Solve Enjoyable Enigmas with Mr.E's Challenge

  • Thread starter Enigman
  • Start date
In summary: Four princes approach the king vying for the hand of the princess. In order to choose the best among the four suitors the king and the princess arrange a test: the suitors are brought to a large rectangular hall. The floor is covered with a carpet all over except at the corners- where there are four squares of bare floor and the suitors are told to stand at these corner. Each suitor takes a corner and stands there while the princess stands at the center of the hall. The king then proclaims the prince who without leaving their respective squares shall put a ring on the princess's hand will be declared to be the bridegroom of his daughter and the heir to Enigmania. No ropes or rods are
  • #351
Here's one that I made up myself, many years ago.

You work at a pawn shop. Some guy comes in and wants to pawn off an old war medal.

He says, "This is my great grand-dad's medal that he got in World War I. And it's a really special medal too; it was made with a personal inscription when he got it, by a General! This has got to be worth a lot!"

You look over the medal. It's a circular medal with an eagle on the front of it. On the back of it you can read the inscription,

Sergeant Smith,
Thank you for your courage
and bravery in World War I.
-General Jones,
April 20, 1917​

You don't know how much to give him for the medal, so you ask you manager (the owner of the pawn shop) to take a look at it. He looks it over for a moment, and says to the man, "This is worthless. I'm not giving you a cent for this." And the man takes the medal back and walks out of the shop.

Why did your manager say it's worthless?

--------------------

Just to answer some of the more low-hanging-fruit questions:

You ask your manager, "did WWI medals not have eagles on them?"
He replies, "I really don't know. Could be. The truth is I really don't know much about WWI medals, or even WWI in general. You would think I would, owning a pawn shop and all. But the truth is I don't. It's not my area of expertise," he pauses, "but I know that was fake."

You ask your manager, "did WWI medals not have inscriptions on them?"
He replies again, "I really don't know. Maybe so, maybe not. -- That one was fake though."

You ask your manager, "was there not a General Jones in WWI?"
He says, "I really don't know. Like I said, I don't know a whole lot about WWI."

[Edit: Corrected spelling of "Sergeant."]
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #352
I know this one...the one I read was about a sword not a medal though.
 
  • #353
Enigman said:
teleportation allowed?
Right idea

use a torch? It was a day?
both correct

Er, catch it before it falls?
This is correct, but there's another different solution.
 
  • #354
consciousness said:
I have another answer for raw egg-
Concrete floors aren't so easily broken!
Correct. But there's yet another solution.

Cyclist-
Its not possible!:eek:
Yes, best answer.
 
  • #355
Gad said:
∞?

right idea
 
  • #356
zoobyshoe said:
You are standing on a hard concrete floor and you have no cushioning to use. You bet someone you can drop a raw egg 4 feet without it breaking. You promise you won't even drop it on your feet. How do you win this bet?

Drop the egg on the feet of the person you made the bet with? Depending on his reflexes he might catch it or else well, some things are worth losing a bet for...
:devil:
 
  • #357
Another answer to raw egg-
I thought about the possibility of hard raw eggs and the ostrich came to mind. The trick is to procure an ostrich egg (from some where!). You can can throw it on concrete and it probably won't break. Apparently it requires a hammer and a drill to break! :eek:
 
  • #358
For the WW1 puzzle:
Is it because sergeant is spelled incorrectly, or was that just a mistake in the typing of the puzzle? Alternatively, that date is only two weeks after the US declared war, so it seems possible that no US troops had actually seen combat by that point (I admit I had to google when the US entered to confirm this)
 
  • #359
Office_Shredder said:
For the WW1 puzzle:
Is it because sergeant is spelled incorrectly, or was that just a mistake in the typing of the puzzle? Alternatively, that date is only two weeks after the US declared war, so it seems possible that no US troops had actually seen combat by that point (I admit I had to google when the US entered to confirm this)

No.
(collinsmark isn't online now so I am taking the liberty to answer for him. Sorry, collinsmark.)
 
  • #360
WW1 solution:
Oh, obviously it was called world war 1 until after world war 2 started.
 
  • #361
Office_Shredder said:
WW1 solution:
Oh, obviously it was called world war 1 until after world war 2 started.

Right. It would be like referring to your first wife as "My first wife", while you're still married to her :biggrin:.
 
  • #362
Office_Shredder said:
WW1 solution:
Oh, obviously it was called world war 1 until after world war 2 started.

Yes, that's correct.
 
  • #363
Here's another one.

A man is running home, but he's afraid to get there, because there is another man already there who is wearing a mask and doing a "job."

What is the masked man's occupation?

Hint: there is a diamond involved.

[Oh, wait, we haven't got a final answer for Zooby's egg question yet, haven't we. Sorry about that.]
 
Last edited:
  • #364
For the raw egg:
walk off the concrete to where there's grass, and drop it there. You never promised you would drop it where you're standing
 
  • #365
Enigman said:
Drop the egg on the feet of the person you made the bet with? Depending on his reflexes he might catch it or else well, some things are worth losing a bet for...
This might work. There's yet another answer, though.
consciousness said:
Another answer to raw egg-
I thought about the possibility of hard raw eggs and the ostrich came to mind. The trick is to procure an ostrich egg (from some where!). You can can throw it on concrete and it probably won't break. Apparently it requires a hammer and a drill to break! :eek:
This might work. There's yet another answer, though.
Office_Shredder said:
For the raw egg:
walk off the concrete to where there's grass, and drop it there. You never promised you would drop it where you're standing
This is certainly correct. But there is yet another answer.

Obtuse clue: how high do you have to lift an egg to drop it 4 feet?
 
  • #366
WW1 medal:

The medal was dated as being made while the war was still going on. However, the war is referred to as WWI right there on the medal. WWI didn't start to be called WWI until much later in history.
 
  • #367
collinsmark said:
Here's another one.

A man is running home, but he's afraid to get there, because there is another man already there who is wearing a mask and doing a "job."

What is the masked man's occupation?

Hint: there is a diamond involved.
I'm thinking it's a workman wearing a dust mask drilling into masonry with a diamond tipped drill.
 
  • #368
Suppose you coat a tennis ball with glue. What is the maximum number of tennis balls that can be attached directly to this sticky surface?
 
  • #369
2+6*2? Wild guess though.
 
Last edited:
  • #370
Tennis balls:
This is probably totally missing the point, but the kissing number (number of spheres you can place adjacent to a given sphere) in three dimensional space is 12, but it's well known that you can deform a thirteenth sphere to fit it in as well, so I'm going to go with 13
 
  • #371
A man died leaving four grown children.

His will left one-fifth of his estate to be divided equally among all law-abiding male offspring. Three-fifths were to be divided equally among all female offspring. The balance was to be divided equally among his grandchildren.

His offspring were Pat, Leslie, Terry, and Mandy. Pat had joined the Navy. Leslie gained local notoriety for getting many women pregnant. Terry got a job in a hospital and married a nurse. Mandy had been convicted of murder and was in prison.

After the estate was settled, Mandy's son had inherited exactly twice as much as anyone else. Explain.
 
  • #372
Pat, Leslie and Terry are women, Mandy is a man and gets none. Then Mandy's son gets 2/5th, and each of Pat, Leslie and Terry get 1/5th. As to how Leslie has gained local notoriety... she's a fertility clinic doctor
 
  • #373
Office_Shredder said:
Pat, Leslie and Terry are women, Mandy is a man and gets none. Then Mandy's son gets 2/5th, and each of Pat, Leslie and Terry get 1/5th. As to how Leslie has gained local notoriety... she's a fertility clinic doctor
Correct!
 
  • #374
No one has yet gotten the tennis balls or egg drop right.

On the egg drop: it's what Office Shredder would consider a "wiseass" answer. It's correct by virtue of sticking to the technical parameters of the bet while violating an important expectation the bet creates. All the answers given so far have been in this vein, but there's (at least) one more really good one you guys haven't seen.
 
  • #375
Are we supposed to count the sticky one too?
 
  • #376
No. Just the ones you stick to it.
 
  • #377
zoobyshoe said:
You are standing on a hard concrete floor and you have no cushioning to use. You bet someone you can drop a raw egg 4 feet without it breaking. You promise you won't even drop it on your feet. How do you win this bet?

Throw it up >4 feet and catch it? Assuming you consider the return-to-ground part of the trajectory a "drop". Either that or hold it in your hand >4 feet and fall down while holding it.
 
  • #378
Three three digit numbers sum to 900. Each of the three digit numbers is composed of three of the numbers from 1 to 9. No number is used twice.

What are some possible values for the three three digit numbers?
 
Last edited:
  • #379
zoobyshoe said:
No. Just the ones you stick to it.

18??
 
  • #380
You have three figures, a circle, a square, and a triangle.

You are told that

2 squares + 1 triangle + 1 circle = 17

1 square + 2 triangles + 1 circle = 14

1 square + 1 triangle + 2 circles = 13

What is the value of the individual figures?
 
  • #381
Gad said:
18??
Sorry, no.
 
  • #382
 
  • #383
jhae2.718 said:
Throw it up >4 feet and catch it? Assuming you consider the return-to-ground part of the trajectory a "drop". Either that or hold it in your hand >4 feet and fall down while holding it.
These are both correct. Still there is one important one out there no one has seen.
 
  • #384
zoobyshoe said:
Three three digit numbers sum to 900. Each of the three digit numbers is composed of three of the numbers from 1 to 9. No number is used twice.

What are the three three digit numbers?

Either I'm misunderstanding the question, or aren't there many solutions? (159, 478, 263)
and (259, 173, 468), for example, are both solutions they way I am reading the problem.
 
  • #385
zoobyshoe said:
You have three figures, a circle, a square, and a triangle.

You are told that

2 squares + 1 triangle + 1 circle = 17

1 square + 2 triangles + 1 circle = 14

1 square + 1 triangle + 2 circles = 13

What is the value of the individual figures?

Square = 6, Triangle = 3, Circle = 2
 

Similar threads

Challenge Intermediate Math Challenge - August 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
Replies
20
Views
5K
Admissions Comments on PhD Statement of Purpose
    • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
6
Views
1K
Challenge Basic Math Challenge - September 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
38
Views
6K
Challenge Are You Ready for the Basic Math Challenge This August?
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
57
Views
9K
Challenge Intermediate Math Challenge - September 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
Replies
28
Views
5K
Challenge Math Challenge - December 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
67
Views
11K
Challenge Can You Solve These Math Challenges?
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
3
Replies
82
Views
12K
Challenge Intermediate Math Challenge - May 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
61
Views
9K
Challenge Math Challenge - November 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
6
Replies
175
Views
21K
Challenge Intermediate Math Challenge - July 2018
    • Math Proof Training and Practice
Replies
16
Views
5K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top