Number Crunchers
If a:b = 3:2 and b:c = 4:5, then what is the value of a:b:c?
6:4:5
Make the value of b same in both ratios.
In a Marvel-style multiverse, there are 10 universes. In 7 of them, Tony Stark survives. What’s the probability that in a randomly chosen universe, he's alive and a billionaire? (Assume 90% of the time he's rich.)
63%
P(alive and billionaire) = 0.7 × 0.9 = 0.63
You’re in Himachal Pradesh and see a sign: “Welcome to _________ — Winter Capital.”
Confused, you Google.
“Wait… states can have two capitals?”
Yes, this Indian state has both Shimla and ________ as capitals. What would fill in the blank?
Dharamshala
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a race was decided by one-hundredth of a second. Cameras had to confirm the win frame-by-frame. That single moment gave one swimmer his seventh gold and kept his dream of eight alive. Who is the swimmer in question?
Michael Phelps
When this film released in 2009, audiences expected a typical college comedy. What they got instead was a sharp reflection on India’s education system, pressure culture, and creative freedom. It sparked national conversations—and even inspired engineering students to drop out and pursue startups.
If x+(1/x) = 4, then what is the value of (x2+(1/x2))?
14
a2+b2 = (a+b)2 - 2ab
You’re at a supermarket that sells mystery snack boxes. Each box has a 40% chance of containing chocolate, a 30% chance of containing chips, and a 20% chance of containing both. You buy a box and find chips inside. What is the probability it also contains chocolate?
2/3
P(Chocolate∣Chips)= P(Chips and Chocolate)/ P(Chips) =0.20/0.30=2/3
You’re debating with a friend about emojis. They say, “Emojis came from the U.S., right? Silicon Valley and all that.”
You grin and say, “Actually, they were invented in the 1990s in…”
Fill in the blank.
Japan
They were called “The Invincibles.” In the 2003–04 season, they navigated the English Premier League without a single defeat. A student of organizational behavior once used their manager’s approach as a case study on leadership under pressure, adaptability, and ego management. Which football club are we talking about?
Arsenal
In 1992, an ambitious soundtrack fused Qawwali with synth-pop and introduced Bollywood to a new musical prodigy. With 14 tracks, this album shattered every existing record and launched the composer into global fame—even earning praise from Michael Jackson’s producer.
Which film marked the debut of A.R. Rahman as a composer?
Roja
You bought an item at 20% discount. You want to sell it at a 20% profit on the original price. By what percent should you mark it up from your discounted cost price?
Let original price = 100
Cost price after 20% discount = 80
Target selling price = 120
Markup = 120 – 80 = 40
% Increase from cost = (40/80)*100 = 50%
You applied to 3 top companies for a summer internship:
Company A has a 40% chance of offering you a spot.
Company B has a 30% chance.
Company C has a 50% chance.
You can only accept one, and they don’t coordinate with each other. Assuming each company makes its decision independently, what is the probability you get at least one offer?
79%
P(no offer) = (1 - 0.4) × (1 - 0.3) × (1 - 0.5)
= 0.6 × 0.7 × 0.5 = 0.21
⇒ P(at least one) = 1 - 0.21 = 0.79
You’re in an old library and stumble on a bet scratched into the wall:
“There is one country whose name contains every vowel exactly once — a, e, i, o, u.”
You have 30 seconds to win 1,000. Which country are they talking about?
Mozambique
You’re at Eden Gardens. A hush falls over the crowd. Your uncle says,
“This is the place where 100,000 people once fell silent — all at once — in 1996.”
You ask, “What happened?”
What’s the infamous incident?
India’s batting collapse in the 1996 World Cup semi-final vs Sri Lanka, leading to crowd unrest and match forfeiture
This noir thriller, directed by a former ad filmmaker, was one of the first mainstream Bollywood films to openly challenge censorship by portraying extramarital affairs, drug use, and power games in elite circles. Its raw portrayal of ambition and betrayal earned it cult status—and its dialogues are still used in film schools to study urban realism.
Which 1999 film starring Manoj Bajpayee and Sushant Singh shocked critics with its gritty take on crime and privilege?
Satya
In a certain code language, ROUGH is coded as 9631416 and POINT is coded as 761852. How will STAKE be coded in that language?
1022210
A survey shows students send an average of 50 texts a day, with a standard deviation of 10. You randomly pick 36 students. What is the probability their average is more than 52? Assume normality.
11.5%
Use Central Limit Theorem:
μ=50, σ=10, n=36 ⇒ SE=10/sqrt(36)=1.666
z=(52−50)/1.666 =1.2
⇒P(Z>1.2)≈0.1151
You’re watching a dramatic space movie. Mission control says:
“We’ll count down from 10, just like NASA.”
You pause the movie and ask: Why do rocket launches actually use countdowns?
What’s the real, practical reason?
Countdowns are used to synchronize systems, confirm go/no-go checks, and trigger automated sequences at exact moments.
A young chess enthusiast found himself fascinated not by kings and queens, but by an unlikely crossover. In a 2023 interview, a Formula 1 driver explained how he used chess strategies to visualize overtaking sequences and defensive lines mid-race. It reminded the student of how elite athletes increasingly use cognitive mapping to gain micro-advantages.
Which current F1 driver is known for his deep interest in chess and has spoken about applying it to his racing strategy?
Max Verstappen
In a meta twist, this director made a cameo in his own 2000s thriller—not just as a passerby, but as a key character watching the chaos unfold. Most audiences missed it. Cinephiles caught it. Reddit still talks about it.
Farhan Akhtar in Dil Chahta Hai
You’re locked in a room with three switches. In the next room, there are three light bulbs, each connected to one of the switches — but you can’t see the bulbs from where you are.
You may flip the switches however you want, then walk into the next room once to determine which switch controls which bulb.
All the bulbs are initially off.
How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb using only one visit to the bulb room?
Explanation
Your statistics professor claims that she never spills coffee on her lecture notes. You secretly observe her for 20 lectures. On 4 of those days, her notes had a mysterious brown smudge.
You decide to run a hypothesis test:
Null hypothesis: She spills 10% of the time.
Alternative: She spills more than that.
Using a significance level of 0.05, should you believe she’s telling the truth?
No, there isn’t enough evidence to reject her claim at the 5% level.
n = 20, p = 0.10, observed x = 4
Use normal approximation:
μ=np=2
σ=sqrt(np(1−p))=sqrt(2×0.9) ≈ 1.34
z= (4−2)/1.34≈1.49
Check critical z-value at α = 0.05 → 1.645 (one-tailed)
Since 1.49 < 1.645, we fail to reject the null.
You’re visiting a centuries-old temple in Tamil Nadu. On a stone pillar, you find a long string of characters — not Tamil, not Sanskrit — but a number written using ancient Indian numerals.
Your historian friend whispers, “You know... the world owes zero to this culture.”
You smile and ask:
Which Indian mathematician is most famously credited with formalizing the concept of zero as a number — not just a placeholder?
Brahmagupta, a 7th-century Indian mathematician, was the first to define zero as a number in its own right and to outline rules for arithmetic involving zero.
You’re reading about multi-talented athletes and stumble on an Indian legend who:
Captained India’s cricket team
Later became a national selector for football
Was also a tennis Davis Cup player
You double-check to make sure this isn’t a movie script.
Who was this rare sports polymath?
C.K. Nayudu
In 2001, this movie’s trailer went viral—via pirated CDs. It had a leather-clad heroine, bullet time effects, and a blue-tinted aesthetic that made people call it “India’s Matrix.” The film flopped, but its influence was undeniable.
Love Story 2050