What common word or phrase is this rebus referring to?
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Cutting corners
Brain Teasers and Puzzles
Brain teasers, puzzles, riddles, and other challenges
Pulley Puzzle
In the pulley puzzle diagram below, there is a pulley attached to a scale. One side of the pulley is attached to a weight and the other side is attached to the ground.
If the scale reads 100g, does the weight weigh 50g, 100g, or 200g?
Assume the pulley and rope has no weight (the scale is already adjusted to account for these), and that the whole system is in equilibrium (nothing is moving).
Note: this puzzle is best solved with a bit of basic physics knowledge, but there is also an intuitive solution, so give it a shot.
Continue reading “Pulley Puzzle”Escape the Maze
In this maze of 8×8 rooms, each room has an arrow that points up, down, left, or right – and it will only let you move to the adjacent room in the direction of the arrow.
After you leave a room, or if you are unable to move because there is no adjacent room in the direction of the arrow (i.e., the arrow points outside the maze but there is no exit), the arrow in that room will rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
You start in the bottom left room, and the only exit is the right door in the top-right room.
Prove that no matter what the initial arrangement is, you will eventually escape the maze.
View SolutionBlue and Red Maze
In this maze, you must alternate going through blue and red doors – in other words, you cannot go through two blue doors in a row or two red doors in a row.
Entering through the blue door in the top left, can you find your way through the maze and exit through the red door in the top right?
Rebus Puzzle 14
What common word or phrase is this rebus referring to?
serGeant
geNeral
ensIgn
priVate
colOnel
adMiralSolution
Moving up the ranks
(Each line is a rank in the military, and “moving” is spelled upwards among the ranks.)
Four-Card Problem
You see four cards with A, D, 3, and 6 face-up. You know that each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other side.
You are told that cards with a vowel on one side must have an even number on the other side. Which cards do you need to turn over to test if this rule is broken?
View Solution3 Digit Code
You have six guesses to figure out a 3 digit code. After each guess, you will be told exactly how many digits are correct but in the wrong place and how many digits are correct and in the right place. You have made these five guesses already:
- 865: exactly one digit in the right place
- 964: exactly one correct digit but in the wrong place
- 983: no correct digits
- 548: exactly two correct digits but in the wrong places
- 812: exactly one correct digit but in the wrong place
What is the correct 3 digit code?
View SolutionTennis in 2 or 3 sets
In a best of 3 tennis match, the player that first wins 2 sets wins the match. For a 3-set tennis match, would you bet on it finishing in 2 or 3 sets?
This question was asked in an actual D. E. Shaw quant trading interview.
Preparing for a brain teaser interview? Check out our ultimate guide to brain teaser interviews.
Continue reading “Tennis in 2 or 3 sets”Guess the Number
Jake has a 4-digit number in mind and asks Raj to guess the number. Raj can have 7 guesses, and Jake will give him some hints after 6 guesses.
Raj makes these 6 guesses:
- 6 3 5 8
- 9 3 0 6
- 4 8 8 2
- 6 7 2 8
- 1 1 9 1
- 5 6 2 7
These were all wrong, but Jake says every guess had exactly one (and only one) correct digit in the correct position. Additionally, all the digits are different.
What should Raj’s 7th guess be?
View SolutionGot Hero Hero Puzzle
What common word or phrase is this rebus referring to?
GOT GOT GOT GOT HERO HERO HERO HERO HERO HERO HERO HERO HERO HEROClick to show solution
Forgotten heroes (“four got ten heroes”)