You are in a room that has three switches and a closed door. The switches control three light bulbs on the other side of the door. Once you open the door, you may never touch the switches again. How can you definitively tell which switch is connected to each of the light bulbs?
A boy purchased a book from a bookkeeper and gave him $100.
The cost of the book is $50 but the bookkeeper has no change, so he gets the change from the next shop and returns the boy his $50.
After some time the next shopkeeper came with the $100 note and told the bookkeeper that the note was a fraud, so he took the money back.
A pack of cards has 40 cards. You are blindfolded. Out of 40, 25 cards are facing down while 15 are facing up. You have been asked to divide this pack of cards into two decks - so that each deck contains an equal number of face-up cards. Remember, you are blindfolded.
You have three orange, two pink and five purple balls in the drawer beside your bed. There is no electricity and the room is entirely dark. How many balls must you take out to ensure at least one ball of each colour at least?
There’s a girl who has a large family. She has an equal amount of brothers and sisters, but each brother only has half as many brothers and sisters. What’s the correct amount of brothers and sisters?
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.