2 Matchsticks, 4 Squares
Move only 2 matchsticks so that you get 4 (identical) squares. There should not be any spare matchsticks left.
SOLUTION
The solution is shown below.
Category: Insight
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Complex Timepiece
A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?
SOLUTION
The hourglass, it has thousands of grains of sand.
Versatile Word
What four-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
SOLUTION
The word NOON.
Brick Measurement
Imagine you have three identical bricks and want to find the common length of their main diagonals. What is the easiest way to do this using just a measuring tape?
SOLUTION
PLace the bricks as shown on the image below, then measure the marked segment.
0 > 2, 2 > 5, 5 > 0
0 > 2, 2 > 5, 5 > 0. What is this?
SOLUTION
This is the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Rock (0 fingers) beats scissors (2 fingers). Scissors (2 fingers) beats paper (5 fingers). Paper (5 fingers) beats rock (0 fingers).
Broken Window
One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through the window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around the corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson
The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read:
“? Crimson. He broke your window.”
Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?
SOLUTION
He should question Mark. The note read: “QUESTION MARK Crimson. He broke your window.”
Roll a Pencil
You roll a 5 sided pencil on the table. On one of its sides, it is written “HB Pencil”, the others are blank. What is the chance that the side with text on it ends up straight on top?
SOLUTION
The chance is 0%. Since the pencil has an odd number of sides, it is impossible that any of them ends up straight on top.
Cut the Paper
You have a sheet of paper and a rectangular piece cut from it, as shown in the picture. What is the easiest way to cut the paper into two pieces with
SOLUTION
Make a cut through the centers of the small and the big rectangle. The cut will split both the area of the big and the small (absent) rectangle by half, and therefore will do the same to their difference – the given sheet of paper.
Maze Design
How can you design a maze in just 10 seconds, which can not be solved in under 5 seconds?
SOLUTION
Just quickly draw a maze in the shape of a spiral. The other person must be twice as fast as you in order to solve it.
Cogwheels
There are two cogwheels on a table. The bigger one has 10 teeth and is fixed to the table. The smaller one has 5 teeth and revolves around the bigger one. If the smaller cogwheel makes one full rotation around the bigger cogwheel, how many rotations will it make with respect to the table?
SOLUTION
The answer is three rotations in total. Two because of the ratio 10:5, one more because of the movement of the smaller cogwheel.