April 19, 2020

Occasional Puzzles - Feel the burn

Today's Puzzle

You have two ropes that each burn for one hour. Given these two ropes and a way to light them, how do you measure 45 minutes? Do not assume that the two ropes are identical or that they burn evenly.

Stay tuned for the answer in the next email!

Yesterday's Puzzle

Move one matchstick to correct the equation:

[SPOILER] Answer to Yesterday's Puzzle

Take the lower left matchstick in the 2 and move it to the right to turn the 2 into a 3. This makes the equation correct.

One reader also suggested an ingenious alternate solution: simply take any matchstick from the left side of the equation that leaves a valid number, then place it over the equals sign to create a not equals sign. Points to Neil for creativity!