Tax Collection Custom

A research team went to a village somewhere between the jungles of Africa. Luckily for them, they reached the day when quite an interesting custom was to be performed. The custom was performed once a year as they confirmed and was performed in order to collect the taxes from every male of the region.

The taxes were to be paid in the form of grains. Everyone must pay pounds of grain equaling his respective age. This means a 20-year-old will have to pay 20 pounds of grain and a 30-year-old will pay 30 pounds of grain and so on.

The chief who collects the tax has 7 weights and a large 2-pan scale to weigh. But there is another custom that the chief can weigh only three of the seven weights.

Can you find out the weights of the seven weights? Also, what is the maximum age of the man that can be weighed for the payment of taxes?




Similar Riddles

Peter wakes up daily to pick up his cycle and crosses the border between Spain and France daily with a bag on his shoulder. He is investigated daily by the officials but they don't find anything suspicious.

If we tell you that he is smuggling something what would it be?

Asked by Neha on 25 Jun 2024


Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Asked by Neha on 24 Mar 2022

Can you divide numbers from 1 to 9 (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) into two groups so that the sum of the numbers of each group is equal?

Note: 9 cannot be turned over to make it 6.

Asked by Neha on 19 Jul 2023


Move three sticks of the spiral below to form a square.

Spiral to Square Puzzle

Asked by Neha on 15 Nov 2025

On a bus, there is a 26-year-old pregnant lady.
A 30-year-old policeman.
A 52-year-old random woman.
And the 65-year-old driver.

Who is the youngest?

Asked by Neha on 12 Feb 2023

Using eight eights and addition only, can you make 1000?

Asked by Neha on 17 Feb 2024


A Japanese ship was en route to a mission on foreign seas. The captain of the ship felt tired and thought of taking a bath. He went for taking the shower and removed his diamond ring and Rolex and kept them on the table. When he returned after taking the bath, he found that the ring and watch were stolen.

He called the five members of the crew whom he suspected and asked them what they were doing for the last 15 minutes.

The Italian cook (with a butcher knife in hand): I was in the fridge room getting meat for cooking.

The British Engineer (with a high beam torch in hand): I was working on a generator engine.

The Pakistani seaman: I was on the mast correcting the flag which was upside down by mistake.

The Indian Radio officer: I was trying to make a contact with the company to inform them about our position.

The American navigation officer: I am on night watch, so I was sleeping in my cabin.

Upon listening to them, the captain caught the lying member. Who do you think stole the valuables?

Asked by Neha on 10 Apr 2024

What number when divided in half becomes zero?

Asked by Neha on 20 Jul 2024

Below, you can see three complete equations and one incomplete. Based on the three complete ones, can you complete the incomplete one?

5 $ 4 $ 3 $ 9 = 4215
6 $ 9 $ 2 $ 6 = 3816
4 $ 7 $ 3 $ 3 = 1122
7 $ 2 $ 7 $ 4 = ____

Asked by Neha on 10 Dec 2025


Bopanna was working on a murder case when he received a message about the location of the murder weapon.
The message was encrypted as below.

"deb mitciv eht edisni neddih si nopaew redrum ehT"

Tell me the location of the murder weapon.

Asked by Neha on 04 Jan 2026

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.