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Prepare to tackle some of the toughest brain teasers that could come your way in job interviews and beyond. These puzzles are designed to push your cognitive abilities to the limit and give your brain a real workout.
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00:00A brain teaser is a great tool to challenge one's ability to think creatively and rationally.
00:05That's why many companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are known for offering some tough interview riddles for their candidates.
00:13However, in recent years, business giants reportedly gave up this practice.
00:18Google even called riddles a waste of time because they don't predict anything about the candidate's future performance
00:24and serve only for the sake of feeding the interviewer's ego.
00:28But it's still curious to know whether you could crack those riddles, right?
00:32So, let's find out.
00:35They say Microsoft and Amazon used this puzzle in their interviews.
00:40You're given eight identical-looking balls.
00:43One of them is heavier than the rest of the seven.
00:45You have simple mechanical scales and you can only make two measurements.
00:50Can you find the heavier ball?
00:57Let's name the balls 1 to 8.
00:59First, we should put the balls 1, 2, and 3 on the first side of the scales and balls 4,
01:055, and 6 on the second side.
01:07If these two groups have equal weight, it means that the heavier ball is either 7 or 8.
01:13In this case, all we need to do is weigh the remaining two balls and find out which is heavier.
01:19But let's talk about another scenario.
01:22Say, one of the groups of three balls on the scales is heavier.
01:26The desired ball must be here.
01:28Now, all you have to do is measure any two of these balls and reveal which one is heavier.
01:32If both balls have the same weight, then the desired ball is the one that remains unweighted.
01:39Today, Elon Musk reportedly doesn't interview each and every employee.
01:44But rumor has it that when he used to do that, he would ask this riddle.
01:49You're standing somewhere on the surface of Earth.
01:52You walk one mile south, then one mile west, and then one mile north.
01:56And you end up back at the same point where you started.
01:59Where are you?
02:07The most obvious reply is the North Pole.
02:10Congratulations, it's correct.
02:12But according to Musk's biographers, when he heard this answer, he would also ask,
02:17where else could you be?
02:18What do you say?
02:25Let's take a look at the circle of latitude near the South Pole that has a one-mile circumference.
02:31From any point on this circle, walking one mile west along this circle will bring you back to that same
02:37point.
02:38Therefore, any point a mile north of this circle of latitude is a possible solution to the riddle.
02:44There's another option.
02:45You might be anywhere that is five miles south of the equator.
02:49This way, your westerly and easterly routes rotate an equal amount around a latitude.
02:55Also, you might be a superhero who can teleport to any point, any time.
03:00But that's a whole different ballgame.
03:01In this case, SpaceX would probably hire you without even looking at your resume.
03:07Many job portals mention interview puzzles about crossing a river under various terms.
03:12Here's a tricky example of those riddles.
03:16Nine brothers live on an island.
03:18Their names are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
03:25They need to cross a river.
03:26They have a single boat that can take them from one bank to the other.
03:30But it can handle a maximum of three brothers at a time.
03:34Also, the boat cannot sail on its own, so one brother must steer it.
03:39There's one more condition.
03:40The sum of the same numbers of the brothers crossing the river must be a total square number.
03:47What's the minimal number of trips required to send all the brothers across the river?
03:58On the first trip, send brothers 2, 5, and 9.
04:01The sum of these numbers is 16, which is 4 times 4.
04:05Then send 9 back.
04:07This will be the second trip.
04:09On the third trip, send 3, 4, and 9.
04:12Again, the sum of their numbers is 16, which meets the conditions perfectly.
04:16On the fourth trip, send 9 back.
04:19And on the fifth trip, send 1, 7, and 8.
04:22The sum of these numbers is 16 again.
04:25On the sixth trip, return 1 to the island.
04:28And finally, on the seventh trip, send 1, 6, and 9.
04:33The sum of these numbers totals 16, which is still a square number.
04:37So, it takes at least 7 trips to send all the brothers across the river.
04:43Media reported that LinkedIn used the next riddle during its job interviews.
04:48You're in a room with 3 levers.
04:50There are 3 fountains in the next room.
04:52Each lever turns on one of the fountains.
04:55Your task is to figure out which lever controls which fountain.
04:59You can't see into one room from the other, and all the 3 fountains are off.
05:04You can inspect the other room only once.
05:06What would you do?
05:14Let's call the levers 1, 2, and 3.
05:16Leave the first lever off.
05:18Turn lever 2 on for 10 minutes.
05:21Now turn it off and quickly turn on lever 3.
05:24Go into the room.
05:26Find the fountain that is still wet but not working.
05:29That's the one controlled by lever 2.
05:31The one that's currently working is linked with lever 3.
05:34And the last one is linked with the first lever.
05:38This logical exercise from the 1960s is called the Wason Selection Task.
05:43Be careful, it's pretty tricky.
05:46Even math students fail to crack it.
05:49There are 4 cards.
05:51Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other side.
05:55There's only one rule.
05:56Every card with the letter D on one side should have the number 3 on the opposite side.
06:01Can you guess which card or cards should be turned over to check if the rule has been followed?
06:13You need to check 2 cards, D and 7.
06:17Most people suggest choosing cards D and 3, but this answer is wrong.
06:21Let's go through each card to understand the logic.
06:24The rule says, if a card has D, it must have 3 on the other side.
06:29So, we must check the first card to make sure there's a 3 on the opposite side.
06:34The second card shows the letter K.
06:37We know nothing about the other letters, so it doesn't matter what's on the other side,
06:42because neither case violates the rule.
06:44So, we can skip it.
06:46We know that some cards with the 3 digits will have the letter D on the other side,
06:50but we don't know if that's true for all cards with 3s.
06:54So, it makes no sense to check the third card.
06:58And finally, the fourth card.
07:00If we find the D letter on the other side, it would violate the rule,
07:04because there's a digit 7 on the opposite side.
07:06So, we should check only these two cards.
07:11Here's another informal variation of the previous game.
07:15There are four cards representing different persons.
07:18One side shows their favorite beverage, and the other side, their age.
07:22The city has a rule that anyone drinking lemonade must be over 20 years old.
07:27Which cards do you need to turn over to make sure the rule is followed?
07:38You only need to check the lemonade card and the card with number 16.
07:43Obviously, you need to make sure the lemonade drinking is over 20,
07:46and you need to make sure that the 16-year-old person doesn't drink lemonade.
07:50The coffee person can be any age, and the 25-year-old can legally drink lemonade.
07:56Most people can solve this riddle pretty quickly,
07:58and that's curious because, in fact, this task is similar to the previous one.
08:04This famous puzzle was designed to challenge one's ability to reason and see patterns.
08:10Three ants are in the corners of an equilateral triangle.
08:14Each ant is moving in a random direction along the edges of the triangle.
08:18What's the probability that none of the ants collide with the triangle?
08:28There's a 50% possibility of the ants never colliding,
08:31and a 50% chance that at least two of them can meet.
08:35All the ants can move in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
08:39This halves your first 50% chance of the never-meeting ants to a 25% chance.
08:46And here's an example of a tricky wording question.
08:50What two words, when combined, hold the most letters?
08:59Post and office.
09:03Kelly meets her good old college friend Jessica at the airport.
09:08Jessica says,
09:09I'm traveling abroad with my husband and his two co-workers.
09:12Come on, I'll introduce you.
09:14Can you guess which one of these three guys is Jessica's husband?
09:26Each guy has a separate mid-sized suitcase, except for the second guy.
09:30That's because his stuff is packed together with Jessica's in her large red suitcase.
09:36Rick and Nick are identical twins born in Seattle.
09:39Rick was born before Nick.
09:41But according to their birth certificates, Nick is older than Rick.
09:45How is this possible?
09:47How is this possible?
09:54Rick and Nick were born on the day when the switch from daylight savings time occurred.
09:59When Nick was born, the clock was set back one hour.
10:04Take your time and try to spot five differences between these two pictures.
10:08Well, have you found all five?
10:18Here they are.
10:21Let's make the task a little harder.
10:24What about these complicated interiors?
10:27Can you see five differences?
10:37Over here?
10:39Let's see if you can crack this one.
10:48Ice cube.
10:50How about changing the task a bit?
10:52Let's see if you can read this word.
11:02And the correct answer is mistake.
11:05How about this one?
11:07Can you read it?
11:16Romance.
11:17Ooh la la.
11:19I bet you can't recognize the next word.
11:21Can you?
11:30Notebook.
11:33Feeling dizzy already?
11:34Let's see if you can recognize this word.
11:38Let's see if you can recognize this word.
11:45Ultraviolet.
11:48Kyle is walking down the street.
11:50Suddenly, he sees a multi-story building on fire.
11:53An old lady is screaming,
11:55Please, save my cat!
11:56I left it in my apartment!
11:59Firefighters may not be able to save it,
12:01so Kyle decides to do it himself.
12:03Fortunately, he manages to jump into the window.
12:06Now he's inside her apartment.
12:08He sees three doors leading to different rooms.
12:11But he doesn't have time to check each of them.
12:13And the fire is getting closer.
12:15Where's the cat?
12:24The door is scratched at the bottom.
12:26Those are claw marks.
12:27The cat must be there when Kyle opens the door.
12:31Tilda has just moved to a new city.
12:34Urban legends say it's full of wizards.
12:37She finds a great house and buys it.
12:39Three guys knock on our door to greet the new neighbor.
12:42One of them is a good wizard.
12:44Another one is pure evil.
12:46And the last one is an ordinary human.
12:48Can you spot who is who?
12:58The second guy looks pretty innocent.
13:00But he's trying to make Tilda drink cursed coffee.
13:03And the third guy brought her very unusual lilies.
13:06They should have six petals, not eight.
13:09So, he probably bewitched the flowers because he's a good wizard.
13:13As for the first guy, he's just an ordinary human despite his witchy style.
13:19And now, let's see if you can crack this rebus.
13:29The correct answer is adverb.
13:33Can you guess the meaning of this code?
13:43Once upon a time.
13:45How about this one?
13:54Middle-aged.
13:56Can you figure out the meaning of this rebus?
14:07Lucky break.
14:09Here's the next one.
14:10Any ideas?
14:12Any ideas?
14:19The answer is pretty literal.
14:21Forget it.
14:23Let's see if you can crack this one.
14:33Eye shadow.
14:35Here's the next one.
14:44Excuse me.
14:46Any ideas about this rebus?
14:57Potatoes.
14:58Or potatoes.
15:00What do you say about this one?
15:10One in a million.
15:13Paul wakes up in a secret lab.
15:15Suddenly, a creepy voice announces,
15:17The only way to escape is to open the door.
15:21Good luck.
15:22Paul finds six buttons on the door.
15:25Can you guess the right order to press them?
15:35All Paul needs to do is to make the word escape
15:38from the first letters of each emoji.
15:40Therefore, he should press the buttons in the following order.
15:44Eye, strawberry, cat, apple, pencil, and ear.
15:49Can you spot three odd things here?
16:00There's a shark swimming in the fountain.
16:02It's summertime, but this tree is covered with snow.
16:05And this duck is wearing sunglasses.
16:07Now, you don't see that every day.
16:10Diana brings her legendary lemon cake to the local bakery contest.
16:14She leaves her masterpiece on the table among other people's cakes.
16:19The judges will be here in 15 minutes to appraise them.
16:23Diana goes to the bathroom.
16:24Then she comes back and sees that someone crushed her cake into tiny pieces.
16:29She interrogates three contestants.
16:32Oliver says,
16:33I was the first one who arrived here.
16:35I put my cake in the fridge to protect it from the heat.
16:38And then I went to explore the fair.
16:41Roxy says,
16:43I overslept today and arrived just now.
16:45Thank goodness I managed to get here in time.
16:47I don't know who did it.
16:49And finally, Amy says,
16:51I'm a famous blogger.
16:53I've been streaming stories for my subscribers.
16:55You can check if you don't believe me.
16:58So who ruined Diana's cake?
17:07Take a look at the video taken by Amy.
17:10There's Oliver in the background and he's crushing Diana's cake.
17:14Oliver, come on.
17:17Victor takes a bus to go on a business trip to another state.
17:21He's very tired, so he takes a nap.
17:24After a while, he wakes up.
17:26Oh no, someone stole his antique fountain pen.
17:29It's a very expensive gift from his grandfather.
17:33Victor questions three passengers nearby.
17:35Nina says,
17:37We're in the 21st century, bro.
17:38No one uses pens anymore.
17:40Why would I steal it?
17:42Sarah says,
17:43Sorry, I was staring out the window and listening to music.
17:46And Frank says,
17:47I don't know what happened.
17:49I got blind eight years ago.
17:51Who's the thief?
18:00Nina, she hid the pen in her shirt pocket and the ink leaked.
18:06Henry is a ceramist.
18:07He runs a small business.
18:09Henry has just finished creating a fancy clay vase.
18:12He leaves it to dry in the storage room and goes outdoors to get some coffee.
18:17An hour later, Henry returns and checks the vase.
18:20Someone definitely touched it because the shape is different.
18:24Henry is furious.
18:26He questions three suspects.
18:28Ted, the manager, says,
18:29I sold two of your clay dishes online,
18:32so I entered the storage room to grab them and prepare for delivery.
18:36Sorry, I didn't pay attention to any other items.
18:39Hannah, the SMM manager, says,
18:42I entered the storage room three hours ago to take some cute pictures for your social media.
18:47The vase was fine.
18:48I have no idea who did it.
18:51And Chuck, the janitor, says,
18:53I entered the storage room to wash the floor.
18:56I didn't touch any of your works.
18:58Who's lying?
19:07Hannah, three hours ago, the vase wasn't finished yet,
19:11so she couldn't see it in the storage room.
19:14Can you spot any odd details in this supermarket?
19:25Here they are.
19:27What about this picture?
19:29Can you find anything weird?
19:38Who puts fish in a toaster?
19:42Can you find any mistakes here?
19:52Hello?
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