A chess tournament is taking place on knock-out terms (the one who loses the match is out of the game).
(a) If 10 matches are played in total, how many players participated?
(b) If 20 players took part in the tournament, how many matches were played?

There was once a troop of 5 elves. The 5 elves were very dedicated on finding the magical treasure of 1000 coins. However, being elves, they were super geniuses, very greedy and they did not hesitate in taking lives of other elves. The 5 elves were named Aye, Bee, Cee, Dee and Ee, ranked from high to low respectively, from Aye to Ee. One fine day, their efforts brought results and they found 1000 coins. Now they had to split it in between them as per their ranks. The lowest ranked elf has to make the proposal. If the proposal is accepted by majority, it is agreed, or the suggesting elf is killed.

What proposal should elf Ee make ?

Two old friends, Jack and Bill, meet after a long time.

Three kids
Jack: Hey, how are you, man?
Bill: Not bad, got married and I have three kids now.
Jack: That's awesome. How old are they?
Bill: The product of their ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is the same as your birth date.
Jack: Cool..But I still don't know.
Bill: My eldest kid just started taking piano lessons.
Jack: Oh, now I get it.

How old are Bill's kids?

This is a famous paradox which has caused a great deal of argument and disbelief from many who cannot accept the correct answer. Four balls are placed in a hat. One is white, one is blue and the other two are red. The bag is shaken and someone draws two balls from the hat. He looks at the two balls and announces that at least one of them is red. What are the chances that the other ball he has drawn out is also red?

The pound is not a finish.

We are sharing a few instructions below, which you have to use in any suitable order to modify the above sentence such that the end sentence is a scientific fact.

- Eliminate a letter and supplement another in its place.
- Take away one word.
- Remove one letter from one word.
- Get rid of two letters from one word.
- Swap a word with its antonym.

If you toss a coin 10 times and it lands heads up every time, what are the chances it will land heads up if you toss it again?

Thomas has missed an excessive number of days of school, so he must meet with Principal Davis. Mr. Davis asks him "Why on Earth have you missed so many days?" Thomas replies "There just isn't enough time for school. I need 8 hours of sleep a day, which adds up to about 122 days a year. Weekends off is 104 days a year. Summer vacation is about 60 days. If I spend about an hour on each meal, that's 3 hours a day or 45 days a year. I need at least 2 hours of exercise and relaxation time each day to stay physically and mentally fit, adding another 30 days. Add all of that up and you get about 361 days. That only leaves 4 days for school." The principal knows Thomas is full of it, but can't figure out why. Where is Thomas going wrong?

If you were to put a coin into an empty bottle and then insert a cork into the neck, how could you remove the coin without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle?

The teacher told the student that if he told a lie then he will be expelled from school and if he told the truth then he still is expelled from school.

What can a student say to prevent his being expelled from school?

Two fathers and two sons decided to go to a shop and buy some sweets upon reaching. Each of them bought 1 kg of sweet. All of them returned home after some time and found out that they had 3kg of sweets with them.

They did not eat the sweets in the way, nor threw or lose anything. Then, how can this be possible?