circle divided into 12 hours. The distance between each hour is one-twelfth of a circle, 30 degrees. If the minute hand is pointed at the nine and the hour hand is three-quarters to the ten then the answer becomes three-quarters of 30 degrees, 22.5 degrees. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
A man is set to be burned at the altar of truth or the altar of untruth - they let him know he can make one statement. If it is true he will be burnt at the altar of truth and if it is untrue he will be burnt at the altar of untruth. He makes a statement and they let him go. What did he say?
Invalid
You're looking for a statement that is a paradox
You will burn me at the altar of untruth. Any other paradox should work as well.
By stating that they will burn you at the altar of untruth means that to burn you at the untruth altar would make it true so that isn't an option. If they burned you at the alter of truth they would be violating their own rules but allowing you to make an untrue statement and burning you at the altar of truth. There is noway for your statement to be acted out according to their rules so they therefore let you free. Sign Up & Never Miss a Logic Question
Picture a 10 x 10 x 10 "macro-cube" floating. The macro-cube is composed of 1 x 1 x 1 "micro-cubes", all stuck together. Through some damage, the exposed (outermost) layer of micro-cubes loosen and fall to the ground. How many micro-cubes are on the ground?
Most people start by counting 1 x 1 micro-cubes on each face and adding them up. This is a much more difficult and error prone approach than necessary.
Think volume instead of independent micro-cubes
488 micro-cubes are on the floor
There is a macro-cube and then after a layer falls off, a smaller macro-cube. The answer is then the difference in volume between the cube in its first state and the volume of the cube after a layer falls off. The volume of a cube with length n is n^3. The answer then becomes (10^3) - (8^3). A common mistake is to take (10^3) - (9^3). Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. Unfortunately, they have only one torch and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without one. The bridge is only strong enough to support two people at a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person: 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the bridge?
Can you send the 2 slowest people together?
What if person 1 waits?
17 minutes
Most people initially respond with the idea to use the fastest person as an usher, taking everyone across in 21 minutes. But that's just too easy and we can do better. It's best to have the two slowest people cross together. The only way to do this without having a slow person cross twice is to have someone waiting on the other side when they arrive
1 and 2 cross Time: 2 minutes 2 comes back Time: 4 minutes 7 and 10 go across Time: 14 minutes 1 comes back Time: 15 minutes 1 and 2 go across Time: 17 minutes Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You hire a man to work in your kingdom for seven days. You wish to pay him in gold. You have one gold bar that can break into seven equal parts, same height and width. You wish to pay him one gold part per day, but you may only snap the bar in only two places. Where do you snap the bar so that you may pay him at the end of each day, and so that on the successive days he may use what you paid him previously to make change?
You must only pay him one part of the bar the first day so that gives us the first break.
What goes wrong if you snap the bar into a one part, a second one part, and a five parts?
Snap the gold into pieces that are one, two and four parts.
On day one, give him one part. On day two, give him the two part piece and take back the one part as change. On day three, give him back the one part. On day four, exchange his three part for your four part piece. On day five, give him one part. On day six, exchange your two parts for his one. On day seven, give him the remaining one part. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
Why are images in a mirror flipped horizontally and not vertically? For example, although I wear a watch on my left hand, and my reflection wears his on his right hand, my reflection is not standing on his head.
"Who's looking at who?
Write a few words on a piece of paper and hold it up to a mirror.
It's perspective, not rotations
You are viewing your view from the perception that is directly across from you. It is not flipped vertically or horizontally. If you hold a sheet of paper up to a mirror the left-most word is still the left most word and the right-most word is still the right most word. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You have a string-like fuse that burns in exactly one minute. The fuse is inhomogeneous, it may burn slowly, then quickly, then slowly, and so on. You have a match and no watch. How can you measure exactly 30 seconds?
"String-like" why is that helpful to this situation?
60 seconds divided by two is...?
Bend the fuse so that you can light both ends simultaneously.
You receive eight balls. They are identical except that one is heavier than the rest. You have access to a scale but it cost $10 per use. What is the least amount you can spend to find which ball is the heaviest and how?
Don't think in pairs.
Groups of three?
$20
You must use the scale two times. You can separate the balls into three groups : three balls, three balls, and two balls. You start by weighing the sets of three against each other. If these are equal then they must be identical in weight. The heavy ball must be in the group of two. Put them on the scale and see which is heaviest. In the other scenario where one group of three is heavier than the other, you have identified which group the heavy ball is in. Choose two balls out of the group and use the scale. If one is heavier then that is your ball, if they are identical then the heavy ball must be the one not weighed. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly? Which box should you choose from?
A key piece of information is that all of the boxes start mis-labeled
Draw the boxes and the labels out, then try starting which each box
You must pick from the box labeled "Apples and Oranges" - then you will be able to determine the correct labeling.
You know the labels are incorrect so the box labeled "Apples and Oranges" must be either all apples or oranges. Suppose you remove an orange, the box must therefore be all oranges. You now have two labels left: "Apples" & "Apples and Oranges". Also remaining are two incorrectly labeled boxes: "Oranges" & "Apples". Since the "Apples" label can't go on the box already labeled "Apples" you know this one must be "Apples and Oranges". You now have one box and one label so by process of elimination you can correctly label the last box "Apples". Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
A snail is climbing a 10-foot flag pole. He climbs up three feet every 45 minutes. He likes to take naps for 15 minutes after climbing. While sleeping, he slides down by one foot. How long until he reaches the top of the pole?
Don't take shortcuts
Draw it out
Four hours and thirty minutes
The quick answer is to establish that the snail climbs a net of 2 feet per hour, reaching the top in 5 hours. Yet, you can't forget about the max height of each hour. The snail's max height is always 1 foot higher than where he slides down to by the end of the hour. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You're trying to crack a three-number dial safe. Without knowing the combination numbers, what is the maximum number of trials required to open the safe? A trial is considered a full three-number combination. There are 40 numbers on this safe. To enter a combination you start with the dial at zero and turn counter-clockwise until the first number, then clockwise back to zero, then clockwise to the second number, then counter-clockwise back to zero, and finally counter-clockwise to the third number. Upon the correct combination, the safe will spring open.
64,000 and you've spun out of control.
How many numbers of a combination do you truly need?
1,600 trials
The quick answer is generally 40 to the third power, 64,000. This number can be reduced greatly. If you input the first two numbers correctly you don't need the third, you only need to turn the dial through the numbers until the safe springs open. This brings the answer down to 40 to the second power, or 1,600. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
You start with a single lily pad sitting on an otherwise empty pond. You are told that the surface area of the lily doubles every day and that it will take 30 days for the single lily to cover the surface of the pond. | If instead of one lily pad you start with eight lily pads (each identical in characteristics to the original lily), how many days will it take for the surface of the pond to be covered? Assume that they don't overlap each other.
If your answer is 3.75 days (30 divided by eight) then you should try again.
How many days for a single lily to be equal to eight lilies?
27 days
If the eight lilies are identical in nature to the single lily then you can think of the eight lily pads as one big lily pad. The question then becomes how many days for one lily to become equivalent to eight lilies. You can subtract this time saved from 30 days. It takes three days for a single lily to grow to the equivalent of eight lilies. So you can shave three days off of 30. Never Miss a Logic Question - Sign Up
