Brain Teasers
Lumps of Sugar
Three men each had a cup of coffee. Each man put an odd number of lumps of sugar in his coffee - twelve in total. How many lumps of sugar did each man take?
Answer
The first man took one, the second man took one, and the third man took ten lumps."But," you protest, "ten isn't an odd number!"
Oh, I don't know about that - do *you* know anyone who takes ten lumps of sugar in his coffee?
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Comments
Now that you mention it, I DON'T know anyone who takes ten lumps of sugar.
...I put more than that in my tea MWAHAHAHAHA! sugar makes me laugh
He he he he he he he he he he he.............
um..my friend puts 13 in each cup...but then again, she is an 'odd' one..haha..it was cute tho
I put over 10 marshmallows in my cocoa, does that count?
COOL TEASER Had me fooled
During a class one day, my friend put about six packets of sugar in his coffee. "Want some coffee with your sugar?" He couldn't sit still for the rest of the class. Good teaser!
he,he VERY FUNNY!
Hey, do we all seem like a bunch of non-tweakers?
I think that this teaser was O.K. because it doesn't really make sense on how the teaser solved and it could have been solved better in a way in which it made more sense, than how it is now.
Feb 17, 2003
Personally, I don't think this was really a 'teaser'. The answer wasn't logical, it was more like a joke. I don't think it's fitting to even classify it as a teaser.
I really was hoping that this wasn't going to be the answer ;P .
Don't waste our time with that kind of problem
Most people who have encountered this teaser
before today have enjoyed it (based on
the rating), because it is in the
"Trick" category, which is usually a strong
clue that the teaser doesn't have a
straightforward solution. But the
volume (and tone) of today's comments
puzzled *me* - until it occurred to me
that this teaser must have been the
Daily Teaser today. Sure enough, it
is - and the front page doesn't list
the category. That explains your reactions.
This is one case where the category
really is important in setting the solver's
expectations. Sorry if you were disappointed
folks. You weren't supposed to have
to work *too* hard on this one.
I suspect that if you encountered it
with other "Trick" teasers
you would appreciate it more.
before today have enjoyed it (based on
the rating), because it is in the
"Trick" category, which is usually a strong
clue that the teaser doesn't have a
straightforward solution. But the
volume (and tone) of today's comments
puzzled *me* - until it occurred to me
that this teaser must have been the
Daily Teaser today. Sure enough, it
is - and the front page doesn't list
the category. That explains your reactions.
This is one case where the category
really is important in setting the solver's
expectations. Sorry if you were disappointed
folks. You weren't supposed to have
to work *too* hard on this one.
I suspect that if you encountered it
with other "Trick" teasers
you would appreciate it more.
Well, when I got this teaser in the mail, I saw that it was a trick teaser so I didn't think too much about it! It was a good one though! It had me puzzled! I still don't get it! But oh well! I like the sugar part! Sugar gets me really tipsy like right now! Y'all always smile k!? Stef Don't worry be happy!
Who would have thought about something like that. Not to solvable but aight.
The person may be odd for taking that much sugar but no way is ten an odd number. A trick does not mean you are givien false information, just misleading. There is a difference.
i think the reason that ten is an odd number is because ten is an unusual number (think about alternate meanings of the word "odd") - pretty easy when you're used to it
If sweet time is right, then I just got it.
Great Teaser!!!
Great Teaser!!!
do *you* know anyone who takes ten lumps of sugar in his coffee?
I would
I would
Yes, sweetime had it exactly right.
thats good
tee hee hee!!
That made me giggle after about 10 seconds of trying to figure out what the answer meant!
That made me giggle after about 10 seconds of trying to figure out what the answer meant!
Depending on how big the cup of coffee is, I'd put 10 lumps of sugar in my coffee.
Loved it... very cute and funny! Going in my faves!
I like your thinking! Very funny! Never would've guessed that!
At first I started going through my mind three odd numbers; 1 + 3 + 5 =9...etc. Then I figured out that you can't get an even number of 12 with three odd numbers...so I got this trick question right!
OK, here's MY answer...
They each took five, but they each dropped one. So that would be twelve. Mmmm, sugar.....
All joking aside, very fun teaser! Going in my faves for sure!
P.S. I don't like spell check. They say things like LOL and OMG are wrong. Grr...
They each took five, but they each dropped one. So that would be twelve. Mmmm, sugar.....
All joking aside, very fun teaser! Going in my faves for sure!
P.S. I don't like spell check. They say things like LOL and OMG are wrong. Grr...
My dad came up with a good answer to this.
he said each man put 3 in their own cup, but then 1 in the mans next to him cup, meaning they each had 4 sugars (totalling 12) but they only put an odd number in theirs.
he said each man put 3 in their own cup, but then 1 in the mans next to him cup, meaning they each had 4 sugars (totalling 12) but they only put an odd number in theirs.
Told this one to all my friends. One of them didn't think ten was odd. Extra points for an awesome teaser!!
yum!
"odd"trick!
"odd"trick!
My answer
first man:3
second man:3
last man:6 and the second man's cup in his cup
first man:3
second man:3
last man:6 and the second man's cup in his cup
This is a joke,not a riddle. STUPID,STUPID, STUPID.
I knew it was going to be something crazy like that!
Hey, it was a trick. I never would have come up with the right answer and I knew it when I read it, but i still tried. Thanks for posting.
Your answer was dumb!
Pretty sad. To me, a "trick" question is one that one can figure out logically. This might classify as a guess.
I tried breaking a lump in half for the answer and came up with an answer I liked even though it was wrong.
i dont get it... can someone tell me?
Lol! I got it... I'm like, odd... you can't do that... unless he means odd in strange... then I was thinking of a high number and I'm like 10 would be a LOT of sugar to put in your coffee, so when I came up with that, and saw the answer I was SO happy! I's not very often I get teasers right...
maybe we should create a new category of teasers - instead of 'tricks', these should be called 'stupid'...
Too easy! But I loved it anyway!
Very punny!
Very punny!
Chill, people! I didn't get it either, but the answer was funny. That was when I saw that it was a "trick" question.
No problem.
No problem.
I still don't get it.
Very Funny Answer.
Very very original, i salute you
lol i get it. i dont know anybody who puts ten lumps of sugar in their coffee actually. ;- )
i got stuck so i looked at the answer. LOL
i got stuck so i looked at the answer. LOL
Very good trick
I enjoyed this one, even though I thought it was very easy. As soon as I realised that you couldn't add three odd numbers to make 12 I checked the category. Onced I noticed it was in the "trick" category, the answer was obvious.
Funny answer.
I get the joke of it, and that is funny. But since I actually worked at getting the answer for a couple minutes, I didn't really appreciate it just being a trick.
At first I thought that was dumb, but now that I think about it, I don't know anyone who uses that much sugar!?!
i dont get it
Here's the point, all of them have an odd number of lumps, one and one... They are odd numbers... But ten? Well that's "odd", who puts that much sugar in his coffee?? Loved it.
What's with the bad comments?
I liked it. Trick teasers usually leave something out or try to mislead you. This did both.
It left out that they were talking about was the amount odd to put in a cup of coffee. Well, *obviously*. Otherwise the teaser would be too easy.
It was misleading because it made you think about odd numbers. Again, that would otherwise be too easy.
Lastly, I'd like to address that you can't *logically* answer a trick teaser. I recall one user saying that above. It's trick.
Sorry if this comment is offensive to anyone who hated the teaser; I just thought it should have more positive comments.
I thought about this answer before thinking about others. I gave this a full star rating, and I will be adding it to my favorites.
I liked it. Trick teasers usually leave something out or try to mislead you. This did both.
It left out that they were talking about was the amount odd to put in a cup of coffee. Well, *obviously*. Otherwise the teaser would be too easy.
It was misleading because it made you think about odd numbers. Again, that would otherwise be too easy.
Lastly, I'd like to address that you can't *logically* answer a trick teaser. I recall one user saying that above. It's trick.
Sorry if this comment is offensive to anyone who hated the teaser; I just thought it should have more positive comments.
I thought about this answer before thinking about others. I gave this a full star rating, and I will be adding it to my favorites.
*I* know someone who takes ten sugars in their tea/coffee....
!!!!!L!!!!!
Congrats to anyone who gets that..
!!!!!L!!!!!
Congrats to anyone who gets that..
I think this is a great little trick teaser. It's OK for a trick to involve a pun on a key word; many of them do.
As for logic...
* Three numerically odd numbers can not add up to 12.
* Therefore the word 'odd' must have a different meaning.
* The other meaning is "unusual" - QED!
As for logic...
* Three numerically odd numbers can not add up to 12.
* Therefore the word 'odd' must have a different meaning.
* The other meaning is "unusual" - QED!
I thought that was the answer, but I was hoping for a better answer.
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