16 Comments
 

Is it the one about how a frog gets out of a bucket of cream?

A frog jumps into a bucket of fresh cream. The sides are too slippery and steep for the frog to crawl out and it is too deep to push off the bottom. The frog still manages to get out though. How does he do this?

The frog's continous, frantic kicking churns the cream into butter, so that eventually there is enough butter in the bucket that the frog can simply jump out.

 

This doesn't really fit the typical brainteaser mold. It's more qualitative than quantitative thinking. Still kinda interesting, but not really.

Banking > VC > Tech PE; PM me if you would like any advice I'm happy to help
 
sherminatorthe other one is pretty standard

a frog is in a 30 foot well and leaps up 3 feet ever morning, but slides down 2 feet every night. at what day does he reach the top?

So on the first day, he goes up 3 feet, and drops 2 feet at night for a net of 1 foot. On the night of the 27th, he will be at 27 feet. On the 28th morning, he can jump up even with the height of the well wall. The frog wouldn't be able to jump over the wall until the morning of the 29th.

So I guess the answer would be either the morning of the 28th or the morning of the 29th depending on what you mean by "reaching the top".

 

That first frog teaser is from the beginning of "Catch Me if You Can". Cept it involves two mice instead of a frog. One of them dies because he couldn't solve the brainteaser and just stayed there and drowned. So this lesson proves that brainteasers are useful.

 

Morning of the 28th since he then jumps from 27->30 feet. The fact that he falls back two feet is irrelevant since he already has reached the top. The point is to catch out people who just look at the one foot net gain and say its the morning of the 30th. (This problem is also referenced in the Sign of Four). I would guess that I've asked it to about 100 candidates and about 15-20 got it on their first try.

 

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