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Puzzle Test

1. If AA + BB + CC = ABC, what are A, B, and C? The digits are all distinct and
positive. Can you figure it out?

Answer: A 1 B 9 C 8

2. You have 10 boxes of balls (each ball weighing exactly 10 gm) with one box with
defective balls (each one of the defective balls weigh 9 gm). You are given an
electronic weighing machine and only one chance at it. How will find out which box
has the defective balls?

Answer: For convenience sake, let's name the boxes from 1 to 10. In order to solve
this problem, you have to leverage the fact that you know exactly what each good ball
is supposed to weigh and what each defective ball is supposed to weigh. Many of us
instinctively will take one ball out of each box and try to find a way to make it work
but the trick to take different number of balls from each box.

The number of balls you pick from each bag is equal to the box number. For example,
pick 1 ball from box 1, 2 balls from box 2 and so on. In total you will have 55 balls. If
all of the boxes have good balls, then the total weight of these balls would be 550gm.

If box 1 has defective balls, then the total weight should be 1gm less than expected
(only one ball weighing 9 gm). If box 2 has defective balls, then the total weight
should be 2gm less than expected (two balls weighing 9 gm). So once you weigh the
set of chosen balls, find out the difference between the total weight and the expected
weight. That number represents the box number which contains the defective balls.

3. A girl found that she had a 56 cms strip of ribbon. She could cut a cm off every
second. How long would it take for her to cut 56 pieces? She can not fold the strip and
also, can not stack two or more strips and cut them together.

Answer: To get 56 pieces, the girl will have to put only 55 cuts. i.e. she can cut 56
pieces in 55 seconds. After getting 54 pieces, she will have a 2 cms long piece. She
can cut it into two with just a one cut in 1 second. Hence, total of 55 seconds.

4. A man drove his Innova car all the way from Shimla to Delhi only to discover at the
end of the trip that he had a punctured tyre from the very start. Yet his Innova car was
not at all affected by it? How is this possible?

Answer: Punctured tyre must be a spare tyre.

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