Below are three numeric puzzles for you to practice. 1st and 2nd questions are similar in nature and could confuse you at times. Third one is a super simple question but could confuse you at times especially when it follows questions similar to first two questions.
Question 1
Amar gave Akbar and Antony as many rupees as they had. At this stage Akbar gave Amar and Antony as much as they had. Finally Antony gave Amar and Akbar as much as they had. Now all of them had Rs.7200 left with them. How much money did Antony have in the beginning?
a) Rs.7200 b) Rs.6300 c) Rs.3600 d) 11700
Answer : c) Rs. 3600
Solution :
We have to work out such problems in reverse order. The solution is below :
All the three friends finally have Rs. 7200 left with them. Before the friends had equal money, Antony had given Amar and Akbar as much as they had. i.e. Antony would had given Rs. 3600 each. This assumption is correct because, only if they had Rs.3600 with them prior to Antony giving them another Rs.3600 each, the totals of other friends would had summed to 7200 after Antony given them.If Antony gave 3600 each, he would had actually lost Rs.7200 from his purse. Hence, before giving 3600 each, Antony would be having Rs.7200 (final amount) + another 7200 (which he split and gave to other friends) = Rs.14400.
But before Antony gave 3600 each, Akbar had given Amar and Antony as much as they had. Similar to the argument in previous paragraph, Akbar would had given Rs. 1800 to Amar and Rs. 7200 to Antony. Hence prior to Akbar giving to Amar and Antony, Amar would have had Rs.1800 and Antony Rs. 7200
But before Akbar gave Amar Rs. 1800 and Antony Rs. 7200, Amar had given to Akbar and Antony as much as they had. Going by similar arguments in previous two paragraphs, we can easily infer that Amar would have had Rs. 11700 to begin with and Akbar would have had Rs. 6300 and Antony Rs. 3600.
No problem if you were slightly confused by the explanation above. To make life easier below is a simple tabular form representation of money present with each of them before every event of giving in reverse order.
(in rupees) Amar Akbar Antony Now 7200 7200 7200 Before Antony giving 3600 3600 14400 Before Akbar giving 1800 12600 7200 Before Amar giving 11700 6300 3600
Question 2
Akshay Kumar gave Sharukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor certain number of apples equal to the number they had. Sharukh Khan gave Akshay Kumar and Ranbir Kapoor apples as many as they had. Then Ranbir gave both Akshay Kumar and Sharukh Khan as many apples as they had. Finally each of them had 80 apples. How many apples did Sharukh Khan have initially?
a) 130 b) 70 c) 40 d) none of these.
Answer : b) 70
Solution :
(This question is similar to the first question. This question is in similar model to enhance your practice in solving these types of questions as they could be confusing at times.)
Below is the simplest tabular solution as we did for the I problem. We would recommend you to do it on your own and cross check with the below solution.
(no. of apples) Akshay Kumar Sharukh Khan Ranbir Kapoor Finally 80 80 80 Before Ranbir Kapoor giving 40 40 160 Before Sharukh Khan Giving 20 140 80 Before Akshay Kumar Giving 130 70 40
Question 3
Ambal, Bhagya and Chenna started a game with 360,180 and 90 cards respectively. Ambal gave Baghya and Chenna as many cards as they had in the first round. In the second round Baghya gave Ambal and Chenna as many cards as they had. At the end of second round how many cards did each of them possess? (in the order Ambal, Bhagya and Chenna)
a) 180,360, 90 b) 90,180,360 c) 180.90,360 d) none of these.
Answer : c) 180, 90, 360
Solution :
Upon reading 1st and 2nd questions, one might be mislead to think this could be a similar problem where one has to work in reverse order. However this is a much easier Super - Simple question which requires a straightforward approach (instead of reverse order). When asked alone this is a simple question. But when this follows questions similar to 1st and 2nd, this could mislead you.
However easy it may be, here is your solution.
Ambal Baghya Chenna Initially 360 180 90 I round 90 360 180 II round 180 90 360