Question of the day

Planning Out Your Floor

2012-09-21T10:03:00.001-04:00

Charlie is helping his family design a sun porch for their house. It will be in the shape of a trapezoid (ABCD), allowing for large windows on several sides. Charlie has labeled the four corners A, B, C, and D. He wants to find out how many 12-inch-square floor tiles he should order if 2 dozen extra tiles are needed for replacements or cutting errors. The tiles come in boxes of 12 tiles per box.

Following is information about the dimensions of the sun porch.

Line BC is 20 feet long and runs along the living room.
Line AB is 8 feet long and is perpendicular to line BC.
Line CD is parallel to line AB but is twice as long as line AB.
Line AD represents the longest wall with the most windows.
Line AE is an imaginary line parallel to line BC.
Point E is on line CD. It is the midpoint of line CD.

How many boxes of floor tiles should Charlie order?

Long Walk for Henry

2012-09-18T10:53:00.001-04:00

Henry lives in a city laid out on a grid. Laid out on a map the vertical streets are A through Q. The horizontal streets are First through 17th.

Henry began his afternoon walk at 2:45, leaving from his house to visit a friend. For every 5 minutes he walked, he traveled north 2 blocks and east 1 block. He started on the corner of C Street and Second Avenue. He arrived at his friend's house at 3:10 in the afternoon.

Henry then spent 2 hours and 20 minutes at his friend's house. When he left, he walked to the store at the corner of K and Sixth Streets at the same rate as his earlier walk (though in a different direction). He spent 10 minutes at the store before walking home.

If he walked home at the same rate as his other walks, at what time did get home?

Did you know?

2012-09-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

Which animals do we get catgut from?

uu Words

2012-09-12T13:11:00.002-04:00

Find at least two English words that have "uu" in them.

PETS A

2012-09-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

1.
EMPLOY _ _ _ T

2.
1 3 5 7 9 vs U

3.
T _ R N

Wither, Wane and Grow Dry

2012-08-30T07:50:00.002-04:00

Close to the words of life stay I,
But I wither, wane, and grow dry.

another 1

2012-08-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

1.
sprinG
summEr
autumN
winTer

2.
3. OUT
2. OUT
1. OUT

3.
SYMPHON..

4.
DANUBE
O
L
S

Answer to the title: One right after another

Why, Yes, There is a Trick to This Answer

2012-08-27T11:01:00.000-04:00

If it takes twenty minutes to hard-boil one goose egg, how long will it take to hard-boil four goose eggs?

Laugh or Weep

2012-08-21T09:37:00.001-04:00

At the sound of me, men may dream
Or stamp their feet,
At the sound of me, women may laugh
Or sometimes weep.

Who am I?

Black Cat Riddle

2012-08-20T11:49:00.000-04:00

What looks and acts exactly like a black cat but is much smaller?

When Seven Eight Nine

2012-08-15T14:59:00.001-04:00

How do you make seven "even"?

Swimming in a Waterless Sea

2012-08-13T10:29:00.002-04:00

Large as a mountain, small as a pea,
Endlessly swimming in a waterless sea.

Do Not Flag Your Tongue at Me

2012-08-10T09:21:00.000-04:00

To you, rude would I never be,
Though I flag my tongue for all to see.

Wax and Wane

2012-08-09T11:18:00.003-04:00

Always wax, yet always wane:
I melt, succumbéd to the flame.
Lighting darkness, with fate unblest,
I soon devolve to shapeless mess

If Wishes Were Fishes

2012-08-08T12:04:00.001-04:00

A servant lived and worked hard for his master magician for long years. The magician, appreciating everything he had done for so long, called in the servant and told him we would grant one wish (and one wish only... none of this wishing for more wishes!). The servant was given one day to think on what he would like to wish for.

The servant headed home and talked to his wife about what he should wish for. His wife immediately asked him to wish for a child, as they still remained childless. Happy with this thought, he went to visit with his parents. His mother, upon hearing about his wish, asked her son to wish for her sight to be returned, as she had gone blind. On the way out the door, his told him to wish for riches with which he could care for all three them.

Tired and now quite upset since he didn't know what to choose, the servant headed home and slept restlessly. Upon waking, he knew what he had to wish for.

He immediately went to his master and made one wish, a wish that would make all three (mother, father and wife) happy. What was that wish?

Drinking Soda is Bad For Your Teeth

2012-08-07T11:15:00.002-04:00

Joan likes drinking soda. She can recycle five empty soda bottles and get a full one at the store. As part of the town clean up, she found 77 empty bottles. How many bottles of soda will she be able to drink in total?

Complete a House

2012-08-01T13:41:00.001-04:00

What is not inside or outside a house, yet no house would be complete without it?

Zero, Zilch, Nothing

2012-07-30T11:41:00.003-04:00

There are two letters of the alphabet that mean zilch, zero, nothing. Which two are they?

How Much is That Moon in the Window?

2012-07-26T09:43:00.003-04:00

How is the moon like a dollar?

Re-Written and Confused

2012-07-25T09:16:00.001-04:00

1. Do not traverse a structure erected to afford passage over a waterway until the time of drawing nigh unto it.

2. Perambulate in moccasins, and shoulder a gargantuan wooden rail.

3. That which is acquired without difficulty is dispersed with equal facility

Roman Numeral Formula

2012-07-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

Another question from Jim May. Thanks, Jim!

The formula below is made up of individual match sticks. How few number of match stick moves can you make to correct this Roman numeral formula? Please demonstrate.

XI + I = X

Do you have a question to ask, please contact me and if it's new, I'll post it here for everyone to enjoy!

Four Wings

2012-07-13T10:50:00.002-04:00

I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; On the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound.

What am I?

Feathers to Fly

2012-07-12T10:52:00.000-04:00

I have many feathers to help me fly. I have a body and head, but I'm not alive. It is your strength which determines how far I go. You can hold me in your hand, but I'm never thrown.

What am I?

Thirteen Crows

2012-07-10T14:12:00.000-04:00

There are thirteen crows sitting on a wire. If I shoot one, how many are left? There are at least five defensibly correct answers to this puzzle. Name four of them.

From Jim May, someone we have all been relying on for daily answers!

Bert Goes to a Party

2012-07-03T14:54:00.002-04:00

You are at a logic master's party. The host has decided to play a game. He takes 8 stamps, 4 red and 4 green and announces the rules. He will affix two stamps to each party goers head and then he will place the remaining two in his pocket. You, Bert, and two others, Al and Casey, can see the other stamps, but don't know your own stamps and cannot see the stamps in the host's pocket.

The host then asks each of you in turn if you know the colors of your own stamps:
A: "No."
B: "No."
C: "No."
A: "No."
B: "Yes."

What color stamps do you have?