Posted 10/5/15:
1. Homer’s mother has four children. Three of the children are named Spring, Summer, and Autumn. What is the name of the 4th child?
2. What do the following birds have in common? cardinals, eagles, falcons, ravens.
3. Horace Jordan was born in February 1896. Why did he only celebrate his first birthday in 1904?
Posted 10/12/15:
4. In how many states is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister?
5. Erin’s plane left New York at 11 AM for her five-hour flight to LA. Assuming punctuality, what time did she arrive?
6. J.J.J. Smith has an 85 average on his four tests in Calculus. The final is the same weight as each test – all are 100 points. What will he need to score on the final, to bring his grade up to an A (90 average)?
Posted 10/19/15:
7. Matt often goes the wrong way on a one-way street – right in front of a police station! Why is he never arrested?
8. Batty Benny has a bizarre book. The foreward comes after the epilogue. The end is in the first half, and the index is placed before the introduction. You may have this book, too. What is it?
9. If you write down every whole number (integer) between 50 and 100, how many times will you write the digit 6?
10. In how many ways can two dice be rolled to yield a sum divisible by 3?
Brain Teaser 15-14: October 2015
October 3, 2015 —Leave a Comment
Posted 10/5/15:
1. Homer’s mother has four children. Three of the children are named Spring, Summer, and Autumn. What is the name of the 4th child?
A. Winter Homer – the other children are Spring Homer, Summer Homer, and Augumn Homer.
2. What do the following birds have in common? cardinals, eagles, falcons, ravens.
A. They have sports teams named after them. OR they all have significant cultural significance in different societies – 1. Cardinals – In the Catholic Church Cardinals are principal or chief bishops and the term is thought to come from the Latin cardo meaning hinge. The bird is named after the Cardinals of the Church, also among Nartive Americans cardinals are symbols of relationships, courtship, and monogamy; 2. Eagles – symbol of the United States of America signifying strength and long life as well as it’s majectic look; 3. Falcons – symbol in ancient Egypt signifying intelligence and visionary power and it was a symbol of war; 4. Ravens – symbol for ancient Celtics signifying intelligence and it represents war.
3. Horace Jordan was born in February 1896. Why did he only celebrate his first birthday in 1904?
A. I will make a logical leap to the answer – Horace was born February 29, 1896, the next leap year was 1904. 1900 was not a leap year and thus 8 years passed before his first birthday.
jdw
Question #1: Homer
Question #2: They are all nicknames for NFL teams
Question #3: Horace was born on February 29, 1896 … Leap Year was not celebrated in 1900 … his first “birthday” came on February 29, 1904.
(1) 4th child’s name is Homer, as it was given in the question
(2) Are these all mascots for professional football teams? (I’m not a sports fan.)
(3) Horace was born on Feb. 29th since 1896 was a leap year, and the next leap year
that had a Feb. 29th was 1904.
10/5 #1 The name of the fourth child is Winter Homer, this child decided to be known by his middle name. (updated and clearer answer)
10/15 #1 At least 2 states allow posthumous marriages, Illinois and Florida, according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthumous_marriage
10/15 # 2 She arrived at 1600 EST, 1500 CST, 1400 MST, 1300 PST.
10/15 #3 to be submitted, I actually have to do some work now.
4. None, because if his wife is a widow, the man is dead.
5. 6 A.M. (I think?) due to crossing time zones
6. J.J.J. would need to score 110 on the final (5 * 90 = 450 pts. total needed,
4 * 85 = 340 pts. already scored; 450-340 = 110)
4. In how many states is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister?
I submitted a previous answer that cited cases in 2 states where posthumous marriages were allowed: Illinois and Florida. In both cases women were marrying dead men. In one case the State of Illinois granted legal privileges reserved for married couples to the new “bride”. In Florida, the groom-to-be died suddenly just before the wedding date; instead of a funeral, a wedding took place.
Posthumous marriage is not recognized by the federal government. Therefore, no legal protections on the federal level are granted to married couples are granted to those who marry posthumously.
Larry objected to my answer, but did not make an argument as to why it is wrong. However, he may have 1) noticed the way the question is phrased or 2) was thinking there is something wrong with the legal process of a posthumous wedding.
1. The question is about a dead man marrying a live sister-in-law. Which brings up the question – how can a dead man do something deliberate? In posthumous weddings it is the live person who petitions for the marriage license and the live person who goes through the wedding ceremony. The dead party is completely absent (assuming they do not have a corpse propped up during the ceremony). A dead man is unable to obtain a marriage license and to participate in a wedding ceremony.
2. From a legal perspective a question arises: since a dead man cannot declare a willful desire to wed, how can there be a legal exchange of vows and bilateral agreement to the marriage?
So, I withdraw my previous answer on grounds of practicality; I will say a dead man may not legally marry a live sister-in-law, but at least in 2 states, a live person may marry a dead person.
10. Rolling 2 dice and multiples of 3: There are 12 pairings that yield a multiple of 3 (reporting die 1 & die 2, respectively): 3&3, 6&6, 1&2, 4&5, 2&4, 5&1, 3&6, 6&3, 1&5, 4&2, 2&1, 5&4.