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.
You are on your way to visit your Friend, who lives at the end of the hill. It is his birthday, and you want to give him the cakes you have made. Between your house and his house, you have to cross 5 bridges, and as it goes in the land of make believe, there is a troll under every bridge! Each troll, quite rightly, insists that you pay a troll toll. Before you can cross their bridge, you have to give them half of the cakes you are carrying, but as they are kind trolls, they each give you back a single cake. How many cakes do you have to leave home to make sure that you arrive at a friend's house with exactly two
There is a box in which distinct numbered balls have been kept. You have to pick two balls randomly from the lot.
If someone is offering you a 2 to 1 odds that the numbers will be relatively prime, for example
If the balls you picked had the numbers 6 and 13, you lose $1.
If the balls you picked had the numbers 5 and 25, you win $2.
Your last good ping-pong ball fell into a narrow metal pipe embedded one foot deep in concrete.
How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, shoe laces, and plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?
You have a square. What you have to do is cut and reassemble the square such that you create a Red Cross sign that has the same volume as that of the square.
A brand new Mobile Phone was on sale at 20% as a promotional offer. By what per cent must the Mobile price be increased to sell it at the original price again?
A spy was in Canada trying to steal insider information on how to set up new Maple Syrup factories in their country. He was introduced to the operations manager of the biggest factory in Canada. However, the manager was suspicious and decided to test him with a question before he trusted him. So he asked, “What would you be sure to find in the middle of Toronto?†The spy thought fast and came up with an answer for the manager. What was his answer?
