Barbara and Oprah went to a theater where two movies were being shown: “The Barbie Movie” and “Oppenheimer”. The ticket price for the former was $15 and the ticket price for the latter was $20. When Barbara handed $20 to the cashier, she was asked which movie she wanted to watch, to which she replied, “The Barbie Movie”. However, when Oprah handed $20 to the cashier, she was automatically given a ticket for “Oppenheimer”. How come?
SOLUTION
Barbara handed two $10 bills, so the cashier wasn’t sure which movie she wanted to watch. However, Oprah handed four $5 bills, so it was clear she wanted to watch “Oppenheimer” (otherwise she would have handed just three $5 bills).
What are the names of the three girls in this rock band?
T _ _ _ _ & D _ _ _ _ _ _ & L _ _ _
SOLUTION
The vocalist’s name is Tessa. On her notebook it is written “I’m diving into the DARK gloom End to start“. On the poster in the top right corner it is written DARK and underneath ASSET. “Asset” spelled backwards becomes TESSA.
The bassist’s name is Delilah. Her shirt features a cat, which is also present on the Freddy Mercury poster. The lyrics written on it are from the song “Delilah” by Queen.
The drummer’s name is Lisa. Inside her backpack there is a copy of the book “1984” by G. Orwell. On her backpack there is a sticker which also appears on the poster behind Delilah. The poster says “Local punk’o’matIc AnarchiSts bazAr”. If one selects the 1st, the 9th, the 8th, and the 4th letters from each word, the resulting name is LISA.
We have written the numbers from 1 to 12 on the faces of a regular dodecahedron. Then, we have written on each vertex the sum of the five numbers on the faces incident with it. Is it possible that 16 of these 20 sums are the same?
SOLUTION
We color the vertices in five colors as shown in the image below, such that each face of the dodecahedron has 1 vertex of each color. Then, the sum of the four numbers from each color must be equal to the sum of all numbers written on the faces: 1 + 2 + … + 12 = 78.
If 16 of the vertices have the same number written on them, then by the pigeonhole principle there will be 4 vertices with identical colors and identical numbers. Since 78 is not divisible by 4, we conclude that this is impossible.
Your goal is to switch the positions of the three white knights with the positions of the three black knights. What is the least number of moves required to do this?
SOLUTION
The least number of moves required to switch the positions of the knights is 16. An example is shown below.
Next, we prove that it is impossible to switch the positions of the knights with less than 16 moves. Since the white knights occupy 2 black and 1 white squares, they need to end up on 2 white and 1 black squares, and each knight must make at least 2 moves in order to get to the opposite side, the total number of moves for the white knights should be an odd number, larger or equal to 2+2+2=6. The same applies to the total number of moves for the black knights. Therefore, the only possible way to get a total number of moves less than 16 is if both the white knights and the black knights move exactly 7 times.
We assume it is possible to switch the positions with 7+7=14 moves in total. Then, the white knight on A2 and one of the white knights on A1, A3 should make 2 moves each, and the third white knight should make 3 moves and land on a white square, either D1 or D3. Without loss of generality, we assume the knight on A1 makes 3 moves: A1-B3-C1-D3. Then, the knight on A2 should make 2 moves: A2-C3-D1, and the knight on A3 should make 2 moves: A3-B1-D2.
We make the same argument for the black knights. Since it is impossible that the white knight on A1 moves along the trajectory A1-B3-C1-D3 and also the black knight on D3 moves along the trajectory D3-C1-B3-A1, we conclude that the black knight on D1 should make 3 moves: D1-C3-B1-A3, the black knight on D2 should make 2 moves: D2-B3-A1, and the black knight on D3 should make 2 moves: D3-C1-A2.
This is only possible if:
the knight on A1 moves to C1after the knight on D3 moves to A2
the knight on D3 moves to A2 after the knight on A2 moves to C3
the knight on A2 moves to C3 after the knight on D1 moves to B1
the knight on D1 moves to B1 after the knight on A3 moves to D2
the knight on A3 moves to D2 after the knight on D2 moves to B3
the knight on D2 moves to B3 afterthe knight on A1 moves to C1
We get a contradiction which means that the least number of moves is 16.
A man was going to bleach his socks because they had gotten muddy the day before. As he was pouring the bleach into the washing machine, he spilled some on the floor. He got some cleaning fluid and mopped it up with a rag. Minutes later he was dead. What killed him?
SOLUTION
When the ammonia (NH3), found in cleaning fluids, is mixed with bleach (a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl), a deadly gas (monochloramine, NH2Cl) is produced that can kill a person instantly. The resulting chemical reactions are the following:
