3 BULBS 1 SWITCH
An electrician has been called to a house with a BIG dilemma.
The owner of the house leads the electrician to three switches in his downstairs hallway.
He explains that each switch turns ONE of THREE light bulbs on in the attic of his house. And that you can turn each switch on and off, and leave them in any position you want.
The owner had tried absolutely everything to work out which switch turns off which light bulb, and he was beginning to think he’ll never work it out.
The catch?
The electrician is only allowed one trip upstairs to the attic.
But he knew immediately how to solve the problem. And the owner, acting on the electrician’s advice successfully worked out how to solve his problem!
What did the electrician say to the owner?
Can YOU solve which switch corresponds to which light bulb?
Check the Answer
The electrician told the man to keep the first bulb switched on for a few minutes.
Why? Because the bulb will get warm from being on.
So then all the owner had to do was switch the bulb off, switch another one on and walk up to the attic upstairs. The owner will be able to easily identify which bulbs are which as the first one will still be warm, and the other one will still be on!
PHILOSOPHER'S CLOCK
One day, an absentminded technophobe philosopher was wandering around his house when suddenly he spotted something veeeeerry bad
He immediately went over to investigate and he realised it was as bad as he had first imagined
The grandfather clock in his house, the only clock the Philosopher had was out of battery
He had been so busy pondering the meanings of life that he had forgotten to wind the clock up.
As a technophobe, he had no mobile phone, TV, home telephone, internet or any other means of telling the time.
But, as the philosopher sat there, he had an EPIPHANY!
He knew exactly where his friend lived and how long it would take to walk there
So he travelled on foot to his friend’s house, and stayed there for the night.
In the morning, the philosopher walked the exact same journey back, and he knew exactly what time to set the clock.
Can you work out how the philosopher knew the exact time to set?
Check the Answer
Ahh did you forget that clocks can still measure time even when they’re not “showing” the right time?
So, the philosopher wound the clock up, and as he knew exactly how long the journey took his to his friend’s house
And that the friend has a clock showing the correct time
So when he arrived back in the morning he knew EXACTLY what time to set!
Okay okay, HANDS UP! Who managed to solve that one?
A BALL IN A HOLE
Two friends, Bill and Geoff, are playing table tennis against each other, and it’s come to sudden-death!
Bill hits an amazing smash shot, the ball whiiiizzzzing past Geoff without his bat even being raised
It was their last GOOD table tennis ball, all the other balls had been lost or broken from their hours of play
The winning ball bounced around and eventually embedded itself into a narrow pipe, 1 foot long down, and with concrete surrounding the pipe so the y couldn’t alter the pipe’s position.
Geoff, who lost the point, said to his friend Bill:
“If I can get our last GOOD ball out of the pipe, without breaking it, then you have to forfeit the game?”
Bill, thinks about Geoff’s offer, and adds some conditions
“Okay, but you only get to use your table tennis paddle, your shoe laces, and this bottle of water”
Geoff immediately says
“Yes!”
2 minutes later, Geoff has retrieved the ball undamaged and Bill..frustrated…can’t work out how Geoff did it!
Can you work out what Geoff did to retrieve the ball?
Check the Answer
Bill gave what he THOUGHT were random things to Geoff to get the ball from the pipe.
But Geoff, a keen logician, knew that all he had to do was pour the water down the pipe and the ball will float up to the surface!
MONKEY AND UNICORN
Once upon a time, in a long lost magical kingdom
A beautiful princess named Alice was strolling around a forest nearby her castle
As she was walking, Alice heard some noises coming from a cabin in the woods
An inquisitive Princess, Alice went to investigate and see who was inside the cabin
When she approached, she saw a magnificent Monkey and a magical Unicorn
The Princess had heard about the Monkey and Unicorn from her bed-time stories as a child
She knew that the Monkey lies on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and on the other days the Monkey speaks the truth
And that the Unicorn lies on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and on the other days the Unicorn speaks the truth
The Monkey said to Alice: “Yesterday I was lying”
And the Unicorn says to Alice: “So was I”
Which day did they meet Alice?
Check the Answer
The Monkey and the Unicorn have no days where they BOTH lie.
And we know that they BOTH speak the truth only on Sunday.
We know the day is NOT Sunday, as the Monkey would have then been lying in what he said to the Princess
So this means that only one of them lied
If the Unicorn was honest, then it would have to be Sunday, right? Nope, remember earlier? We’ve already proved Sunday to be wrong
So this means that the Monkey spoke the truth when he met Alice on Thursday, and spoke to Alice about Wednesday – one of the days he lies
THE COIN CONUNDRUM
A man is walking through a busy street, when he spots a hustler offering $50 to win his game
The man goes over to the hustler and says
“So what do I have to do to win this $50 then?”
The hustler, laughing to himself, explains the rules to the man
“Here are 3 coins, one is gold, another silver and the last is copper. If you make a truthful statement, you will get 1 of these coins. But if you make a FALSE statement you will get nothing”
The hustler continues, and asks the man:
“What sentence can guarantee that you get the gold coin? Remember you can WIN 50 bucks!”
In the end, the hustler ended up GIVING the man the gold coin AND $50.
Can you work out the sentence the man said to the hustler?
Check the Answer
The man said to the hustler:
“You will give me neither a copper nor silver coin.”
If this is true, then the man would get the gold coin.
The man was clever and used a double negative, which means his answer could also mean “you will give me either copper or silver coin”
And that means it breaks the condition that you get no coin why lying.
THE FRUSTRATING ELEVATOR
A man, called Charles, works on the 10th floor of his office building
At the end of each day, because Charles is so tired from his laborious day at work, he takes the elevator down to the ground floor
— I mean, who wants to walk 10 floors, right?!!
One day, Charles turns up at his office in the morning. He’s annoyed because it’s glorious sunny weather and he has to finish up loads of work before a deadline
When Charles arrives at the office it’s like a desert.
He’s forgotten that it’s a national holiday and no one is in the office.
Charles, lazy and frustrated can only take the elevator up to the 7th floor and has to walk the rest of the way
But he can go all the way up to the 10th floor when other employees are in the elevator with him, or when he’s come to work on a rainy day
Can you work out why Charles has to walk from the 7th floor this day?
Check the Answer
Charles is too short to reach the floor “10” button on the elevator button board
But his office colleagues are with him, he can ask them to push the button for the 10th floor.
And on a rainy day he always brings an umbrella, so Charles can push the button using that!
