Friday, May 22, 2009

Riddle of the Day

How can half of 12 be 7?


This was submitted by Nina Renner. Nina, if you want me to link your name to anything, please let me know.

45 comments:

  1. If you have 12 as a base instead of 10.

    Then the "1" would be worth 12
    The "2" would still be worth 2
    Adding them gives 14
    And the "7" would still be worth 7.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also in Roman numerals. Because 12 = XII in Roman numerals
    If you cut the XII in half across the middle, it becomes 2 VII's, which is equal to 7.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Durrock's answer made more sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Durrock's right. my dad gave me this riddle once. the answer's just like what he say

    ReplyDelete
  5. In base 12, like 81811 said. Also as an optical illusion type problem, cover up the bottom half and all you see is the VII.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think Durrock has it. I would have never thought of that. I skipped Roman Numerals growing up...oops!

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you take the morse code for 12, flip it vertically, then cut that in half, it is identical to 7's horizontal code. That is how half of 12 can be 7.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Durrock is right
    but please write this one

    You have 24 kg of sugar. You have a lot of bags. You have a scale but no weights. How do you measure 4.5 kg of sugar?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I cheated my way through math... I'll go with whomever's answer is right! Words are my thing.... not numbers and letters mixed with numbers don't count. TGIF

    ReplyDelete
  10. If you have an extremely large value of 12 and half it, I think it should work.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh wow, I would never have gotten this one...I kept trying to count letters or something, but the numeral thing is pretty clever.

    Here's one for you:
    What is greater than God,
    more evil than the devil,
    the poor have it,
    the rich need it,
    and if you eat it, you die?

    (I know it goes off of the assumption of certain beliefs, but it's a good riddle)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nothing is greater than God
    Nothing is more evil than the devil
    The poor have nothing
    The rich need nothing
    and if you eat nothing, you'll die

    ReplyDelete
  13. kira: the answer's nothing

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am with Durrock! Half (-cut )of the Roman numeral for the number 12, XII, is VII, the equivalent for it is the number 7 in Arabic numerals.

    ReplyDelete
  15. 81811 AND Durrock are both right. I thought of Durrock's answer before looking at the comments, but I appreciate 81811's answer because (a) it's correct and (b) a lot of people are implying it's wrong, but may not understand bases other than 12 :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I meant bases other than 10.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Haha, I'm so confused!
    I've always been awful at riddles, doh.

    ReplyDelete
  18. durrock is right.so tricky.
    try this
    http://unscrambletheletters.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  19. BloggerIO: Use the scale to split the 24 kg into 2 portions of 12. Split one of those into 6 and 6, then one of those into 3 and 3. Take the other 6 that you didn't use, add one of the 3 kg portions to it. Then split that in 2 portions to get 4.5 kg.

    ReplyDelete
  20. i think that all three answers for half of 12 are right (12 as a base, roman numerals, and brail) :P

    ReplyDelete
  21. well, a baker's dozen is 13 so if you divide that, one half would be bigger - hence, 7...

    and if you believe that....

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have to go with Durrock's answer because I can't come up with my own answer when it involves numbers :P

    ReplyDelete
  23. the of 12 is 6.5, if you estimate it the answer is 7!!!! gets

    ReplyDelete
  24. hey i have a good one for you please respond on my blog and i will give it to you

    ReplyDelete
  25. aaaa.. okay.. roman thing made sense..
    but how about if we divide musical notes into two groups- natural notes and sharp/flat notes..
    then if we cut out 'half' the thing (sharp notes), we're left with seven natural notes!!

    stupid logic i know.. just an option! :P

    ReplyDelete
  26. I think the explanation of Durrock is great!
    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am basically very fond of working out puzzles and crosswords. But these are tough. I cannot seem to answer even a single question.
    I think you are one of the few blogs that I think really deserve the blogs of note!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I can run, but cannot walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?

    Give me food and I will live. Give me water and I will die. What am I?

    ReplyDelete
  29. I'm terrible at riddles and not too great at logic either. But I cannot understand how you can halve the "X" and not "II"?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Tara: your second one is fire. =]

    ReplyDelete
  31. yeah the roman numerals work sans serif lol

    ReplyDelete
  32. I like the rounding error answer, but the way I've seen this before is half of XII is VII, or half of 12 is 7 in roman numerals.

    Works best in a classroom with a chalkboard.

    ReplyDelete
  33. XII cut in half is VII

    ReplyDelete
  34. Roman Numerals is more logical.

    I remember one in gradeschool that was kind of like this:

    19 - 1 = 20

    XIX - I = XX

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  35. I'll repeat my previous entry (kind of). I ran this by my math teacher colleagues, and they all agreed that the Base 12 answer was the most clever.

    It's technically the only correct answer. It's just that most people don't understand bases other than 10.

    I think I'll do this as a warm-up in Algebra class sometime. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Iagree with all of you but i think the roundin is wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  37. i say half of 12 is 7

    ReplyDelete
  38. the answer is 12 in roman numerals is XII and if you draw a horizontal line through it you get VII which is 7

    ReplyDelete
  39. This may be a stretch.
    You have 12 children in a room, and 6 of them are age 7.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Count from 12 to 1 u will see that 7 will be the half

    ReplyDelete
  41. You have 12 children, 6 of them are 7 years old

    ReplyDelete

Leave your answer or, if you want to post a question of your own, send me an e-mail. Look in the about section to find my e-mail address. If it's new, I'll post it soon.

Please don't leave spam or 'Awesome blog, come visit mine' messages. I'll delete them soon after.

Enter your Email and join hundreds of others who get their Question of the Day sent right to their mailbox


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz


The Lamplight Manor Puzz 3-D
Are you looking for a particular puzzle, riddle, question, etc? Or do you want to find the answer today rather than wait till tomorrow!
Google