Fraction Counts

Where do you see the fraction 24/31 ?

More Riddles

Once again these belong to J.R.R. Tolkien; I just love them.

1) This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
and beats high mountain down.

2) It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

3) Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

4) What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

Riddles in the Dark

Disclaimer!!! This riddle is not mine; it's just one of my favorites. It belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien

Alive without breath
Cold as death
Never thirsty, ever drinking
All in mail*, never clinking

What am I?

*think armor (chain mail)

Books and Dates

An Author writes a book every two years. when his seventh book is published, the sum of the years in which they were all published is 13,804. In which year were his seven books published?

The wrong answer is : It cannot be found !

Three Gems

There are only three Real Gems* in the world which sustain our life ; the water, the food and the ______

*Assume you are left alone in an island what is the third thing you would ask for ?

Toss

Indian Cricket Player Dhoni wins 4 toss* in 5 ODI (one day international) series against Srilanka. What is the probability or chances that he will win the toss of final ODI too.

* flipping of a coin to decide an issue

Rubik's Cube Solution

A Rubik's Cube is considered solved when each face has the same color of cubes. How may possible solutions are there for a Rubik's Cube

Stepping Stones

Four stepping stones one ft square were placed in a row, in a section of garden, with equal spaces on all four sides of each.

What can be the smallest dimension of the section?

clams are cool

CodyC said...
Here is, a little far from cool, my contribution.....

What is another term for an "unclosed clam lid?"
(exact fit: An "_ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _."


Bye the way, the answer is an anagram of "Trick of Mind's" creator.......

My attempt, giving my all....

What in the world is extremely hot,
And over it many a battle been fought?
It's slow, deadly stampede can trample a town,
Leaving only behind it nothing but ground.




CodyC

Are we there yet???

Less riddle, more paradox:

To go from point "A" to point "B," one must first go half way. When at the half-way mark, there is now a new point "A." To travel to point "B" takes another trip first to the half-way mark. Since this is and will forever be a renewing course of events, how can point "B" ever be reached?

In the same area of thought; If you break a rock in half, what is left? A half-rock? No, of course not. There is no such thing. You have two rocks. Break one of them in half, and yet another smaller rock. Half again, and again, and again......Is this infinity? Physics will wind you up at molocules and atoms. Religion; God. Others will say you will find things called "Super Strings." Steven King and others say galaxies within galaxies.

I think........well, who cares what I think.

What do YOU think?

Canned

You have two Cans !
That's right, you have two Cans filled with water and a large empty container.

Now you must be thinking that this guy is going to ask you to make some calculations and pour waters from one to another, right ? Wrong. I am going to ask you a completely different question so listen(listen !) carefully.

"Is there a way and Can you put all the water into the large container so that you Can tell which water came from which Can ?"

Now there are three can's in the above sentence you of course have to be very careful.

On Arriving Early

Bob always arrives at the train station at exactly five o'clock to pick up his wife Betty and drive her home. One day Betty arrives an hour early, and starts walking home, and is eventually picked up. Betty arrives home twenty minutes earlier than usual.

How long did she walked, before she met her husband ?

It's Murder, Watson!

The facts are these my dear Watson

"One member of the family murdered another member, the third member witnessed the crime, and the fourth member was an accessory after the fact." said Holmes.

On the scene, Inspector Lestrade was found, who added the following.

• Accessory and the witness were of opposite sex


• The oldest member and the witness were of opposite sex


• The youngest member and the victim were of opposite sex


• The accesory was older than the victim


• The father was the oldest


• The murderer was not the youngest

Hah ! cried Sherlock Holmes. Lestrade, still confused, what about you ?

Car mechanics

My mini is 3.05m in length, and the body sits 0.3m off the ground.
Unfortunately the exhaust is cracked right in the centre of the car.
Assuming I can only lift the car at either end or I risk damaging the bodywork, and that I need a clearance of 0.5m to work under the car, how high do I need to jack up the car and which end would be best to use.

Jump off

How do you jump off a 100-foot ladder and don't get hurt?

Emilio C.

Two Coins

Two coins add up to 26 cents. One of them is not a quarter. What are the two coins?

Emilio C.

Miles per Hour

If an electric train is going west at sixty miles an hour and the wind is blowing from north at thirty miles an hour, in which direction will the smoke from the engine blow and, at what Miles per Hour ?

A Little Trigonometry

Find the angle , one who get it fastest wins :)

Miles to go before I sleep

Assume you walk at a speed of three miles an hour. If a two-mile-wide forest has a two-mile trail leading directly through it, how far into the forest can you go in half an hour?

Antigrams

The "real fun" is what you don't have in a "funeral". Well ! Antigrams are anagrams with a difference: the new word have opposite meanings.

Santa, misfortune, violence and evangelists are four potential candidates.

What do you say ?

Nancy and Sluggo

Sluggo meets a new friend Irma at Nancy's party, where all were, either Truth Tellers or Liars. Irma tells Sluggo that she has overheard a conversation in which a girl revealed her identity, saying she is a liar. Now sluggo is thinking, Is Irma a Liar or a Truth teller ?

What will you tell, if Sluggo ask you ?

Do you know?

Here's a quick quiz to test your memory and thinking skills which should work out your temporal and frontal lobes. See how you do!
- Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
- What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
- Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
- What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
- In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
- Only three words in Standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.
- There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
- Name the one vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
- Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."

I will write the answers on friday if I dont forget:)) RD (My Initials)

Smart People Pass

Alice, Bob and Charlie are having true conversations:

Alice says "Only one of us is smart. If I am not smart I will not pass the English Test"

Bob say "The smart person is the only person not to pass one of the two subjects. If I am smart I will pass the English Test."

Charlie says "If I am smart, I will pass Maths, If I am not smart, I will not pass Maths "

Are you smart enough to find out, Who is smart and Who will pass ?

No Return

We have all been there, but none will be again,
We were all there together, with both enemy and friend.
Each day, we move farther and farther away,
Though some, in exactly the same place we will stay.

Where were we?

- CodyC

What is me?

I have moved the sands of this beautiful earth,
Moved them with ease since the day of it's birth.
In the sowing of seeds, I have played a large part,
Yet when they are grown, I may rip them apart.
At times I am welcome, at times I am not,
Sometimes I'm so subtle, I raise not a thought.
Then again, there are days when my fury is great,
And oh, so deserving of all of your hate.
But as much as you wish, as much as you try,
You will never be rid of me, for I cannot die......


I know, I know. EASY!!! At least it rhymes, dammit!

- CodyC

PANAMA

Describe what is special about the following statement: A man, a plan, a canal; Panama.

I know this is too easy for you all, but it is still cool.........


P.S. I will be nicer from now on.....

- CodyC

Coded Puzzle

What is the answer to this question?

Xjdx ju ujh tsxewk sqrx ph gqrv?

-Josh Shadowfax

What is the missing number

Here's a puzzle to test your ability to find a pattern and test it against more data.
In this table, each row across follows the same pattern of numbers. See if you can discern the pattern and fill in the missing number in the bottom row. For added challenge (or competition), time how long it takes you to complete the puzzle. Then, pass it along to someone else and see if they can solve it faster. The slower one has to cook dinner!

7 4 8
3 9 7
6 5 10
? 8 4

Birthday Cake

How do you cut a round birthday cake into 8 equal pieces with 3 cuts?

Common Theme

Whats so common about the following words

Dresser
Grammar
Uneven
Voodoo
Revive

Color and Fun

So the interviewer at microsoft told her " If you could form a sentence using the words that I give you, then may be I will give you the job."


"The words are GREEN, PINK, YELLOW, BLUE, WHITE, PURPLE and BLACK ."

Can you help her ?

The price of wood (teehee wood)

3 guys were camping in the woods and gathering some twigs and wood for the fire. Guy no.1 brought 5 pieces of wood. Guy no.2 bought 3 pieces of wood. Guys no.3 however didn't collect any firewood instead he offered the others a total of $24 dollars as his share of the fire-wood.
The next day when there on their way home, they were calculating how much Guy no.1 and Guy no.2 should get for their pieces of wood (hehehehe). What is the fairest way to calculate how much Guy n0.3 should pay the other two?

(and no its not as simple as dividing 24 into 8, you have to consider that all 3 guys consumed the same amount of firewood through the night.)

edit: Sorry its supposed to be 3 pieces of wood for guy no2

Tricking Your Mind !

Hey Guys,

It was August of 2007 when I started the website trickofmind.com, for my curiosity towards interesting aspects of Logic, Mathematics, Physics, and English. It has been a long way and I have been tricking your mind for almost a year now.

Thanks to you for being with me on the ride, as I tried to find the wildest questions with the equally amazing answers on the neck of the galaxy, to share with you and to grow along. For the first anniversary of trickofmind, there is a surprise coming. Any guesses ? lets keep it that way for now, you will know soon.

Enhancements for Trick of Mind
------------------------------------
Kid Sister Rule, added for posting puzzles, comments and even nicknames.

Add Rating Widget You can now vote for your favorite question.
------------------------------------
let me know what you guys think about them and now a chance to get heard.

The Joy of Finding Things...

...is the new punch line for Trick of Mind, If you haven't already noticed that. Here is a poll to select your favorite.



I would love to know any other suggestions or punchline you might have.

Your Truly
Rajesh

The Missing Buck.....

(typetypetypetype)
Three guys are livin' it up, partyin' like there is no two days from yesterday in your typical, divey, hotel lobby bar. As the magical hour of last call approaches, the barkeep subtley mentions to the fellas that they might consider renting a room for the evening, as it is quite late, and they are not exactly in the best condition for anything , other than passing out. Upon hearing this suggestion, they immediately start to pool their funds together, ultimately scraping up a total of a mere thirty dollars betwixt the three of them.
"How much is a night's rent?" they ask.
"Rooms are usually twenty-five dollars a night," says the ever-hustling bartender, "but unfortunately, since there are three of you, I must insist on a cool thirty." After some ineffectual pleading for even the slightest discount fails, the three men reluctantly gather up their things , each hand over their last ten dollars, and they precariously begin their journey up the stairs to their overpriced room.
As the bartender/bellhop/owner closes up for the evening, he prides himself on his cunning ability to swindle a sucker. But this soon turns into a slight tinge of unease with himself for not helping those three fellows out, which then finally turns into downright regret and shame in his heart for having stooped so low as to take advantage of strangers in such a way. After nary another thought on the matter, he opens the till, removes five one dollar bills, and calls over his little nephew/busboy to run a small errand.
"Johnny," says he, "I would like you to go upstairs to room 101 and return this small refund to the three gents inside. I trust they will treat you with appreciation if nothing else."
So, off Johnny goes, skipping his way down the hall, and soon up the stairs. Then something dawns on Johnny; How in the world will he ever find a way to evenly divide five one dollar bills between three people, without the ability to get change, and still walk out of the situation unscathed? Then an idea slithers it's way into Johnny's mischievious little cranium: He can pocket two dollars, leaving him with three to evenly split amongst the drunks. They will never know the difference, all will feel as if they are on the fair end of a deal, and Johnny can stroll on home, looking more and more like a diplomat every second, devilishly fingering the two crispy bills in his pocket, leaving not a single clue behind to tell the tale.
Convinced of his genius, he does exactly what he envisioned; Shaved off two dollars into his pocket, knocked on the door, blessed the three (barely lucid) drinkers with his generousity, and made off like a champ.
So........ Thirty dollars for the room. That's ten dollars from each of the three men. Until, that is, they got their refund of a dollar apiece, which now leaves them each nine dollars in the hole towards the room. Three guys, each paying nine dollars even, figures to about twenty seven dollars, yes? Take this twenty seven bucks, add to it the two dollars that Johnny has no doubt spent on video games by now, and you are left with a grand total of twenty-nine dollars.
Where I ask you, has the missing dollar gone?


*When I first heard this riddle, the toothless, broken down old miner that told it to me found great pleasure in proclaiming his realization that the "I.R.S." gaffled the absentee dollar, and that, in fact, there is no explanation to offer. He insisted that this riddle is a mathmatic anomoly, without any reason, logic or method to it's mystery. After my epitome and subsequent epiphany concerning the combination to this enigma, miner Bill and I actually argued over this thing!
You will be happy to know that I did so graciously concede from our little debate, if for no other reason than the fact that the dude had been mining in the 13,000 to 14,000 foot peaks of Leadville, Colorado, for god knows how long, and I have at least 6 gold fillings in my teeth; more than enough motivation for him to peel apart my jaws like the prom king wants to peel off his prudish strumpet's silky unmentionables..........
At any rate, I have stumped quite a few with this one, and have rarely heard a correct response. Let's not ruin it for anyone that wants the challenge, and eventual satisfaction, of figuring it out on their own. Let us refrain from ..............type entry..................click search..............pick the best match............cheat ourselves and those to follow.
I will never understand how someone could have an interest in logic puzzles, yet use a simpleton's method to arrive at their solutions. Just another trick-of-the-mind, I reckon.'


CodyC

Notorious Tank Problem

The notorious Tank Problem that one finds in every single collection of arithmetical and algebraic problems. No doubt, you all remember those classic scholastically dry problems of this order:

"The tank has two pipes -- one leading to fill the tank to the brim and the other out. the first needs five hours to fill the tank and the second ten hours to drain it dry. How long will it take the tank to fill up when the stop cocks are out of both pipes ?"




This problem has a venerable history, dating right back some twenty centuries to Heron of Alexandria. Here is one from his collection for your free time in the weekend.

Four Fountains are there and a reservoir vast.
In but one day the first doth fill it to the brim.
The second two days and nights must play to do the same.

The third takes thrice the time as did the first.
The fourth comes last with four days and nights.
Now tell me when the reservoir will fill,
when all four play at once.



It is two thousand years now that the tank problem has posed and -- such is the force of habit ! -- has been solved wrongly in all this time.