Today's puzzle

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A man visits his friend and says, “if you will lend me the amount of money I have in my pocket, I will pay you the Rs. 10 I already owe you”. The friend obliges, and is paid the previous debt. The man then visits a second friend from whom he succeeds in borrowing an amount of money equal to that in his pocket, and pays him Rs. 10 for an already outstanding debt. This procedure he repeats on two more occasions and having paid two more outstanding debts of Rs. 10 each , leaves with nothing in his pocket. What is the total amount he now owes his four friends ?

Puzzle : The smart thief

P6 0367 071007

A thief went inside a church to steal the bell ropes. The two bell ropes passed through holes in the high boarded ceiling and he wanted to take nearly the complete lengths of the two ropes. He had only a pocket knife with him. How did he do it ? No ladders, no other gadgets, etc.. are available. You may think that he might steal one rope and slide down the other. But how did he cutoff nearly the whole lengths of both without falling ?

A railway puzzle

P5   0966 061007
Two railway coaches, A and B, stand on a circular track with an overhead bridge between them. An engine rests on a siding. The bridge will allow only the engine to pass beneath it. Interchnage the position of A and B, ( Bring B to A’s position and A to B’s position ).

{ Please see figure above.    Enlarge the figure, if required. )

Puzzle of the day

Here is the third one. A very simple mathematical puzzle.
P3 1266 04Oct07

Ajith, a villager, went to his neighbor Kasim, to borrow 4 litres of kerosene. He took a container with him. Kasim had a stock of a full bottle of 8 litres of kerosene. He agreed to share half of what he had. But they didn’t know how to share. Kasim had two empty bottles of 5 litres and 3 litres each respectively, with him. There were no other measures or other bottles, but had to divide the oil exactly into two equal parts. How could they do it ?

Puzzles : Solution to Terrorism and Violence

You now know that "A puzzle a day" series is ON. But have you thought about the significance of starting the puzzle on October 2 ? As you rightly guessed it, its "Gandhi Jayanthi" , a day for peace and non-violence in the world.  Today, I think violence, in its all forms, do trouble all of us, the world over. 
The only solution to this problem is teaching and practice of non-violence, the Gandhian principle. 
Our first puzzle is intentionally chosen. This logical problem ( I hope you had read and tried it !! ) is very meaningful (not alone interesting).
The missionary, in the hands of the cruel tribal people, is really in danger, for sure. He will be killed in one of the two methods.  But, the Chieftain, 
to show his smartness (or clever ?)  puts a question to him.
He didn't mean to offer an escape route.
Read the question, it's very clear. The cruel Chieftain must be laughing. 
But, the Missionary, tackling the question in a very intelligent manner, escaped. His answer was such that, he could not be killed.
The Chieftain had no other way, but to let the Missionary free !
See,  this is an excellant case of how intelligence outsmarted the cruelty (terrorism or violence).
The morale of the story is that, intelligence applied well (that's godly! ) can counteract all the evils of the world.
Let's all act intelligently well (that's also Gandhism) to make this world a heaven. A world without violence.
That's the answer to the puzzle of terrorism and violence.

Puzzle No. 2

P2. 1166
03Oct07

Here is the second puzzle ...

An explorer decided to go hunting one day into the thick forests. He started from his camp, walked 15 KM due South. But he could not find anything to hunt. He turned right and walked 15 KM due West. The lucky man could find a bear, and shot it. Slinging the heavy beast on his shoulders, the man started for his camp. After walking 15 Km due north, he reached his camp. What was the color of the bear ?