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?

On my way to St. Ives I saw a man with 7 wives. Each wife had 7 sacks. Each sack had 7 cats. Each cat had 7 kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks, wives. How many were going to St. Ives?

Find the next number in the sequence

5 12 24 36 ?

A Car is crossing a bridge 2 miles long. The bridge can only hold 10000 lbs, which is the exact weight of the car. The Car makes it half way across the bridge and stops. A bird lands on the car. Does the bridge collapse? Explain.

A patient was diagnosed with some ailment. He was given five different tablets to take at night at an interval of 15 minutes.

How long will it take the patient to consume all the five tablets?

If you’ve got me, you want to share me; if you share me, you haven’t kept me. What am I?

I hide my treasure in the ground, my tail is big and fluffy. If you spot me in a tree, please don’t call me scruffy. What am I?

Can you circle exactly four of these numbers such that the total is twelve?

1 6 1
6 1 6
1 6 1
6 1 6

The king of Octopuses has servants who have six, seven or eight legs. The distinguishing characteristics of the servants is that the one with seven legs always lie but the one with either six or eight legs speak the truth always.

One day, four servants meet and converse:

The black one says, 'We have 28 legs altogether.'

The green one says, 'We have 27 legs altogether.'

The yellow one says, 'We have 26 legs altogether.'

The red one says, 'We have 25 legs altogether.'


Can you identify the colour of the servant who is speaking the truth?

How can you make number one disappear by adding something to it?