Mathematics Riddles

A riddle is a statement or question having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles is a speech play. It is one of the minor genres of folk literature.

1. Math Riddles
K.THIYAGU,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Education,
Central University of Kerala,Kasaragod
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2. Ariddleisastatementor
questionhavingadoubleor
veiledmeaning,putforthas
apuzzletobesolved.
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3. Riddleisaspeechplay.Itisoneof
theminorgenresoffolkliterature.
Riddleisanexpressionthatrefers
tosomethingdifferent.
Riddleisaspeechplaythat
involvesquestionandanswer.
Riddlesaremostlytoldbychildren
oryoungpeopleincontrastto
proverbswhicharemostlyusedby
adults.
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4. Riddles
Enigmas
which are problems generally expressed in
metaphorical or allegorical language that
require ingenuity and careful thinking for
their solution
Conundra
which are questions relying for their effects
on punning in either the question or the
answer.
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5. Examples of Riddles
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6. A bird built a house but the house
has no doors and it has no windows ?
Answer: An Egg.
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7. There is a huge house with only one pillar ?
Answer: Mushroom.
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8. Two brothers who always walk in the
same direction?
Answer: A Person's Legs.
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9. what walks with four legs in the morning, with two
legs at noon, with three legs in the evening ?
Answer: A Person
(crawls on all fours as a baby, walks with two legs as an adult, and is supported by a walking stick when the person becomes old).
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10. You buy a rooster for the purpose of laying eggs and you expect to get three eggs
each day for breakfast, how many eggs will you have after three weeks?
Answer: Zero
(roosters do not lay eggs)
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11. Examples of
Mathematics Riddles
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12. Add any number to the number itself and then multiply by 4.
Again divide the number by 8 and you will get the same number once more.
Which is that number?
Answer: Any Number
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13. X is an odd number.
Take an alphabet away from X and it becomes even.
Which is that number?
Answer: Seven (Seven-S=Even)
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14. Sai Amartya was asked to paint the number of plates on 100 apartments which
means she will have to paint numbers 1 through 100.
Can you figure out the number of times she will have to paint the number 8?
Answer: 20 times.
(8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 98)
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15. A grandfather, two fathers and two sons went to the movie theater together and
everyone bought one movie ticket each. How many tickets did they buy in total?
Answer: Three
(the grandfather is also a father and the father is also a son)
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16. If it took 6 people 9 hours to build a barn,
how long would it take 12 people to build the same barn?
Answer: None
(The barn is already built!)
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17. I am a three-digit number. My second digit is 4 times bigger than the
third digit. My first digit is 3 less than my second digit. Who am I?
Answer: 141
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18. Answer: Zero, 0
Ifyoumultiplythisnumberbyanyothernumber,
theanswerwillalwaysbethesame.
Whatnumberisthis?
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19. Answer: When it is 9 AM, add 5
hours to it and you will get 2PM
I add five to nine, andget two.
The answer is correct, but how?
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20. Using only addition, how can you add eight
8’s to get the number 1,000?
Answer: 888 +88 +8 +8 +8 =1,000
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21. Answer: Drop “S” in the Spelling Seven.
How do you make the number 7 an even number without
addition, subtraction, multiplication or division?
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22. Answer: F I V E
(Remove the 2 letters F and E from five and you have IV.)
How can you take 2 from 5 and leave 4?
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23. Answer: Two
(Inside and Outside)
How many sides does a circle have?
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24. Thank You
K.THIYAGU,
Assistant Professor,
Department of Education,
Central University of Kerala,Kasaragod
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