A riddle problem is a question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning, typically presented as a game. Below are a list of the past problem of the week riddles in descending chronological order.
One is to three as three is to five and five is to four and four is the magic number.
What is the pattern?
Answer:
One has three letters in the word three has five letters in it five has four letters and four has four letters in it (if you try more numbers they will always come back to the number four: so four is the magic number)
An item is made from lead blanks in a lathe shop. Each blank suffices for 1 item. Lead shavings accumulated for making 6 items can be melted and made into a blank. How many items can be made from 36 blanks?
Answer:
From 36 blanks there are 36 items made. The lead shavings are enough to make 6 blanks. Which make 6 more items. But don't stop here. The new shavings are good for 1 more item. Total: 43.
Take two numbers, such that the square of the first, plus the square of the second, shall equal 8; while the first, plus the product of the first and second, shall equal 6. What are the two numbers?
A man bumps into his mathematician friend on the street that he hasn't seen in 5 years. The man asks the mathematician how old his children are. The mathematician, who always replies in riddles said, "I now have three children. The sum of their ages is equal to the number of windows on the building in front of you and the product of their ages equals 36." The friend then says "I need one more piece of information." The mathematician then replies "My youngest child has blue eyes." What are the ages of the mathematicians three children?
How can you make the following equation true by drawing only one straight line: 5+5+5=550? Can you figure it out?
Answer:
Draw a line on the first plus sign that turns it into a 4! The equation then becomes true: 545+5=550. You could also change the equal symbol to a crossed out equal symbol which means "not equal to".