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Math Riddles for Kids and Adults to Solve
Math riddles can be a fun and engaging way to teach and learn mathematical concepts. Here are a few ways math riddles can be useful to teachers and students:
- Enhancing problem-solving skills: Math riddles often require students to think creatively and apply problem-solving skills to find the solution. This can help students develop critical thinking skills that are useful not just in math but in many other areas of life.
- Encouraging persistence: Some math riddles can be quite challenging, and students may need to work through several attempts before finding the solution. This can help students develop persistence and a willingness to keep trying even when things are difficult.
- Increasing motivation and engagement: Math riddles can be a fun and engaging way to learn math, which can help motivate students to learn more about the subject.
- Providing opportunities for collaboration: Many math riddles can be solved in groups, which can provide opportunities for students to collaborate and learn from each other.
- Making math more accessible: Math riddles can help make math more accessible to students who may be struggling with traditional approaches to learning the subject. By providing a fun and engaging way to learn math, students may become more interested in the subject and more willing to engage with it.
Do you love math? Love numbers? Love the thrill of problem-solving and the quiet satisfaction of finding that one right answer? If so, these math puzzles and riddles in mathematics are just for you!
Riddle:
How do you make the number 7 even without addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division?
Answer: Drop the "S" and "seven" becomes "even".
Riddle:
How can you write down eight eights so that they add up to one thousand?
Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.
Riddle:
How can you take 2 from 5 and leave 4?
Answer: F I V E
Remove the 2 letters F and E from five and you have IV which is the Roman numeral for four.
Riddle:
How many sides does a circle have?
Answer: Two. The inside and the outside.
Riddle:
How many times can you subtract the number 5 from 25?
Answer: Once, because after you subtract 5 from 25 it becomes 20.
Riddle:
When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height. Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was. If the tree grew by five centimeters each year, how much higher would the nail be?
Answer: The nail would be at the same height since trees grow at their tops.
Riddle:
I am four times as old as my daughter. In 20 years time I shall be twice as old as her.
How old are we now?
Answer: I am 40 and my daughter is 10.
Riddle:
What did one math book say to the other math book?
Answer: Do you want to hear my problems?
Riddle:
Lily is a lilypad in a small pond. Lilly doubles her size each day, On the 20th day she covers the whole pond. On what day was Lily half the size of the pond?
Answer: Day 19, it's not 10 because on day 20 she doubled from day 19, so 19 must be half the size of the pond.
Riddle:
There is a clothing store in Bartlesville. The owner has devised his own method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, socks cost $25, a tie costs $15 and a blouse costs $30. Using the method, how much would a pair of underwear cost?
Answer: $45. The pricing method consists of charging $5 for each letter required to spell the item.
Riddle:
What did the triangle say to the circle?
Answer: You’re pointless.
Riddle:
One is to three as three is to five and five is to four and four is the magic number.
What is the pattern?
Answer: One has three letters in the word three has five letters in it five has four letters and four has four letters in it (if you try more numbers they will always come back to the number four: so four is the magic number)
Riddle:
If a boy blows 18 bubbles, Then pops 6 eats 7 and then He pops 5 and blows 1. How many are left?
Answer: 1.
Riddle:
The ages of a father and son add up to 66. The father's age is the son's age reversed. How old could they be? (3 possible solutions).
Answer: 51 and 15. 42 and 24. 60 and 06.
Riddle:
Pick a number from 1-10, multiply it by 2, add ten, divide it by 2, now subtract the number that you have from the number you picked. What is it?
Answer: Do you have 5?
Riddle:
What two whole, positive numbers have a one-digit answer when multiplied and a two-digit answer when added?
Answer: 1 and 9.
Riddle:
You want to boil a two-minute egg. If you only have a three-minute timer (hourglass), a four-minute timer, and a five-minute timer, how can you boil the egg for only two minutes?
Answer: Once the water is boiling, turn the three-minute timer and five-minute timer over. When the three-minute timer runs out, put the egg in the boiling water. When the five-minute timer runs out, two minutes have elapsed and it is time to take the egg out of the water. You don't need the four-minute timer for this riddle.
Riddle:
81 x 9 = 801. What must you do to make the this equation true?
Answer: Turn it upside down. 108 = 6 x 18.
Riddle:
A mother has 6 girls and each of them has a brother. How many children are there?
Answer: 7. Each girl has the same brother.
Riddle:
How much will a 38° angle measure when looked at under a microscope that magnifies ten times?
Answer: It will still be 38°.
