Each week we feature a new puzzle that you
can print out in black and white on a single page and use as a
black line master with your students. Schools have reported great
success by encouraging families to work on the puzzles together at
home. Print out the PDF file, file the solution page and make
copies of the Challenge page to hand out to your students.
Two identical cannons are aimed
at each other, their shells fired simultaneously at exactly the same
speeds. Ignoring wind resistance for a moment, will they hit each other
or will they miss?
Roland has just completed a new
music box. When he spins the green belt wheel clockwise, will the two
skating couples spin in the same direction or in opposite directions?
Judy and Dan are the first to try
out the latest ride at the amusement park, an enormous mobius strip. If
the cars are traveling at the same speed, will there ever be a collision
(except possibly Judy's head on the superstructure)?
When the Bambeani triplets were
born they each received an identical jumbo birthing block. At age 65,
they still have their blocks and if asked, will proudly show them to
you. With the visual information shown, can you tell what color is on
the bottom face of each block?
Travel along the edges of a dodecahedron (a three-dimensional solid with
twelve pentagonal faces) through the 20 corner points of it and then
finish at the start point.
When Helen and Frank were married
21 years ago, Frank was three times as old as Helen. Today he is twice
as old as she. How old was Helen on her wedding day?
Bob has just been handed a note
from Linda, which appears to be written in some sort of code. From the
clues she has given, can you help Bob break this code and read the
message?
Kimberly has been told by the
jeweler that out of the six earrings he has left, he thinks two are a
match. Will Kimberly find a matching pair? If so, which two earrings
match?
Wendy has cats. All but two of
them are Siamese, all but two of them are Persian, and all but two of
them are Main Coon. How many cats does Wendy have altogether?
Blanche runs a quilting class.
She has asked her students to fold and cut a red square of fabric,
following the pattern shown on the chart above. The results are in.
Which of the four students' squares is the correct fold and cut as
indicated by the chart?
The Tucker boys, Jack and Dave,
release identical steel balls down their respective tracks at exactly
the same time. Jack's track is straight, while Dave's is cycloidal in
shape. Will the balls hit their targets at the same time, or will one of
them hit the target first? If the latter, which ball?
Betty has a problem, for the last
waffle came out of the press as shown, and the twins ALWAYS insist that
their waffles each have the same shape. Can you help Betty and show her
how to cut the waffle to get two identical pieces? (Note: the twins
can't tell the difference between a knife cut and the baked outside of a
waffle.)
Bruce has just assembled the
latest exercise device for his hamster. He lost the instructions, but is
pretty sure that this is the right way to set the belts. The hamster is
about to start its aerobics... will the belts turn freely or not?
When the monument is finished it
will be an enormous cube, painted blue on the outside
walls but left unadorned on all inner surfaces. How many of the
remaining stones needed
to complete the monument will be painted blue on two sides?
With the look of a wild man,
Captain Willy leaped into the enemy vessel. The crew scattered as the
notorious captain drew his most feared serpentine blade from its
scabbard... What's wrong with this picture?
"It was nearly midnight, and the
full moon was just rising over the ocean. He held her hand, gazed deeply
into her eyes, and whispered..." What is wrong with this statement?
Hilda D. Rosen, Earl Wade, and
Roy Kewn had a big laugh at the convention when they realized that the
letters of their names, when rearranged, spelled out the names of each
of their home States. From what State does each of these delegates hail?
Bruce has just assembled the
latest exercise device for his hamster. He lost the instructions, but is
pretty sure that this is the right way to set the belts. The hamster is
about to start its aerobics... will the belts turn freely or not?
Lauren has just unpacked her
shipment of colored cosmetic jars, one dozen each of red, orange,
yellow, green and blue jars. Each color jar is packed in its own box.
All the jars should have weighed three ounces, but the packing slip
noted that each jar in one of the boxes actually weighs 3.1 ounces.
Luckily, Lauren owns a spring scale accurate to one tenth of an ounce.
What is the minimum number of weighings that Lauren must make to
discover the color of the overweight jars?
The pups dug into dinner. Polaris ate more than Sirius; Castor ate less
than Pollux; Pollux ate less than
Sirius but more than Rigel. Which pup ate the second most?
Professor Pith Bugby is looking for the highest spot on this ancient
Aztec ruin. If all the stair steps (both up and down) are the same
height, can you help him find it?
Kimberly headed to the mall with $60. If she spends 1/4 of her money on
clothes, $30 on CD's and 10% of her original money pigging out at the
food court, how much cash will she have left?
Professor Pith Bugby, his fearless pooch Vilmer, and Professor Motu have
subdued a mighty python. As Pith holds the head, Vilmer is given the
command to pull the tail and stretch out the snake for measuring.
Assuming that the snake cooperates fully in this endeavor, will there be
any problems with taking an accurate measurement?
The Pharaoh has ordered that a Cube Tomb should be built from 27 smaller
cubes. He has ordered that the entire outside surface of the cube
(including the bottom) be painted red. When the tomb is complete how
many of the smaller cubes will be painted red on two sides only?
At the wedding reception, the five guests don't know how to arrange
themselves at the dinner table. They ask the bride's mother, who
responds, "As I remember, Colin isn't next to Kate, Emily isn't next to
Fred or Kate. Kate isn't next to Irene; neither is Emily, and Fred
should sit on Irene's left." As you look at them the opposite side of
the table, can you correctly seat the guests from left to right?
Chad and Blossom (brother and sister) come from a large family. Chad has
many brothers as he has sisters, but Blossom has only half as many
sisters as she has brothers. How many brothers and sisters total are in
the family?
