Q 01/05

A spider has eight legs and an ant has six: how many legs do the two animals have altogether?

A) 2

B) 12

C) 14

D) 16

Answer · why

C) 14

14 legs is the total, because 8 + 6 = 14. Counting legs is the quickest way to tell the two apart: spiders have eight, while ants and all other insect...

Q 02/05

A strike in ten-pin bowling knocks down every pin with the first ball: how many pins stay standing?

A) 0

B) 1

C) 9

D) 10

Answer · why

A) 0

0 pins are left standing, because 10 − 10 = 0. Bowlers mark a strike with an X on the score sheet, and three strikes in a row is known as a turkey.

Q 03/05

A full round of golf is two sets of nine holes, one after the other: how many holes altogether?

A) 9

B) 16

C) 17

D) 18

Answer · why

D) 18

18 holes make a full round, because 9 + 9 = 18. The number was settled at St Andrews in Scotland in 1764, when the course there was cut down from 22 h...

Q 04/05

Which six-sided shape do honey bees build again and again to make the wax cells of a honeycomb?

A) Pentagon

B) Hexagon

C) Heptagon

D) Octagon

Answer · why

B) Hexagon

Hexagon cells fit side by side with no gaps between them. Many wasps build the same six-sided pattern, but they make it out of paper instead of wax.

Q 05/05

Which US coin is worth ten cents, even though it is the smallest and thinnest coin in circulation?

A) Penny

B) Nickel

C) Dime

D) Quarter

Answer · why

C) Dime

Dime coins are tiny but mighty: each one is smaller than a penny or a nickel, yet worth more than those two coins put together.