Riddles

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles and 2 empty bowls. He then says, "Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You can then choose one bowl and remove one marble. If the marble is white, you live, but if the marble is black...you die. How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a white marble?

Place 1 white marble in one bowl, and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (49 whites, and 50 blacks). This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with just one white marble and living. But even if you choose the other bowl, you still have an almost 50% chance of picking one of the 49 white marbles. There are no guarantees in life, but this is your best bet at surviving.

You're in a room with two doors. There's a guard at each door. One door is the exit, but behind the other door is something that will kill you. You're told that one guard always tells the truth and the other guard always lies. You don't know which guard is which. You are allowed to ask one question to either of the guards to determine which door is the exit. What question should you ask?

Ask either guard what door the other guard would say is the exit, then choose the opposite door.
If you ask the guard who always tells the truth, he knows the other guard would lie, so he'll point you to the door leading to death. If you ask the guard who always lies, he knows the other guard would truthfully show you the exit, so he'll lie and point you to the door leading to death.

Sherlock Holmes and the Broken Window One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson and Paul Crimson. The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read "? Crimson. He broke your window." Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?

Mark Crimson: "?" = question MARK, so the note on the door reads "Question Mark Crimson. He broke your window."

You have a lighter and two fuses that take exactly one hour to burn, but they don't burn at a steady rate. For example, one fuse could take 59 minutes to burn the first inch and then burn the rest of the fuse in the last minute. How would you use these two fuses to measure 45 minutes?

Light the first fuse on both ends and the second fuse at only one end. When the first fuse burns out you know 30 minutes have passed. Light the other end of the second fuse and when it burns out, 45 minutes have passed.

The Last Stand Bhagat Singh finds an old lamp in front of him and rubs it. Out pops a genie. The genie grants Bhagat Singh one wish, with a catch. He says, "Whatever you wish for, each Bitisher will get two of the same thing." Bhagat Singh thinks:"If I get a bow and arrow they get two. If I get a rifle they get two!" He then rubs the bottle again and out pops the genie. "Well", the genie asks "have you made up your mind?" What did Bhagat Singh ask for to help him get away?

One glass eye.

A glass of water with a single ice cube sits on a table. When the ice has completely melted, will the level of the water have increased, decreased or remain unchanged?

Remain unchanged. When frozen, the ice cube displaces its weight.

My daughter has many sisters. She has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?

Four daughters and three sons.

You're riding a horse. To the right of you is a cliff and in front of you is an elephant going the same pace as you and you can't overtake it. To the left of you is a hippo running at the same speed and behind you is a lion chasing you. How do you get to safety?

Get off the merry-go-round.

A man is traveling with a fox and two chickens, if he leaves the fox alone with the chickens the fox will eat the chickens. He comes to a river and needs to cross it, he finds a small boat that can carry only him and one animal, how does he get himself, the fox and two chickens across the river safely?

Take the fox over, return with nothing. Go over with one chicken, return with the fox. Go over with the second chicken, return with nothing. Finally, take the fox over.

What is special about the following sequence of numbers? 8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0

The numbers are in alphabetical order.(eight, five, four, nine, one, seven, six, ten, three, two, zero)

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