Brain Teasers to Build Critical Thinking Skills by Safarova Kris

Author:Safarova, Kris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FIRMSConsulting LLC
Published: 2022-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

QUESTION 66: I am the size of an elephant, but I weigh nothing. What am I?

ANSWER: An elephant’s shadow.

EXPLANATION: The way that the speaker is compared specifically to an elephant is the main clue that you need to pick up on in order to solve this teaser. There are very few things specifically the size of an elephant, and none of them are completely weightless. You could try to come up with something approximately the same size—a small cloud, perhaps, or a gigantic bundle of balloons—but approximation shouldn’t be the goal when you’re working with brain teasers. There’s only one thing exactly the size of an elephant: that elephant’s own shadow at the right angle.

QUESTION 67: What is impossible to hold in your left hand, but easy to hold in your right hand?

ANSWER: Your left hand.

EXPLANATION: We automatically think of the two hemispheres of our body as equal which is why this brain teaser might seem baffling at first. How could something be impossible to hold in one hand but easy to hold in the other? If you’re right-handed, your mind might jump to something like a pencil, but that doesn’t work; plenty of people are left-handed or ambidextrous, and “impossible” is a stretch even for those who aren’t. Trying to brainstorm objects of particular size or weight is also a dead end. The only thing your right hand can hold that your left hand cannot is your left hand—it’s impossible for a hand to hold itself.

QUESTION 68: What do the words “job,” “herb,” and “polish” have in common?

ANSWER: They’re pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized.

EXPLANATION: This is an example of the importance of visualization—not just when it comes to picturing scenarios but also words themselves. You should be able to evaluate a situation on all levels and make the necessary adjustments in order to detect patterns that may not be immediately apparent. In this case, if you experiment with capitalization, you’ll find that these three words can also be proper nouns—and, when they are, they’re pronounced differently. “Job” and “Polish” have long “O” sounds, and the H in “Herb” is no longer silent.

QUESTION 69: You have a bucket. Each day, the amount of water in the bucket doubles. It takes 20 days for the bucket to be full. How long does it take for it to be half full?

ANSWER: 19 days.

EXPLANATION: Exponential growth is a hard thing to wrap your head around; even when you feel like you’re familiar with it. For instance, think about this classic brain teaser: Would you rather start with one cent doubled every day for a month, or just take a flat rate of one million dollars? The answer is shockingly unintuitive, but true nonetheless—if you choose the former option, you’ll end up with over five million dollars after 30 days. In the case of the bucket, you need to think a little bit backwards. If you’re doubling the amount of water every day, that means that day 20 contains double the amount of day 19.

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