Sun on Horizon

My recent interest is in photographing Sunrises and Sunsets. When reviewing some of those pictures, I came across a very peculiar one. The Sun was on the horizon, but I (almost) could not tell, whether it was taken during Sunrise or Sunset. This got me thinking. Sunrise and Sunset are terms given by us, but are they really different, the fact is, Earth rotation cause this.

By looking at a picture of a Sun on horizon, can you tell whether its taken at Sunrise or Sunset ?

Apple's and Oranges

There are three bags full of fruits. One with Apples, one with Oranges and the third one with a mix of Apple's and Oranges.

How many fruits you have to take out to find out out which bag has which, if all the three bags are mislabeled?

Whodunnit !

One of the four criminals have done it. Their statements are as follows:

James: "It was Michael"
Michael: "Paul did it"
John: "I was not even there"
Paul: "Michael lied when he said I did it"

You are told that only one of the above statements are true. Who done it ?

Newspaper Fold

What would be the dimension of a single sheet of a newpaper, if it is folded by half upto 50 times.

Assume, the original size 600 mm by 380 mm !

Bob and Betty

"You remember I had bought little Tom, a bat and two balls just last week," said Betty to her husband.

"Yes," said Bob, "we had gone together to the market that day."

"Oh! Ofcourse," exclaimed Betty, "Now Tom has sold them to Bunny. He made 20 percent on the bat but has given away the balls, for which we had paid half as much as the bats, at a loss of 20 percent."

"But, mom, you are forgetting that the balls were worn out," interrupted little Tom. "One could not have made profit on them. Anyhow, I made two dollars on the whole and that should not be too bad."

"Well done, son," said Bob; "business will be your line, when you are young."

How much had Betty paid for the bat and for each ball ?

Adam and Eve

Remember the waitress who liked solving puzzles, well Johnny was again in the same restaurant and after having a meal, asked her for a detail check. This time, she thought of testing Johnny and came back with this:

 ADAM
  AND
  EVE
   ON
    A
-------
 RAFT

And said, the largest value of RAFT is your bill, can you find out ?

Red Wine or White Wine

Two friends Johnny and Jade ordered a glass of wine each, Johnny red wine and Jade white.

Suddenly Johnny got an idea, he took a teaspoon of red wine and put it in the white wine glass, after mixing the wine he took a teaspoon of wine from that glass and mixed it back to the red wine glass. And he did it with so much precision (believe me !) that the quantity of both the glass were same after the transfer process.

Then ! he asks, "Can you tell me whether the red wine glass has more red wine than the white wine in the white wine glass or is it the other way round?".

Ofcourse you don't need wine glasses to solve this or do you?

Case of Two Clocks

Mr. Tito while collecting data for census came across this peculiar old lady, who was living alone in a very old and big house. She refuses to tell her age until, he answers her question correctly.

"I have two old clocks in my house, one of them does not run at all and the other always loses an hour a day." She said. "And since I don't have any other clock, I have to look into one of the two clocks. the question is, which one should I rely on for any particular week?"

Stumped by the question, Mr. Tito came back, and is having nightmares over the case of two clocks, can you help ?

Magic Square

Can you make a magic square that would add up to a smallest number, say n in every horizontal , vertical and diagonal direction with unique number in each series of three numbers.

What is the value of n ?

Fake Records

The Director of Medical Services was on his annual visit to the EENT hospital. He came across the following data for a particular day:

Ear consultations 45; Nose 50; Throat 70; Ear and Nose 30; Nose and Throat 20; Ear and Throat 30; Ear Nose and Throat 10; Total patients 100.

He became very curious and after sometime he commented, "It is no use filling up these registers just before my inspection. You are aware why we maintain these records, and such mistakes cannot occur if these entries are made everyday".

"Sir, I don't think there is anything wrong with the records" replied the Doctor in-charge.

What do you think ?

On Planting Trees

If you wish to plant some trees so that each is equal distant from every other tree what is the largest number you can plant.

By the way, Red Maple is one of the best tree to plant.

The Mystery of Alphabet

I recently visited Legoland, in California. One of my interesting memories of the trip turned out to be the long and winding road to get there. The road where I also came across this unique mystery. I saw solid, single letters of the alphabet, firmly fixed on the side of the road.

First I saw the letter "L" almost as big as the height of a christmas tree, "this could be fun for kids" I thought. Then came equally big, the letter "E", and then to my surprise the letter "C" (!) and the "O".

"ok ! its the mystery of a broken letter G, for LEGO" , I told myself.

But as I went on and waited for another L or an I, my eyes grew wider and wider with suspense and surprise. It was nothing like I expected. What did I see ?

There's Something in the Air

Professor Nova built a nano aircraft which can travel around the Earth* along the equator. While giving a demo he sent two prototypes at the same time. First one he started by his feet, the second one at the height of his head, in the air.

He spent some time on the super computer, calculating the distance traveled by the first one. When he was querying again for distance of the second one, beyond the first, much to his surprise, little mathematician Alice told him the value. How?

*Aircrafts had the ability to pass through any solid or liquid substance

Face in the Mirror

If two adjacent walls and the ceiling of a rectangular room were lined with mirrors, how many images of one self would you see sitting in that room

The Tortoise and the Hare

Little Johnny was not convinced when his teacher said that the hare would finally overtake the tortoise. He remembers the fable from the bed time stories and was sure that the tortoise always wins the race.

"You said that the tortoise was a thousand meters ahead," said Johnny. "Yes," replied the teacher, "but the hare runs ten times as fast as the tortoise."

"That makes little difference, Sir; because by the time the hare covers those thousand meters, the tortoise would have gone ahead by hundred." "That's right."

"While the hare is over with his hundred, the tortoise would have covered ten meters more. When the hare makes up these ten, the tortoise would have managed another meter. By the time the hare covers this one whole meter, the tortoise would be leading by one tenth of a meter. And while the hare is still at it, the tortoise covers another one-hundredth, and so on. I agree the lead is diminishing and if you carry on it may reduce to one-millionth of a meter or even less but the hare will always be lagging behind."

"No, Johnny, that can't be right as by the time the hare covers two thousand meters, the tortoise covers just two hundred meters and would be eight hundred meters behind."

"Well, Sir, let's not jump into conclusions. I have just explained to you the way I look at the problem and it seems logical.

What do you think ? Don't let the fable affect your decision.

Greek Mathematician's Age

Here is an epitaph of the celebrated Greek mathematician of 250 A.D., Diophantus.

Diophantus passed one sixth of his life in childhood,
one twelfth in youth, and one seventh more as a bachelor;
five years after his marriage, a son was born,
who died four years before his father at half his final age.

Can you calculate Diophantus age from this?

Uncle Scrooge

Uncle Scrooge have three children, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. If atleast one of them is a girl,

What is the probability that all children are girls?

Mnemonics Mystery

Alice asked may I have a large container of coffee?

No ! now I even I would celebrate said Bob is enough

Interview @ Microsoft

I was at Microsoft for an interview. At the end they asked me, if I have any questions for them. I thought this is my chance and asked,

"What is the optimum size of a team in a project, so that if we add more members, they do not contribute productivity equivalent to the percentage increase in the staff size and why ?"

What do you think they said?

Rose-red city half as old as Time

Two professors, one of English and one logic, were having drinks in the local bar. "It is curious," said the professor of literature, "how some poets can write an immortal line and nothing else of lasting value. J. W. Burgon, for example. his poems are so mediocre that no one reads them now, yet he wrote one of the most marvelous lines in English poetry: 'A Rose-red city half as old as Time."

The one devoted to "the science that draws necessary conclusions", improvised a brainteaser, then raised his glass and recited.

"A rose-red city half as old as Time.
One billion years ago the city's age
Was just two-fifths of what
Time's age will be, a billion years from now.
Can you compute
How old the crimson city is today?"
The English professor had long ago forgotten his algebra, so he quickly shifted the conversation to another topic, but you should have no difficulty with the problem, right ?

Grammar School

A 1,000 year old Celtic medieval manuscript was found in Ireland with the following written

    +h@+  +h@+  1$  1$

+h@+  +h@+  1$  n0+  1$  n0+

  1$  +h@+  1+  1+  1$

The archaeologist, Hell Raiser was first intrigued. After looking closely he smiled and said, "whoever wrote this, certainly didn't pass grammar school"

Well ! how would you write it ?

Solving Puzzles

Johnny walks into a restaurant for lunch. He asks the waitress if she is good at solving puzzles. She replies, "I am the best." So Johnny says he'll have "sausage and noodles drenched with ice cream, hashed" and adds, "if you bring me what I really want I'll leave you a $100 tip."

A few minutes later, she brought him exactly what he wanted, and he left her the large tip. What did Johnny really eat for lunch?

Happy New Year

My wife and I invited four other couples for the New Year's Eve. After yelling "Happy New Year! 2008", the couples hugged each other and handshaked "Happy New Year" with others. Various handshakes took place.

When I asked everyone, how many people they handshaked, to my surprise, I got a different answer from each. How many people my wife handshaked ?