Brain Teasers and Puzzles 

Workings

Hint
Look at the vowels (AEIOU).

Answer
7.00pm.

Each vowel (AEIOU) of the country is worth 2 hours, and each consonant is worth 3 hours.

The time shown is the number of hours past midnight of the return trip.

Workings

Hint
How many rooms can Alex clear in 36 hours?

Answer
12 hours.

Reasoning
In 36 hours, Alex could empty 2 lots of bookshelves, Billie could also empty 2 lots of bookshelves, and Drew could refill 1 lot of bookshelves.

So, 2 + 2 – 1 = 3 lots of bookshelves in 36 hours. Which is 12 hours for one lot of bookshelves.

Alternative Reasoning
Alex and Billie can each empty ¹/₁₈ of the bookshelves in 1 hour, but Drew will refill ¹/₃₆ of the bookshelves in one hour.

So in one hour we have ¹/₁₈ + ¹/₁₈ – ¹/₃₆ = ¹/₁₂.

So it would take 12 hours to empty the bookshelves.

Workings

Hint
The top number is 186.

Answer
186 x 39 = 7254.

Workings

Hint
What's a mathematical way to describe placing a 9 at the beginning?

Answer
23,076.

Reasoning
Placing the 9 at the beginning is equivalent to adding 900,000 (for example, 12,345 + 900,000 becomes 912,345).

Placing the 9 at the end is equivalent to multiplying by 10 and adding 9 (for example, 12,345 x 10 + 9 becomes 123,459).

Let's call the unknown number k, and we know that one of these numbers is 4 times the other, so:

 k + 900,000 = 4 x (10k + 9)

 k + 900,000 = 40k + 36

900,000 – 36 = 40k – k

     899,964 = 39k

899,964 ÷ 39 = k

Therefore, k = 23,076.

Double-Checking
923,076 = 4 x 230,769.