1. By moving one of the following digits, make the sum correct. 62 - 63 = 1
   
   
   
   
   2⁶ - 63 = 1 (In other words, 2x2x2x2x2x2, which equals 64)
   
   
   
2. You have a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. You must cross a river with only one of them at a time. If you leave the fox with the chicken he will eat it; if you leave the chicken with the grain he will eat it. How can you get all three across safely?
   
   
   
   
   Take the chicken over first. Go back and bring the grain next, but instead of leaving the chicken with the grain, come back with the chicken. Leave the chicken on the first side and take the fox with you. Leave it on the other side with the grain. Finally, go back over and get the chicken and bring it over.
   
   
   
3. You have 12 black socks and 12 white socks mixed up in a drawer. It's early in the morning and you don't have any light to see the colors. How many socks must you pull out (blindly) to be sure of getting a matching pair?
   
   
   
   3 socks. If the first sock is black, the second one could be black, in which case you have a matching pair. If the second sock is white, the third sock will be either black and match the first sock, or white and match the second sock.
   
   
   
4. What is special about the following sequence of numbers?
   8 5 4 9 1 7 6 10 3 2 0
   
   
   
5. Three travelers register at a hotel and are told that their rooms will cost $10 each so they pay $30. Later the clerk realizes that he made a mistake and should have only charged them $25. He gives a bellboy $5 to return to them but the bellboy is dishonest and gives them each only $1, keeping $2 for himself. So the men actually spent $27 and the bellboy kept $2 - what happened to the other dollar of the original $30?
   
   
   
   
   Nothing. The 3 travelers paid a total of $27, making $25 for the hotel and $2 for the clerk. There is no missing $1.
   
   
   
6. You are the bus driver. At your first stop, you pick up 29 people. On your second stop, 18 of those 29 people get off, and at the same time 10 new passengers arrive. At your next stop, 3 of those 10 passengers get off, and 13 new passengers come on. On your fourth stop 4 of the remaining 10 passengers get off, 6 of those new 13 passengers get off as well, then 17 new passengers get on. What is the color of the bus driver's eyes?
   
   
   
   
   The eye color of the reader of this problem. The first sentence is the key: "You are the bus driver"
   
   
   
7. A rooster lays an egg at the very top of a slanted roof. Which side is the egg going to roll off on?
   
   
   
   
   Neither, roosters don't lay eggs.
   
   
   
8. U2 has 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 who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them.
   
   The flashlight must be walked back and forth. It cannot be thrown and other tricks like that are not needed to solve the problem. The solution is simply a matter of allocating resources in a certain order. 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 when 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.
   
   
   You get to figure this one out on your own :) If you can't figure it out, email me and I'll give you a hint. There is an answer, and it doesn't require tricks like throwing the flashlight or shining it backwards. You just have to find the combination of people crossing back and forth in the normal way (there are two of them) that takes 17 minutes.
   
   
   
9. Why is it very common to have a 9 minute snooze interval on alarm clocks, why not 10 instead?
   
   
   
   
   By setting the snooze time to 9 minutes, the alarm clock only needs to watch the last digit of the time. So, if you hit snooze at 6.45, the alarm goes off again when the last digit equals 4. They couldn't make it 10 minutes, otherwise the alarm would go off right away, or it would take more circuitry.
   
   
   
10. A bookworm eats from the first page of an encyclopedia to the last page. The bookworm eats in a straight line. The encyclopedia consists of ten 1000-page volumes and is sitting on a bookshelf in the usual order. Not counting covers, title pages, etc., how many pages does the bookworm eat through?