A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q. Four prisoners escape from a prison. 
The prisoners, Mr. East, Mr. West, Mr. South, Mr. North head towards different directions after escaping.  The following information of their escape was supplied: 

• The escape routes were North Road, South Road, East Road and West Road
• None of the prisoners took the road which was their namesake
• Mr. East did not take the South Road
• Mr.West did not the South Road
• The West Road was not taken by Mr. East

What road did each of the prisoners take to make their escape ?


Answer :

Put all the given information into the table structure as follow:
 
                  North Road     South Road      East Road      West Road
Mr. North        No                    
Mr. South                               No 
Mr. East                                 No                     No                   No
Mr. West                                No                                             No 

Now from table, two things are obvious and they are: 

• Mr.North took the South Road
• Mr.East took the North Road

Put this information into the table, Also keep in mind that the prisoners head towards different directions after escaping. 

                  North Road     South Road      East Road      West Road
Mr. North        No                    YES                   No                   No
Mr. South        No                     No 
Mr. East         YES                    No                     No                   No
Mr. West          No                     No                                             No 

Now from the table: 

• Mr.West took the East Road 
• Mr.South took the West Road

So the answer is: 

• Mr.North took the South Road
• Mr.South took the West Road
• Mr.East took the North Road
• Mr.West took the East Road

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q. Two friends, a programmer and a mathematician, get together for drinks after work one day at the programmer’s house.  The mathematician asks the programmer how his three children are doing.  The programmer replies that one of his three children just had a birthday.  The mathematician asks, "How old are your children now?"  The programmer replies, "The product of their ages is 36."  The mathematician thinks for a moment and says, "That’s not enough information."  The programmer says, "OK, the sum of their ages equals my house address."  The mathematician steps outside to check the address number,
comes back inside, and says, "That’s still not enough information."  The programmer then says, "Well my oldest child has red hair."  The mathematician immediately responded, "Oh, now I know the ages."  What are the ages of the programmer’s three children?

Solution :


The children are aged 2, 2, and 9 years old.  The mathematician’s logic was that since there are three children whose ages multiply to 36, the possible combinations are:

1, 1, 36
1, 2, 18
1, 3, 12
1, 4, 9
1, 6, 6
2, 2, 9
2, 3, 6
3, 3, 4

Initially, any of these could be the correct ages.  After the programmer says that the sum of the ages is the same as the house address, the mathematician mentally computed the sum of each possible combination:

1, 1, 36 -> 38
1, 2, 18 -> 21
1, 3, 12 -> 16
1, 4, 9  -> 14
1, 6, 6  -> 13
2, 2, 9  -> 13
2, 3, 6  -> 11
3, 3, 4  -> 10

Notice that all the sums are different except for (1, 6, 6) and (2, 2, 9).  If the programmer’s address was anything except for 13, then the mathematician would know the ages, so the three ages must be one of those two combinations.  But after the programmer said that the oldest child has red hair, the mathematician knew that there was a single oldest child which eliminates the (1, 6, 6) combination which has oldest twins.

A Tricky IQ Question

Q. There was a sheriff in a town that caught three outlaws. He said he was going to give them all a chance to go free. All they had to do is figure out what color hat they were wearing. The sheriff had 5 hats, 3 black and 2 white. Each outlaw can see the color of the other outlaw’s hats, but cannot see his own. The first outlaw guessed and was wrong so he was put in jail. The second outlaw also guessed and was also put in jail. Finally the third blind outlaw guessed and he guessed correctly. How did he know?  

Solution :

• Let us look at it this way. Here are our possibilities:

• 1) BBB
• 2) BBW
• 3) BWB
• 4) WBB
• 5) WWB
• 6) BWW
• 7) WBW

• Now we can eliminate # 6 because in this case the first outlaw would be sure to know that he had on a black hat. # 7 can be eliminated for the same reason for the second outlaw’s guess.

• In # 2, the first outlaw has to see at least 1 black hat (if he saw two while hats he wouldn't have guessed wrong). From this we know that outlaw 2 or outlaw 3 has a black hat (possibly both). Now outlaw 2 has the same dilemma, but he knows that one or both of outlaw 2 and 3 has a black hat. He can see that outlaw 3 has a white hat so in that case he would guess black and be correct, but he didn't (since we know he guessed wrong). Given this, we can remove option 2 from consideration.

• Options 1,3,4,5 all have outlaw 3 wearing a black hat. Thus, assuming that convicts 1 and 2 are as logical as possible, the only options left all have outlaw 3 wearing a black hat.

Classic Weighing IQ Questions : Simple, Medium and Hard

Weighing puzzles vary in hardness from simple to extremely mathematical involving either expertise in some fields or extreme ingenuity. Either you know it or you figure out it using extreme intelligence. So here is the chance for some people to burn your grey cells.
There are three puzzles with varying range of hardness. Sometimes you may feel the hardest one is very easy for you have already come across the theory, but I still made it the hardest for the people who will be solving it with out knowing the theory behind it, giving them an option to figure out a small part in evolution of computational history.

There is a shopkeeper who wants to weigh things who has a common balance. He must be in a position to weigh things of all possible integral weighing units from 1 to a given maximum sum. The question will be either about how many weights you will need or how will you weigh.

 Problem 1 : Simple - One Side Only

In this version of the problem shopkeeper can only place the weights in one side of the common balance. For example if shopkeeper has weights 1 and 3 then he can measure 1,3 and 4 only. Now the question is how many minimum weights and name the weights you will need to measure all weights from 1 to 1000.

 Problem 2 : Medium - Both Sides

This is same as the first problem with the condition of placing weights on only side of the common balance being removed. You can place weights on both side and you need to measure all weights between 1 and 1000.For example if you have weights 1 and 3,now you can measure 1,3 and 4 like earlier case, and also you can measure 2,by placing 3 on one side and 1 on the side which contain the substance to be weighed. So question again is how many minimum weights and of what denominations you need to measure all weights from 1kg to 1000kg.

 Problem 3: Hard - Incremental

This is an altogether different one in the same scenario. You have to make 125 packets of sugar with first one weighing 1 kg, second 2 kg, third 3 kg etc ...and 125th one weighing 125kg.You can only use one pan of the common balance for measurement for weighing sugar, the other pan had to be used for weights i.e. weights should be used for each weighing. It has come into notice that moving weights into and out of the pan of the balance takes time and this time depends on the number on the number of weights that are moved. For example - If we need to measure 4 kg using weights 1 and 3 only, it will take twice as much time needed to measure 1 kg. Lets say we want to make sugar packets of weights 1,3,4 using weights 1 and 3 only. For this first we measure 1 kg, with 1 unit of time, we place 3 kg along with 1 kg and measure 4kg with again 1 unit of time, and finally we
move 1kg out of pan to measure 3kg in 1 unit of time. So in 3 units of time we could measure 1,3 and 4kg using weights 1 and 3 only.
Now you have to make sugar packets of all weights from 1 to 125 in minimum time, in other words in minimum movement of weights. The question here is to find out the minimum number of weighs needed and the weight of each the weights used and the strategy to be followed for the creation of 125 packets of sugar.

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q. You are given two 60 minute long fuse ropes (i.e. the kind that you would find on the end of a bomb) and a lighter. The fuses do not necessarily burn at a fixed rate. For example, given an 8 foot rope, it may take 5 minutes for the first 4 feet of the fuse to burn, while the last 4 feet could take 55 minutes to burn (a much slower rate) (5+55=60 minutes). Using these two fuses and the lighter, how can you determine 45 minutes?

HINT: You can use the lighter any number of times

 Solution :

Light the first fuse at both ends and the other fuse at one end simultaneously. When the first fuse is burned out, you know that exactly half an hour has passed. You also know that the second fuse still has exactly half an hour to go before it will be burned completely, but we won't wait for that. Now also light the other end of the second fuse. This means that the second fuse will be burned completely after another quarter of an hour, which adds up to exactly 45 minutes since we started lighting the first fuse.

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q. There are three wise men in a room: A, B and C. You decide to give them a challenge. Suspecting that the thing they care about most is money, you give them $100 and tell them they are to divide this money observing the following rule: they are to discuss offers  and counter-offers from each other and then take a vote. The majority vote wins. Sounds easy enough... now the question is, assuming each person is motivated to take the largest amount possible, what will the outcome be?

Solution :

• It is unlikely that one wise man would be voted out because counter-offers are allowed.
Consider: A and B decide to leave C out and split halfway. C offers B to leave A out instead, and as incentive offers B $60 as compared to $50 (Note: for C, $40 is better than nothing at all).

• Now A will try to raise that figure, but keep no less than $33 for himself. It would also happen that as B starts to get more and more of the share, A and C would decide to keep B out instead and split amongst each other. This would go on and on until they reach equilibrium with each agreeing to take their rightful share of 33 dollars.

Some Mind Boggling IQ Questions

Q. You have 5 jars of pills. Each pill weighs 10 grams, except for contaminated pills contained in one jar, where each pill weighs 9 grams. Given a scale, how could you tell which jar had the contaminated pills in just one measurement?

Solution :

• Follow the steps outlined below:
• Step-1: Mark the jars with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
• Step-2: Take 1 pill from jar 1, take 2 pills from jar 2, take 3 pills from jar 3, take 4 pills from jar 4 and take 5 pills from jar 5.
• Step-3: Put all of the jars on the scale at once and take the measurement.
• Step-4: Now, subtract the measurement from 150 (1*10 + 2*10 + 3*10 + 4*10 + 5*10)
• Step-5: The result will give you the jar number which has the contaminated pills.


Q. One train leaves Los Angeles at 15 MPH heading for New York . Another train leaves from New York at 20mph heading for Los Angeles on the same track. If a bird, flying at 25mph, leaves from Los Angeles at the same time as the train and flies back and forth between the two trains until they collide, how far will the bird have traveled?  
 
Solution :
The distance traveled by the bird can be calculated as:

1. Let's say the distance between LA and NY is d miles.
2. The time before which the trains will collide: d / (15+20) hours.
3. The distance traveled by the bird in that time: (d / 35) * 25 = 5*d/7 miles.

Assumptions made: The bird must follow the line of the track, remain at the same altitude, and the speed must be relative to the ground and not air speed.

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q. You have someone working for you for seven days and you have one gold bar to pay them. The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a piece of gold at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two breaks in the gold bar, how do you pay your worker?

Solution :

• As 7 = 1 + 2 + 4, this implies there are only 2 divisions (cuts).
• Day 1: Give [1] and you have [2+4]
• Day 2: Give [2] and take back [1]. You have [1+4]
• Day 3: Give [1+2] and you have [4]
• Day 4: Give [4] and take back [1+2]. You have [1+2].
• Day 5: Give [1+4] and you have [2]
• Day 6: Give [2+4] and take back [1]. You have [1]
• Day 7: Give [1+2+4] and you have nothing!
• The same trick can be applied to:
• 15 Days = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8
• 31 Days = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16
• And so on.
• The main point of division is:
• 1 = 2^0
• 2 = 2^1
• 4 = 2^2
• 8 = 2^3
• 16= 2^4
• And so on...

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Q.  There are four people who need to cross a bridge at night. The bridge is only wide enough for two people to cross at once. There is only one flashlight for the entire group. When two people cross, they must cross at the slower member's speed. All four people must cross the bridge in 17 minutes, since the bridge will collapse in exactly that amount of time. Here are the times each member takes to cross the bridge:

• Person A: 1 minute
• Person B: 2 minutes
• Person C: 5 minutes
• Person D: 10 minutes

 If Person A and C crossed the bridge initially, 5 minutes would elapse, because Person C takes 5 minutes to cross. Then Person A would have to come back to the other side of the bridge, taking another minute, or six minutes total. Now, if Person A and D crossed the bridge next, it would take them 10 minutes, totaling to 16 minutes. If A came back, it would take yet another minute, totally 17. The bridge would collapse with A and B on the wrong side. How can all four people get across the bridge within 17 minutes? Note: there is no trick- answer to this problem. You cannot do tricky stuff like throwing the flashlight etc.


Solution :


• 1. A and B cross together. Total Time: 2 Minutes
• 2. B comes back. Total Time: 4 Minutes
• 3. C and D cross together. Total Time: 14 Minutes
 • 4. A comes back. Total Time: 15 Minutes
 • 5. A and B cross together. Total Time: 17 Minutes

Mind Boggling IQ Questions with Answers

1. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands?

Ans:The answer is 7.5 degrees and not zero. Since, in one minute hour and travels 1 degree so after 15 minutes hour  hand will be 7.5 degrees away from 3 where the minute hand is present.

2. There are 2 candles of equal size each of which can burn 1 hour. We have  to  measure  90  minutes using   these  candles. There  is  no scale  or  clock but  a  lighter is present ?

Ans:  First of all light up both the ends of the 1st candle. When it burns out completely it means 30 minutes has passed. Now,light one end of the 2nd candle. When it burns completely, it means an hour (60 minutes) has passed. Thus, we can measure 90 minutes , that is,  30 + 60 = 90 minutes.

3. Solve the above  problem to  measure  45  minutes ?

Ans: First of all light up both the ends of the 1st candle and simultaneously light the one end of the 2nd candle.When the 1st candle burns out  completely, then light up the both the ends of the 2nd candle.Thus, in first phase we measured 30 minutes and in second phase we measured 15 minutes as the 2nd candle was half its size at the start of second phase which gives us 15 + 30 = 45 minutes.

 4. How it is possible to place 4 points that are equidistant from each other?
 Or,
Consider yourself    as  a landscape designer and your boss asked you to design  a  landscape such that you should place 4 trees at equal distance from each other  ?

Ans: In a 2D  plane, only 3 points can be equidistant from each other in form of an equilateral triangle . But in a  3D plane, one can place 4 points at equal distance in the form of a tetrahedron.

5. How do you cut a rectangular cake into two equal pieces when someone has already taken a rectangular piece from it? The removed piece can be any size or at any place in the cake. You are only allowed one straight cut.

Ans: Slice the cake horizontally from half the height of the cake.

Mind Boggling Questions & their Answers

Q.How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

A.Concrete floors are very hard to crack! 

Q.If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall,how long would it take four men to build it?

A. No time at all it is already built.

Q.If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?

A. Very large hands.

Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?

A. It is not a problem, since you will never find an elephant with one hand. 

Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?

A. No Probs , He sleeps at night.

Q. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?

A. It will Wet or Sink as simple as that. 

Q. What looks like half apple ?

A : The other half. 

Q. What can you never eat for breakfast ?

 A : Dinner.

Q. What happened when wheel was invented ?

A : It caused a revolution.

Q. Bay of Bengal is in which state?

A : Liquid

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

On the first day of a school , the Principal announced a strange opening ceremony. There were 1000 students and 1000 lockers in the school. The principal asked the first student to open all lockers. He then asks the second  student to close all lockers which are multiples of 2 . Then the third student to, close all lockers if it is open and open if it is closed, which are multiples of 3 and so on till the 1000 th student.
How many lockers would remain open after the 1000 th  student has finished the job ?

Answer :

Solution : 31

The Best IQ Question

This Question was developed and used in Japan for job and university IQ tests. Mainly used in the IT sector. This test is solved in around 15mins . Let's see can you get every one on the other side?

The Question is :

There are some people at one shore of the river and a boat. They have to cross the river. The people consists of  a Mother with 2 daughters, a Father with 2 sons , a Thief and a Police officer.
The Rules are :
1. Only two people can travel at once through the boat.
2. Only the Police officer and the parents can drive the boat across the river . The children and the thief can't drive the boat.
3. Daddy can not stay with the girls without the presence of the mother, otherwise he will kill them.
4. Mum cant stay with the boys without the presence of the father, otherwise she will kill them.
5. The arrested Thief cannot stay with any of the family members without the Police officer, otherwise he will kill anyone of them.
6. These rules apply on both the shores of the river.
7. The Police officer can only prevent the thief from killing anyone (if they are on same shore) , he can't prevent the family members from killing if above conditions is violated even when he is on the same shore.

Now , By what method and order will you make everyone cross the river safely so that no one kills anyone and no one dies ?

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

There were 5 persons standing at one side of a bridge on a pitch dark night. All of Them have to cross the bridge. The speeds of all persons are different and they take 1 sec , 3 sec , 6 sec, 8 sec , 12 sec  respectively to cross the bridge. Only 2 persons at most can cross the bridge at a time, that only using the Lamp to see in the dark, without it no one can cross it. This means if 2 persons go with the lamp for the first time then one of them has to return back to handover the lamp. The Lamp will glow for a total of 30 sec, which means all of them has to cross the bridge in 30s . Also when  2 persons are crossing the bridge both the persons will walk at the speed of slower one, which means if  6 sec person is travelling with 12 sec person then it will take 12 sec for both to reach the other end. Also the time during handing over will also be counted as the lamp will glow at that time also which means if 6s and 12s goes , and 6s returns then total time will be 24s. Now, tell in what order and pairs will all of them cross the bridge and in what time ?

A Mathematical Puzzle

Once in a marriage party people from three castes arrived namely The Brahmans , The Rajputs and The Muslims. The food arrangement at the party consisted 100 plates for 100 people . The Brahmans said that each one of them will eat 4 plates. The Rajputs said that each one of them will eat 2 plates. The Muslims then said that 4 of them can eat from 1 plate. The Number of plates and people cannot be changed then find the number of Brahmans , Rajputs and Muslims that were at the party so that all of them ate the food as per conditions.

A Mind Boggling IQ Question

Facts:

1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colours
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality..
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

 

Hints:
1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the house right in the centre drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

The question for the test is ... WHO KEEPS THE FISH?

 

BRAIN TEASERS

1. Assume there is a room with three light bulbs in it.  Outside the room is a light switch with 3 switches on it labeled A, B, and C.  Once you enter the room, you will no longer be able to access the switches.  How can you, upon entering the room, tell me which of the three switches controls each of the light bulbs?


2. There is a river.  You start on one side with a wolf, a pig, and a carrot.  There is a raft which you can use to cross the river.  Unfortunately, the raft is too small to hold more than 2 things (you being one of them) at a time.  You need to get yourself and all three of the others to the opposite side to continue your journey.  Unfortunately, without you present, the pig will eat the carrot and the wolf will eat the pig.  How do you get all 3 to the other side?

Make sure you exhaust grinding your brain before scrolling below for answer.

 

 

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1. Turn on switch A for 5 minutes or so.  Now turn it off and turn on switch B.  Enter the room.  Upon entering, the lit bulb is clearly connected to B.  Feel the other two bulbs.  The one which is warm is attached to A.  By process of elimination, the cool one is connected to C. 

2. Take the pig across the river and leave it there.  Now come back and get the wolf.  Take him across.  On the return trip, bring the pig back to the original side of the river.  This time across take the carrot over and leave it safely with the wolf.  Finally, go back for the pig and bring it across.  All three are now on the other side of the river.  Journey on.

Interesting Question

A man was traveling to Kasoa

At the bus stop, he met a man with 7 wifes

Each wife has 12 sons and 12 daughters

Each daughter of the man's wife had 4 sons and 7 daughters

Each son of the man's wife had 7 sons and 4 daughters

Each grand daughter had 4 friends

How many people got to kasoa? 

Solution::

Just 1 man. Others weren't travelling.

Tricky Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Questions

1. Some months have 30 days, some months have 31 days, but how many months have 28 days?

2. Divide 50 by half and add 40.

3. "How many cubic feet of soil are there in a hole that measures 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot?"

4. Would a steel ball in Hawaii travel faster through water at 40 degrees or 25 degrees?

5. A man dressed all in black is walking down a country lane. Suddenly a large black car without any lights on comes round the corner and screeches to a halt. How did the driver know there was a man in the road? 

6. A man is walking outside in the rain. He does not have an umbrella even though it is pouring outside. Nothing is covering his head, yet his hair doesn't get wet. How is this possible?

7. How many 3-cent stamps are there in a dozen?

8. A plane crashes exactly on the American/Canadian border. Where are the survivors buried?

9. If the Vice President of the United States died, who would be president?

10. Would it be cheaper for you to take one friend to the movies twice, or two friends to the movies at the same time?

11. How close of a relative would the sister-in-law of your dad's only brother be to you?

ANSWERS::

1. 12     2. 140   3. 0     4. 40 deg     5. It was daytime.     6. Person was bald.    7. 12     8. Survivors aren't buried.      9. The President     10. Two at the same time      11.  Your mom.