What Comes Next?

Last Problem:

Two boys who were playing in the playground, slipped on some wet grass and landed partly in mud and partly in wet grass. When they got up, one boy’s face was all muddy; the other’s face was clean. Yet the one with the clean face is the one who went directly to wash his face. Why?

Answer:

The boy with clean face saw the boy with dirty face, and assumed his face was dirty, too. The dirty boy saw the clean boy and figured he was clean, as well. So the one who thought he was dirty went to get washed up.

Today’s Problem:

What comes next in this sequence: e, g, k, m, q, _ ?

Why?

Last Problem:

A hunter spotted a bear due east. Taken by surprise, he ran directly north, and then looked to see that the bear hadn’t moved. As he steadied and took aim at the bear, he aimed directly south. What color is the bear?

Answer:

The man must have shot the bear from the north pole, making it a polar bear, which would be white.

Today’s Problem:

Two boys who were playing in the playground, slipped on some wet grass and landed partly in mud and partly in wet grass. When they got up, one boy’s face was all muddy; the others face was clean. Yet the one with the clean face is the one who went directly to wash his face. Why?

What Color?

Last Problem:

A very neat office worker wears a clean shirt every day. If he drops off his laundry every Monday night, and at the same time picks up his previous week’s laundry, how many shirts does he need to keep wearing a clean one every day?

Answer:

15 – he needs 7 during the week, leaves 7 at the cleaners every Monday, plus counting the shirt he wears on Monday – he’ll be caught short if he exchanges his Monday shirt every Monday, so he’ll need 15.

Today’s Problem:

A hunter spotted a bear due east. Taken by surprise, he ran directly north, and then looked to see that the bear hadn’t moved. As he steadied and took aim at the bear, he aimed directly south. What color is the bear?

How Many?

Last Problem:

Two of the following statements are false. What are the real names of each person?

Carl’s last name is Smythe.
Carl’s last name is Taylor.
Kevin’s last name is Taylor.

Answer:

Carl Taylor, Kevin Smythe

Today’s Problem:

A very neat office worker wears a clean shirt every day. If he drops off his laundry every Monday night, and at the same time picks up his previous week’s laundry, how many shirts does he need to keep wearing a clean one every day?

How Many 4th of July Cakes?

Last Problem:

Think of 5 squares of the same size. How many ways can you combine these squares, edge to edge (with no mirror images), using all 5?

Answer :

12 ways. Try to see if you can figure out all 12.

Today’s problem:

If forty bakers can bake twenty 4th of July cakes in two hours, how many hours will it take for two bakers to bake ten cakes?

 

Arrange Them

Last Problem:

Jerry asked his fiance to name the day they’ll get married. She wasn’t prepared when he asked, but said

“I will marry you when the week after next is the week before last.”

Jerry said

“If I had received the promise yesterday, the waiting would have been six days shorter.”

 

On what day of the week did she accept Jerry’s proposal?

Answer:

Sunday. Sunday, being the first day of the week, she promised to marry Jerry “when the week after next is the week before last”. So, she will marry Jerry in 28 days after her promise. If she had promised a day earlier, then on Sunday, 22 days later, her promise would have fallen due.

Today’s Problem:

Think of 5 squares of the same size. How many ways can you combine these squares, edge to edge (with no mirror images), using all 5?