Take your time and pay attention to details.
Snail Riddle
A snail is at the bottom of a well and wants to get out. He manages to crawl up the wall 3 feet each day, but at night he must rest ( after all that work during the day ) and so he slips back down 2 feet. If the well is 30 feet deep, How long will it take him to get out?
Worm Riddle
On a shelf in the library, there is a 3 book set of almanacs labeled volume 1, volume 2 and volume 3. Each book is 2 1/2 inches thick, the pages being 2 inches thick and each cover is 1/4 inch thick. A bookworm starts eating its way from the 1st page of volume 1 and stops at the last page of volume 3. How far did the bookworm travel?
Number Riddle
What is the largest possible number you can write using only 2 single digit numbers - just 2 numbers, no other mathematical symbols?
28 days
7 inches
(9 to the 9)
Posted by: Paul | July 30, 2008 at 09:13
1) 29 Days
2) 8 inches
3) 99?
Posted by: Carl Holmes | July 30, 2008 at 10:09
correction, # 2 is 7 inches.
Posted by: Carl Holmes | July 30, 2008 at 10:13
Snail: 28 days (when he hits that 30th foot, you don't have to worry about the two foot loss any more).
Worm: Seven inches (you don't count the two outermost covers, given the parameters of the riddle). And you blew "it's/its" again. :)
Number: If it's not a trick question, 99. If it is a trick question, there are two ways you can go: infinity, assuming you put the two zeroes close enough together. ;) Or, 387,420,489, rendered as 9^9 (the second nine should be superscripted, but your comment form doesn't recognize that tag). I'm also assuming base 10 here. :)
Posted by: tgirsch | July 30, 2008 at 16:27
Snail Riddle: 27 days.
Worm Riddle: 7 inches? (This is assuming that the volumes are stacked in order.)
Number riddle: Depends on how creative we're allowed to be.
1- the number eight on its side - twice.
2 - or if that is not acceptable, how about 9 to the 9th power?
3 - are we allowed to hexadecimal, base32, or base 64?
4 - otherwise I guess it would just be plain old 99?
I like the number 8 on its side 2x - double infinity
Posted by: Deb | July 30, 2008 at 17:10
28 days for the snail. I assume he will not slide back when he reaches the top.
Posted by: Rob Ryan | July 30, 2008 at 20:36
Number riddle: Nine to the ninth power? Is that cheating? Bookworm goes 7 inches unless I missed something. Seems the covers would be problematic for the creature, though.
Posted by: Rob Ryan | July 30, 2008 at 20:40
the worm:
On the morning of day 2, the progress was 1 foot (D-1); therefore on the morning of day 28 the progress is 27 feet, so he's done by the end of day 28.
largest number:
9^9 (nine to the ninth power=)
How do you do a superscript in html?
Posted by: SteveC | July 30, 2008 at 23:04
I said Worm before, but I meant snail.
Here is the worm.
3 times 2.5 = 7.5 inches
Take away two covers, 7 inches eaten.
Unless the books are in the wrong order!
Posted by: SteveC | July 30, 2008 at 23:42
The snail crawled out on day 28. He almost made it out on the 27th day when he got to a "high water mark" of 29 feet. He feel asleep and slid back to 27 feet and started his climb on day 28. This time he made it to 30 feet and got out of there.
Nine to the ninth is correct. The infinity is a creative answer, but it is a symbol. We outlawed those. The little nine slightly raised is not a symbol ... a convention perhaps, but still a number.
And the book did not travel 7 inches. I've managed to stump some very bright DT readers with this worm riddle ... something that has never happened in the history of Mr. D's Mind Benders.
Here are some clues ... it is NOT 7 inches ... yes, he eats both covers and pages. Go look at your bookshelf for some inspiration ;)
Go back and read the riddle carefully.
Posted by: Mr. D | July 31, 2008 at 06:08
Doh - the worm travels 3 inches. Though actually you don't state what order the books are shelved in, so we lack the data to say for certain (they could, for example, be stacked one on top of the other!)
Posted by: Paul | July 31, 2008 at 07:05
book worm:
Oh! I got it...
it is just vol 2 plus 2 covers
3 inches.
Posted by: | July 31, 2008 at 08:47
oops, I forgot to sign again...
3 inches
Posted by: SteveC | July 31, 2008 at 08:47
I continue to be stumped by the bookworm riddle--are the books stacked on top of each other? If so then presumably as he ate each page the next page would fall down to him, so he wouldn't have to travel any distance. That is my only guess at this point.
Posted by: Steve Clarke | July 31, 2008 at 11:01
5 inches? Was that last uneaten page 2 inches thick?
I hope that's not it.
Posted by: Rob Ryan | July 31, 2008 at 11:04
"Go look at your bookshelf for some inspiration"
This was the clue that did it. I arranged volumns 1-3 on my shelf from left to right and re-read the riddle. The answer should be 3 inches. Tricky!
Posted by: Rob Ryan | July 31, 2008 at 11:17
I was sure it was 7 inches as well until I saw your comment. Now upon looking at my bookshelf I'm thinking 2-1/2.
Posted by: Brian | July 31, 2008 at 12:07
If one assumes that the books are in ascending order from left to right, the worm answer is three inches.
Posted by: Nephos | July 31, 2008 at 13:46
Okay. Well, since I had originally stated that I assumed that the volumes were stacked and that they were in order, I will now change my assumption to - they are standing (rather than stacked) on the shelf in the typical library format, and in order by volume.
In this case, the worm would have eaten 3 inches.
the cover of vol 1 (1/4")
the backcover of vol 2 (1/4")
the pages (2")
the front cover of Vol 2 (1/4")
the back cover of Vol. 3 (1/4")
Total: 3"
Posted by: Deb | July 31, 2008 at 14:06
Oh, and I figured out what I did on the snail riddle. I started at 1 instead of 0. doh.
Posted by: Deb | July 31, 2008 at 14:15
Mr. D:
You're right, you got me. The bookworm actually travels only a skosh more than three inches, depending on how the books were arranged. :)
Posted by: tgirsch | July 31, 2008 at 15:46
Yep, the worm journeyed three inches. :)
Posted by: Mr. D | July 31, 2008 at 15:53
Darnit. Still got it wrong. Why was I thinking that that worm had to go through 2 covers instead of 4?
Posted by: Brian | July 31, 2008 at 17:28
Actually, it's a fraction more than three inches, because you have three inches plus the width of two pages. :)
Posted by: tgirsch | July 31, 2008 at 23:35