Solving math puzzles can turn math into something genuinely fun. It doesn’t just boost your mood—it also sharpens your creativity and problem-solving skills. Plus, nothing beats the satisfaction of cracking a challenging riddle all by yourself.

CHALLENGE ONE

A duck was given $9,
a spider was given $36,
a bee was given $27.
Based off of this information, how much money would be given to a cat?

Answer:

This question bases itself on the number of legs a duck, a spider, a bee and a cat have generally. A duck has two legs, so dividing $9 by 2, we get $4.5. That’s the value each leg has for each creature. We can verify this, by looking at how a spider has eight legs, and 8×4.5=36, which is the amount of money given to the spider. Similarly, a bee has six legs, and 6×4.5=27. Now that we’ve verified that the money is given based on the number of legs each creature has, and that each leg is worth $4.5, a cat would be given 4×4.5=$18, because a cat has four legs.

So the answer is $18.

CHALLENGE TWO

Seven people arrive at a meeting. Each person shakes hands once with each other. How many handshakes were there?

Answer:

So, you have 7 people. Each person will shake hands 6 times — once with each other person.
So, you might think that the number of handshakes will be 7×6 =42.
But, remember that every handshake has two participants. We have counted the handshakes twice. So, it’s actually half of that: 21.

CHALLENGE THREE

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?

Answer:

There are 3 possible solutions
51 and 15,
24 and 42,
60 and 6.