Brain Teasers

BRAINTEASER NUMBER 1:

There are no tricks - this is a straight forward problem. This is supposed to be one of the questions which potential Microsoft employees are asked.

U2 have a concert that starts in 17 minutes and they must all cross a bridge to get there. All four men begin on the same side of the bridge. You must help them across to the other side. It is night. There is one flashlight.

A maximum of two people can cross at one time. Any party that crosses the bridge, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be carried back and forth, it cannot be thrown, etc. Each band member walks at a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower man's pace:

* Bono: - 1 minute to cross
* Edge: - 2 minutes to cross
* Adam: - 5 minutes to cross
* Larry: - 10 minutes to cross

For example: if Bono and Larry walk across first, 10 minutes have elapsed by the time they get to the other side of the bridge. If Larry then returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed and you have failed the mission.

There is no trick to this. It is a simple movement of resources in the appropriate order. There are two known answers to this problem. Microsoft expects you to answer this question in under 5 minutes!




BRAINTEASER NUMBER 2:

This quiz is supposed to have been written by Einstein. He said that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz. Could you be among the other 2%?



* There are 5 houses, each is a different colour
* In each house lives a person of a different nationality.
* These 5 owners all drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
* No owner has the same pet, smokes the same brand of cigar or drinks the same drink as another owner.


1: The Briton lives in a red house.
2: The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3: The Dane drinks tea
4: The green house is on the left of the white house (they are also next door to each other)
5: The green house owner drinks coffee
6: The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7: The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8: The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk
9: The Norwegian lives in the first house
10: The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats
11: The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
12: The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13: The German smokes Prince
14: The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15: The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.


The question is: WHO KEEPS FISH?

© Kevin Stone: [www.brainbashers.com]