Dividing the Land



A dying old man wants to divide his entire land between his only two sons. Since his only wish is to treat them as equal as both of them have been too good to him, he wants to divide his land equally between them.

The problem is that the land is significantly irregular in shape and thus there is no choice of cutting them in two equal halves.

How can he divide the land in a manner that both of his sons will be happy?

Ah! Click here to read the solution.

Simple. All he need to do is ask one of his son to divide the land in two part and tell him that the other son will have the choice of selecting one of those two halves. In this way both children will be happy.



Brain Teaser

The Monk Stairs



A monk has a very specific ritual for climbing up the steps to the temple.

First he climbs up to the middle step and meditates for 1 minute.
Then he climbs up 8 steps and faces east until he hears a bird singing.
Then he walks down 12 steps and picks up a pebble.
He takes one step up and tosses the pebble over his left shoulder.
Now, he walks up the remaining steps three at a time which only takes him 9 paces.

How many steps are there?

Ah! Click here to read the solution.

There are 49 steps.

He climbs halfway, which is step 25. He hears the bird singing on step 33. He picks up the pebble on the 21st step and tosses it on the 22nd step. The remaining 27 steps are taken three at a time which is 9 paces. 🙂 Not easy this one 😛



Brain Teaser