Thursday, November 08, 2007

Brainteaser: Legs in the Bus?


I was sent the following brainteaser a few weeks ago. It's a pretty challenging math problem; it is not a trick question.

  • There are 7 girls on a bus

  • Each girl has 7 backpacks

  • In each backpack, there are 7 big cats

  • For every big cat there are 7 little cats


  • So how many legs are there in the bus?



    Leave a comment with your name and your answer. The correct answer will be posted HERE next week.



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    18 comments:

    David Sullivan said...

    406 legs

    iloveakiwi.com said...

    Are there any boys on the bus? How many kiddos in TOTAL are there on the bus?

    P.S... please don't answer cos I probably STILL couldn't figure out the answer, given I don't have enough fingers and toes. www.iloveakiwi.com

    iloveakiwi.com said...

    shit, I forgot to account for the fact that big cats and little cats have legs to.

    epikles said...

    7 girls (14 legs)
    49 (7x7) backpacks
    316 (49x7) big cats (1464 legs)
    2212 (316x7) little cats (8848 legs)
    10326 legs

    David Sullivan said...

    Yeah, what Tom said.

    David Sullivan said...

    10,990 after recalculating

    plez... said...

    thanks to you guys (david, anitra, and tom) for dropping by and "teasing your brain".

    i will post the correct answer NEXT WEEK (hey, i gotta come up with a blog entry every day this month)! *smile*

    D-Place said...

    Girls -
    7 girls =14 legs

    Cats -
    1 Big cat has 7 cats = 8 cats
    7 groups of 8 cats per backpack = 56 cats
    56 cats per bacpack = 224 legs
    7 backpacks of 224 cat legs = 1568 legs

    Total # of legs 1582 legs

    If there is a bus driver for the 7 little girls then it's 1584 legs excluding any other passengers.

    Lisa Johnson said...

    I figured 10,990 legs.

    7 girls = 14 legs

    49 backpacks x 7 cats = 343 cats

    343 big cats x 4 legs = 1,372 big cat legs

    343 big cats x 7 = 2,401 little cats

    2,401 x 4 = 9,604 little cat legs

    9,604 little cat legs + 1,372 big cat legs + 14 girl legs = 10,990 legs total.

    Lisa Johnson said...

    Hmmm. I just noticed the issue of the bus driver. Well, if it's sort of a trick question, then adding in the driver's assumed two legs would be 10,992. Otherwise, I stick with my original 10,990.

    epikles said...

    yes, well 49x7=343 not 316 so i got that part wrong, the recalculators got it right, i think!

    plez... said...

    ok, y'all... the only people on the bus are the little girls with their backpacks: no little boys! no bus driver!

    LOL!

    Karen said...

    I come up with 10,990.

    CapCity said...

    this is a trick - i say there are NO legs on the bus - buses don't have legs;-).

    D-Place said...

    Ohhhh shooot I didn't read this right...I didn't see that each girl had 7 backpacks. LOL...why would they have 7 backpacks. These are some cruel little girls to be putting all those cats in backpacks.

    I think this is a trick too...and the answer is there are no legs IN the bus. All the girls on on it not in it..LMAO. why did i even try this..LOL

    Unknown said...

    And technically the problem said the girls were ON the bus, then later it asks how many were IN the bus. So I'm going with ZERO. :D

    (10990 with no driver, or 10990 with a legless driver, hehe...)

    Stick said...

    10990 legs. Have to separate the amount of legs for the big cats and the kittens.

    I like kittens.

    Josh Holland said...

    10990 (10992 if there is a bus driver).