Math Riddles

 

Question: The warden of a circular jail is extremely hyper one day so he begins running around opening cells. The jail has 100 cells numbered from 1 to 100. He runs in a circle and opens all of the cells. Next he runs around and closes every 2nd cell (starting with cell 2, 4, 6 , etc.). If a cell is open he closes it and if a cell is closed he opens it. When he finishes running by all 100 cells he opens/closes every 3rd cell (starting with 3, 6, 9, 12 etc.), then every 4th cell (starting with 4, 8, 12, etc.) and so on. He does this until he goes around and only changes the 100th cell.

When he is done what cells will be open?


Question: A smart landscaper is given the task of placing 4 trees so that they are all the same distant away from each other.

How does he do this?

Question: A farmer has three fields. One of them has 3 bundles of hay, another has 4, and the last has 5. How many would he have in the first field if he combined all of them in that field?

Question: You have a bag with 'N' strings in it. You randomly grab two ends and tie them together until there are no more loose ends.

In the end, what is the expected number of loops (strings tied to their own end)?

Question: Tom wants to send Sally an expensive ring through the mail because they live thousands of miles apart. The only problem is that everything sent through the mail is stolen unless there is a lock put on it. Both Tom and Sally have plenty of locks and keys but they don't have any of the same locks or keys.

How can Tom send Sally the ring without it getting stolen?