Mind feeling sluggish? Or maybe feeling particularly smart right now, and want to test your intellect?
Reddit Mode asks, “What are some of the best brain teasers in the world?“
To see the answer, highlight the text after where you see “ANSWER:”.
1. If the five bags has fake gold in it. The real gold, fake gold, and all five bags are all exactly identical in every way, except the pieces of fake gold weigh 1.1 grams, and the real gold pieces weigh 1 gram. You have a perfectly accurate digital gram scale and can use it only once. How do you determine which bag has the fake gold?”
ANSWER: Take one piece from the first bag, two from the second bag, three from the third bag, four from the fourth bag, and five from the fifth bag. If the weight on the scale ends in .1 you know its the first, .2 the second, .3 the third, .4 fourth, and .5 the fifth
Fairly straightforward right? Here, “scale ends” refers to the last decimal place.
Shared by Reddit user dankability
2. “This has always been one of my favorite ones:
Cannibals ambush a safari in the jungle and capture three men. The cannibals give the men a single chance to escape uneaten.
The captives are lined up in order of height, and are tied to stakes. The man in the rear can see the backs of his two friends, the man in the middle can see the back of the man in front, and the man in front cannot see anyone. The cannibals show the men five hats. Three of the hats are black and two of the hats are white.
Blindfolds are then placed over each man’s eyes and a hat is placed on each man’s head. The two hats left over are hidden. The blindfolds are then removed and it is said to the men that if one of them can guess what color hat he is wearing they can all leave unharmed.
The man in the rear who can see both of his friends’ hats but not his own says, “I don’t know”. The middle man who can see the hat of the man in front, but not his own says, “I don’t know”. The front man who cannot see ANYBODY'S hat says “I know!”
How did he know the color of his hat and what color was it?“
ANSWER: The man in front knew he was wearing a black hat because he knew the first man did not see two white hats and he knew that the second man did not see one white hat because if he saw a white hat, the second man would have known that his hat was black from hearing the first man’s statement.
Though the success of this is dependent on whether the middle and rear men have ample logical reasoning skills.
Shared by Reddit user IlikeJG
3. “Why not the objectively hardest logic puzzle ever?
“ Three gods A, B, and C are called, in no particular order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer all questions in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are da and ja, in some order. You do not know which word means which.”
Have fun:“
ANSWER: The first trick is to realize that you can eliminate the True / False confusion, by asking “If I were to ask you X, would you answer affirmatively?” Phrased this way, you get the same answer from a god who always tells the truth as from one who lies.
The second trick is to realize you can eliminate the ja / da confusion by phrasing the above question “If I were to ask you X, would you answer ja?” Put this way, an answer of ja always means “yes”, regardless of the meaning of jaand da, and regardless of whether you’re asking a god who always tells the truth or a god who always lies.
Now, it’s simply a matter of figuring out which one is Random.
Here are the three questions you ask:
First, you ask god B “If I asked you if A was Random, would you say ja?". If they say ja, then either A or B is Random (and C must not be Random). If they say da, then either B or C is Random (and A must not be Random).
Next, you ask the non-Random god “If I asked you if you were True, would you say ja?” This tells you whether they are True or False.
Finally, you ask the non-Random god “If I asked you if B were Random, would you say ja?". This tells you what B is, and by process of elimination, what the third god is as well.
Shared by Reddit user doominabox1
Answer courtesy of Reddit user catsclaw
4.” Solomon the powerful and wealthy king chooses to test his most loyal and trusted minister, Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, by asking of him an impossible task. The king asks Benaiah to find for him a ring, knowing full well that the ring does not exist, which has magic powers. “If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy,” he tells him. He expresses his desire to wear the ring for Sukkot, which is six months away. After months of searching, Benaiah finds himself, the night before Sukkot, walking through the poorest neighborhood of Jerusalem. He happens upon a jeweler, who, when asked if he’s heard of such a ring, produces from his pocket a plain gold ring, to which he adds an engravement. Benaiah reads the inscription and smiles. He returns just in time on the eve of Sukkot to give the king the ring he has requested. The king laughs and takes the ring, but upon reading the inscription, becomes very sad. What was engraved on the ring?“
ANSWER: This too shall pass
Very true. If you don’t get it, consider this: no matter how powerful or wealthy the king is, it only lasts a couple of decades and can’t be brought along at death. Conversely, a poor man will not be poor for eternity.
Shared by Reddit user RYKAhowRAD
5. “A poor man walks into a bar and starts talking with a really rich man.
The poor man says “You know, I know every song in the world. I bet all your fortune and possessions that I can find a song with any name you want”.
The rich man, laughing, accepts and says that he bets him to find a song with his daughter’s complete name in it. Her name is Julie-Monique-Alexandrina.
A few minutes later, the poor man exits the bar, with the rich man’s wallet, car(s) key(s), clothes, etc. He won his bet.
How ?“
ANSWER: He sang “Happy Birthday”
Oh my gosh so obvious...
Shared by Reddit user BaronDeSpireal
6. “Einstein’s Riddle:
There is a row of five different color houses. Each house is occupied by a man of different nationality. Each man has a different pet, prefers a different drink, and smokes different brand of cigarettes.
The Brit lives in the Red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The Green house is next to the White house, on the left.
The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the Blue house.
The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.
Who has a fish as a pet?”
ANSWER: The German owns the fish
Shared by Reddit user -eDgAR-
Yeah this is for if you’re really ambitious and have time to work the problem out. I’m not going to explain it, but as long as you work it out, you'll eventually arrive at the answer.
