Brain Teaser help

[Over50Newbie]

Claudia,

If you look closely, you will see that the font is just a very light blue. Then when you highlight over it, it just turns a darker blue so that you can see it.

Oakleaf - that is a great question. I did it and got 5000, and I just did it again with my 22 year old daughter, and she also got 5000!

Here is my favorite math "brain teaser" that I do with my middle school students:

This one is also done in your head and it is meant to be read aloud.

You are driving a bus. It has 12 people on it. At the first stop, you drop off 3 people and pick up 5. At the next stop, 2 more people get on. At the next stop, you drop off 8 and don't pick up anyone. At the next stop, you pick up 10 and drop off none. At the next stop nobody gets off and nobody gets on. At the last stop, 12 people get off, but only 1 gets on.

Now, here are two questions for you to answer:

1. What is the name of the bus driver?
2. How many stops did the bus make?

Answers:
1. The person answering the question is the bus driver because the brain teaser starts with "You are driving a bus."
2. The bus makes 6 stops.

Some people get the first answer. Nobody ever gets the second answer - they are too busy counting the number of people getting on and off the bus. As soon as you ask the second question, all you usually hear is a bunch of moans from your audience, as they realize they have been tricked.

Enjoy!

Lynette