These puzzles do not require any mathematical knowledge, just logical reasoning. Check, how smart you are. Post your answers in the comments section with valid arguments. If you cannot solve them, take it easy. I intend to place here new puzzles and the solutions.
Q.1. (Three Weighs to Justice)
There are 12 coins. One of them is false; it weights differently. It is not known, if the false coin is heavier or lighter than the right coins. How to find the false coin by three weighs on a simple scale?
Q.2. (The Zen Riddle: 45 Minutes to Enlightenment)
A Buddhist monk got an errand from his teacher: to meditate for exactly 45 minutes. He has no watch; instead he is given two inscent sticks, and he is told that each of those sticks would completely burn in 1 hour. The sticks are not identical, and they burn with variant yet unknown rates (they are hand-made). So he has these two inscent and some matches: can he arrange for exactly 45 minutes of meditation?
Q.3. (The Poisoned Goblet)
A king has 1000 wine goblets. One has been poisoned — just one sip is fatal, but the poison takes exactly 24 hours to show symptoms. He has 10 prisoners and wants to determine which goblet is poisoned in 24 hours. How can he do it?
Q.4. (How Many Insects)
There are 2024 rooms containing insects, with a total of 20242 insects. Every second, exactly one insect from one of the rooms moves to another room containing at least as many insects as the earlier room. What happens to the configuration in the long run, i.e. when the time approaches infinity?
Q.5. (City of Lies or Truth)
You are at an unmarked intersection … one way is the City of Lies and another way is the City of Truth. Citizens of the City of Lies always lie. Citizens of the City of Truth always tell the truth. A citizen of one of those cities (you don’t know which) is at the intersection. What question could you ask to them to find the way to the City of Truth?
