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Brain Teaser



Three life term prison inmates are given one opportunity for freedom by the playful warden one day. He tells the three to line up single file, one behind the other. They are blind folded and each one has a hat put on his head.

He then explains the rules:

"Each one of you is wearing either a black hat or a white hat. There
are 3 white hats but only 2 black hats. I will ask each one of you what color your hat is, if you answer correctly you will be released from your sentence. If you answer incorrectly you will be sentenced to death... so do not answer if you are unsure! You cannot move a muscle and you must leave the hat on your head at all times."

He asks them each in turn starting from the last man in the back "What color hat are you wearing?"

The 3rd man in the rear does not answer (he does not know).

The man in the middle does not answer either (again he does not know).

He asks the third man what color his hat is and he answers confidently. He is then given the belongings he came into the prison with and is set free for answering correctly.

The rules:

As stated, each inmate cannot determine what color hat he is wearing.

Each inmate can only see the inmate(s) in front of him and the color of their hats (except in the case of the man in front who can of course see nobody).

Each inmate thought their answers through very carefully and were correct in their inability to answer correctly (or in the case of the last man in getting it right).

Nothing silly or foolish is done to answer this (no mirrors, tricks etc...). It's pure deductive reasoning.

And now...

For the man who answered correctly, what color was his hat?

Click for the answer

Here's a cool party trick that allows you to multiply two large numbers in your head. (But it only works for this pattern)

25 * 25 = 625
 First you multiply the one's column 5 * 5 =25
 Next add 1 to the first number in the ten's column of the first number. Multiply that by the number in the ten's column of the 2nd.  3 * 2 = 6
        Answer 625

35 * 35
        5 * 5 = 25
        4 * 3 = 12
        Answer 1225

45 * 45
        5 * 5 = 25
        5 * 4 = 20
        Answer 2025

Predicting Human Behavior

1. Think of a number between 1 and 9.
2. Take the number and multiply it time 9.
3. You now have a 2 digit number.  Add the 2 numbers together and subtract 5 from that number.
4. You now have a smaller digit number. Change it to a letter such that
      1=A
      2=B
      3=C
      4=D
      5=E
      6=f
5.  Think of a country that starts with the letter.
6.  Look at the 2nd letter of the country and think on an animal that starts with that letter.
7.  Think of the color of that animal.

Did you end up with the color gray? If you are like 98% of the population, you did.  After all that is the color of an elephant that came from Denmark. Is it not?