If a shopkeeper can only place the weights on one side of the common balance. For example, if he has weights 1 and 3 then he can measure 1, 3 and 4 only. Now the question is how many minimum weights and names of the weights you will need to measure all weights from 1 to 1000? This is a fairly simple problem and very easy to prove also.
You are mixing a mixture of cement and Sand with five gallons of water. You have a garden hose giving you all the water you need. The problem is that you only have a four-gallon bucket and a seven-gallon bucket and neither has graduation marks. Find a method to measure five gallons.
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.