What is the next number in this series?

4,12,84,3612....

A swan sits at the center of a perfectly circular lake. At an edge of the lake stands a ravenous monster waiting to devour the swan. The monster can not enter the water, but it will run around the circumference of the lake to try to catch the swan as soon as it reaches the shore. The monster moves at 4 times the speed of the swan, and it will always move in the direction along the shore that brings it closer to the swan the quickest. Both the swan and the the monster can change directions in an instant.
The swan knows that if it can reach the lake's shore without the monster right on top of it, it can instantly escape into the surrounding forest.

How can the swan successfully escape?

The two towns are exactly 100 km apart. John leaves City A driving at 30 km/hr and Jacob leaves City B half an hour later driving at 60 km/hr. Who will be closer to City A when they meet?

Once upon a time, there was a castle on a square island. The entire island was surrounded by a 14m wide trench. The Romans had wanted to invade the castle and had brought a few wooden planks along with them to facilitate themselves in crossing the moat. The planks were however found to be only 13m long.

The Romans still managed to cross the trench. How did they do it?

There are hundred red gems and hundred blue gems. The blue gems are priceless while the red gems equal wastage. You have two sacks one labeled Heads and the other Tails. You have to distribute the gems as you want in the two sacks. Then a coin will be flipped and you will be asked to pick up a gem randomly from the corresponding sacks.

How will you distribute the gems between the sacks so that the odds of picking a Blue gem are maximum?

On a certain day, John celebrated his birthday. Two days later, his older twin brother Jacob celebrated his birthday.

Is this even possible? How can it be?

You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus

An old lady looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Knowing that there can only be one passenger in your car, whom would you choose?

I inserted a coin in a bottle and closed its mouth with the help of a cork. Now, I was able to take the coin out from the bottle without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle. Can you tell me how I did it?

The picture shows the dice results in each couple of throws. If they are actually following a pattern, can you find out the missing one?

There is a box in which distinct numbered balls have been kept. You have to pick two balls randomly from the lot.

If someone is offering you a 2 to 1 odds that the numbers will be relatively prime, for example
If the balls you picked had the numbers 6 and 13, you lose $1.
If the balls you picked had the numbers 5 and 25, you win $2.

Will you accept that bet?