Numerical Reasoning
Numeral Reasoning and Lateral Thinking
Lateral Thinking
Lateral Thinking
Lateral Thinking
100
What is the missing number? 83 - 17 = 56 + ?
10
100
You get a wage increase of 4% plus an extra five pounds per week. Your present wages are 250 pounds per week. What will your new wage be in pounds?
265
100
A graduate applying for pilot training with a major airline was asked what he would do if, after a long-haul flight to Sydney, he met the captain wearing a dress in the hotel bar. What would you do?
Offer to buy her a drink! The captain was of course a woman. Many airlines are now hot on equal opportunities and a candidate who had difficulty envisaging that an airline captain might be female would not go very far!
100
The 60th and 62nd British Prime Ministers of the UK had the same mother and father, but were not brothers. How do you account for this?
It's the same person. Churchill was Prime Minister twice, from 1940 to 45 and from 1951 to 55.
100
A window cleaner is cleaning the windows on the 25th floor of a skyscraper, when he slips and falls. He is not wearing a safety harness and nothing slows his fall, yet he suffered no injuries. Explain.
He was cleaning the inside of the windows.
200
What is the missing number? 56 / 7 = ? - 5
13
200
A driver drives 8 km South then 6 km W. and 2 km S. again. She then drives 3 km E. to avoid a traffic jam before driving 6 km N. How many kilometres is she from her starting point?
5
200
A man built a rectangular house, each side having a southern view. He spotted a bear. What colour was the bear?
White. Only at the North Pole can all four walls be facing South.
200
How many birthdays does a typical woman have?
One.
200
John's mother has 3 children, one is named April, one is named May. What is the third one named?
John.
300
What is the missing number? 20 / 0.8 = ? 14; 15; 16; 24 or 25
25
300
Name three consecutive days in English without using the words Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow or Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day.
300
If you were alone in a deserted house at night, and there was an oil lamp, a candle and firewood and you only have one match, which would you light first?
The match.
300
Is it legal for a man to marry his widow's sister?
No, because he's dead.
300
You are running in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?
Second.
400
Which is the largest fraction: 3/4 7/8 4/5 7/9 7/10
7/8
400
A man and his son were in a car crash. The father was killed and the son was taken to hospital with serious injuries. The examining doctor exclaims: "But, this is my son!". How can this be?
It's the mother.
400
What can you put in a wooden box that would make it lighter? The more of them you put in the lighter it becomes, yet the box stays empty.
Holes.
400
If you drove a coach leaving Canterbury with 35 passengers, dropped off 6 and picked up 2 at Faversham, picked up 9 more at Sittingbourne, dropped off 3 at Chatham, and then drove on to arrive in London 40 minutes later, what colour are the driver's eyes?
The colour of your eyes - you are the driver.
400
In the same race, if you overtake the last person, then you are in what position?
You can't overtake the last person.
500
An aircraft flies 930 miles in 75 minutes. How many miles does it fly in 4 hours 45 minutes assuming a constant speed?
3534m
500
You have to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires The second is full of tigers that haven’t eaten in 3 years. The third is full of assassins with loaded machine guns. Which room should you choose?
The second room. Tigers that haven’t eaten in three years are dead!
500
Which side of a cat contains the most hair?
The outside.
500
A woman lives on the tenth floor of a block of flats. Every morning she takes the lift down to the ground floor and goes to work. In the evening, she gets into the lift, and, if there is someone else in the lift she goes back to her floor directly. Otherwise, she goes to the eighth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to her flat. How do you explain this?
The woman is of small stature and couldn't reach the upper lift buttons.
500
What's unusual about this paragraph? Just how quickly you can find out what is so funny about it. It looks fairly ordinary and plain that you might think nothing is wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly curious though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you could just find out.
The letter e doesn't appear once in the paragraph.
M
e
n
u