A detective visits his friend John just to discover that John's neighbour Dr Jacob was murdered. Dr Jacob, who is a mathematician wrote the murderer's name in a code word "Hcqtfz". There were five suspects
1. Ajit
2. Pankaj
3. Ganpat
4. Deenu
5. Hariya
The Detective was instantly able to find the murderer.
Can you?
Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can’t decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All 4 cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible?
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked this riddle of all travellers who passed by. If the traveller failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him/her. And if the traveller answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself. The riddle:
What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?
Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself.
The host of a game show, offers the guest a choice of three doors. Behind one is a expensive car, but behind the other two are goats.
After you have chosen one door, he reveals one of the other two doors behind which is a goat (he wouldn't reveal a car).
Now he gives you the chance to switch to the other unrevealed door or stay at your initial choice. You will then get what is behind that door.
You cannot hear the goats from behind the doors, or in any way know which door has the prize.
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.
