Cut the Chain

You have four chains. Each chain has three links in it. Although it is difficult to cut the links, you wish to make a single loop with all 12 links. What is the fewest number of cuts you must make to accomplish this task?




Similar Riddles

Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15. They each contribute $5. The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognises the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.

The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.

Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14. Where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?

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Which word is least like the others? Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth?

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In an interview, a boy was asked an unusual question 'How two persons sitting with a table in between them can't see each other?' He was unable to reply. Can you?

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You are given a set of weighing scales and 12 marbles. The scales are of the old balance variety. That is, a small dish hangs from each end of a rod that is balanced in the middle. The device enables you to conclude either that the contents of the dishes weigh the same or that the dish that falls lower has heavier contents than the other. The 12 marbles appear to be identical. 11 of them are identical, and one is of a different weight. Your task is to identify the unusual marble and discard it. You are allowed to use the scales three times if you wish, but no more. Note that the unusual marble may be heavier or lighter than the others. You are asked to both identify it and determine whether it is heavy or light

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We have arranged an array of numbers below. What you have to do is use any kind of mathematical symbol you know excluding any symbol that contains a number like cube root. You can use any amount of symbols but you have to come up with a valid equation for all of them.

0 0 0 = 6
1 1 1 = 6
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
3 3 3 = 6
4 4 4 = 6
5 5 5 = 6
6 6 6 = 6
7 7 7 = 6
8 8 8 = 6
9 9 9 = 6

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Christina is older than Kareena and Karishma. Katrina is older than Karishma and younger than Kareena. If Kareena has a brother named John, who is older than Christina, who's the youngest?

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To tease, King Akbar told his most clever advisor Birbal to give his daughter one thing that she can eat when hungry, drink if she feels thirsty and can burn if she feels cold. King Akbar was shocked when Birbal gave Akbar's daughter one such thing that satisfies all of the above.

What did Birbal give to Akbar's daughter?

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I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

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On rolling two dices (six-sided normal dice) together, what is the probability that the first one comes up with a 2 and the second one comes up with a 5?

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John went to meet his friend Jacob, but when he was about to reach the main gate, John notices that Jacob had a mighty dog who was fastened to the tree. The chain is long enough that it allows the dog to reach the main gate.

How can the John reach the main gate?

Dog and Visitor Riddle

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Amazing Facts

Gamers

In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.