Lateral thinking puzzles

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Mental gymnastics being an important part of what we do, try these:-

A man buys an item for £1. He sells the same item for 50 pence. If he does this enough times he will become a millionaire. How is this possible?

I dig a hole. It's dimensions are 50cms deep, 1 meter long and 2 meters wide. Measured in cubic meters, how much earth does it contain?

What is the only word in the English language that becomes shorter when you add two letters

You are standing outside a sealed room. There are three switches on the outside of the room. One of them controls the light inside the room. You can fiddle with the switches as much as you like but you cannot touch the switches once the door has been opened and you can only open the door once. How do you work out which is the correct switch. (looking under / through / phoning someone the other side of the door etc iis not the solution)

Only one of the following statements is accurate. Which is it
One of these statements is false
Two of these statements are false
Three of these statements are false
four of these statements are false
five of these statements are false

A farmer has four fields. one contains 3 haystacks, the next 4 haystacks the third 2 haystacks and the last one haystack. If he puts them all together how many haystacks will he have?

Before Mount everest was discovered what was the tallest mountain on earth?

I'm the first to admit that i'm not the quickest guy in the world (actually i'd be about sixth to admit it) so they took me a while. I'll be interested to see who gets the "smug podiatrist" award by getting all the answers right first!

 

Only the second: Zero, it's empty space!
Does the farmer only have one haystack if he puts them all together?

 

He sells the very same item 2 million times.

short

Mount Everest

 

Right on the second two, wrong on the first one. Read it carefully. He buys the item for a pound and sells it for 50p. If he does this (buying and selling) enough times he becomes a millionaire.

Selling the same item 1 million times is tricky, even on E bay!

For is it not written, "ooo you're so sharp you'll cut yourself?"

Guess again

Robert

 

One

 

"four of these statements is false" is the only correct answer

 

Mark and Markjon, Correct and Correct.

Just the millionaire and the lightswitches unresolved. C'mon guys, you can do it!

 

He sells 2 million items for fifty pence each (ten bob to the UK posters),

 

Its a Glass Room!!!!

 

Clever but nowhere near, smartarse

It's not a glass room, its sealed. there is no way to observe the inside until you open the door. Think schrodingers cat type box.

And no he does not sell two million items for fifty pence. He does not have 2 million items! The only items he sells for fifty pence are the ones he buys for a pound and he sells the same number of items he buys.

Try again

RObert

 

Goddarrniitt!!

 

What do the other two light switches do? If it turns out from fiddling that they control lights that you can see turn off and on then the one that appears to do nothing would be controlling the light in the room.

Am i on the right track?

 

No. Wrong track entirely. The other two are simply not connected to the relevant lightbulb.

I'll give you a hint. The light is a lightbulb not a florescant tube. That is significant.

Robert

 

Pete, then he will be negative millionare
Robert please do not tell that item is a boomerang!!!!!

 

That is certainly lateral but also dead wrong. I'm almost more impressed with some of the wrong answers than the right one! Its much simpler than you think.


Robert

 

does the prospective millionaire already have a substantial sum in the bank, say 1 000 000.50, meaning he will lose his millionaire status with the purchase, and then regain it with the sale?

jair

 

Does he sell the object 2 million times to himself?
musmed

 

re the light switches

I presume you cannot touch them so do you get someone else to flick the switches?

All is forgiven

musmed

 

Re, the light switches:

Turn 2 on for 10 mins, then turn one off and open the door.

If light is on you know which one, if it is not on but hot it is the one you just turned off and if it is off and cold it is the switch not used!
I got some help!
Cheers
Shane

 

Shane And JB well done to both of you. Dead right on the light switches and pretty much right on the millionaire. The simpler solution for the millionaire being that he started out as a billionaire.

Shane wins the smug and clever award for getting three right including the toughy.

Thankyou for playing, hope you've had fun.

Robert

 

Thanks Robert, good fun. I had the team on the Job!
Got any more?
Cheers
Shane

 

I bet you did Shane!