Math Riddles
With these math riddles, we put some fun into a subject that some folks find to be a bit dry.
Math is the subject that many kids need some additional assistance or tutoring on. The subject matter can be difficult. In most cases, kids are learning things they’ve never been taught. It helps to take a light approach vs. a drill-and-kill process that zaps the fun out of the equation — so-to-speak. 🙂
These math word puzzles inject lateral thinking and twists in order to encourage curiosity and interest in math. We hope you enjoy them.
Good Math Riddles For Kids
1.) If it took 8 people 10 hours to build a barn, how long would it take 14 people to build the same barn?
2.) Tom’s farm is selling eggs at 12 cents per dozen. How many eggs can you get for one dollar?
3.) If you multiplied all of the numbers on the dial pad of a smartphone, what would the total be?
ANSWERS: 1.) None — the barn is already built! 2.) 100 eggs. 12 cents per dozen means eggs are being sold for a penny apiece. 3.) Zero. Since the numbers 0 thru 9 are represented on a dial pad, anything times zero equals zero!
Math Riddles With Answers
4.) Divide 40 by one half, and then add 5. What’s the answer?
5.) Can you add the number of sides from a triangle, a pentagon, and a hexagon? How many sides are there in total?
6.) Sam is 14 years old, and Britta is half of her age. Now Sam is 34 years old. How old is Britta?
ANSWERS: 4.) 85, dividing by a half actually doubles a number! 5.) 14 sides. 6.) 27 years old. (You didn’t just half her age, did you?)
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Fun Math Riddles
7.) What weighs more: a pound of iron or a pound of feathers?
8.) You would like to purchase a snack from the vending machine for 75 cents. You have one quarter, 2 dimes, 4 nickels, and 5 pennies. Do you have enough money to purchase your snack?
9.) John works at the zoo. If he tries to give each penguin its own exhibit, then he has one penguin too many. If he puts two penguins in each exhibit, then he has one exhibit too many. How many exhibits are there? How many penguins?
ANSWERS: 7.) Both would be the same. A pound is a pound no matter what the object. 8.) No, you only have 70 cents. 9.) 3 exhibits, 4 penguins.
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Mathematical Puzzles
10.) If you multiply me by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number am I?
11.) Can you make the number seven even without adding, subtracting, dividing, or multiplying by any other numbers?
12.) Two mothers and two daughters go shopping at the mall. Each one buys a piece of clothing, but they only come home with three pieces of clothing. Why is that?
ANSWERS: 10.) Zero. 11.) Yes, get rid of the “s”. Seven becomes even. 12.) The group is made up of a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter.
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Challenging Math Word Problems
13.) Three hens can lay three eggs in three minutes? How many eggs do the hens lay in 2 hours assuming consistent output?
14.) Josh flips a coin five times and each time it lands on heads. What are the odds of him getting tails on his next flip?
15.) You own 5 different pairs of socks. Two pairs of socks are green, one pair is red, one pair is blue, and one pair is yellow. What are your odds of randomly picking a green pair of socks to wear?
ANSWERS: 13.) 120 eggs.14.) 50% — the odds don’t change based on previous results for coin tossing. 15.) Two out of five or 40%.
Hard Math Riddles With Answers
16.) If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
17.) I am never a whole number. If you divide a number by me, then the number increases. What type of number am I?
18.) You are given a large pepperoni pizza for dinner, and you need to divide it into 8 slices for your family dinner. How many times do you need to cut the pizza to divide it into eighths?
ANSWERS: 16.) Nine. 17.) A fraction. 18.) Four times
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Math Logic Teasers
19.) Josh has 5 sons, and each of them has a sister. How many children does Josh have?
20.) When two numbers are added together, their sum is 46. One of the numbers is 6 greater than the other. What are the two numbers?
21.) A police officer pulls your older brother over for speeding in a 35 mile per hour zone. The officer gives him a ticket worth $55 and tells him there is a $10 fine for every ticket in addition to $5 extra for every 1 mile per hour above the speed limit. How fast was your brother going?
ANSWERS: 19.) Six — the sons all share the one sister! 20.) 20 and 26. 21.) 44 miles per hour.
Best Math Riddles
22.) In a family of 8 sisters, each born 3 years apart, the youngest sister is 12 years old. How old is the eldest sister?
23.) The sum of two consecutive numbers is 37. What are those two numbers?
24.) The number 5 is transformed to be 11. The number 7 is transformed to be 15. And, the number 9 is transformed to be 19. What happens to the number 12?
ANSWERS: 22.) 33 years old. 23.) 18 and 19. 24.) It is transformed to be 25. The formula: A times 2 and then +1.
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25.) What is the next number in the sequence? 2, 4, 8, 16…
26.) 1=3, 2=3, 3=5, 4=4, 5=4, 6=3, 7=5, 8=5, 9=4, 10=? Can you complete the sequence?
27.) Two even numbers added together always makes an even number. An even number and an odd number added always makes an odd number. What type of number always comes from adding two odd numbers together?
ANSWERS: 25.) 32 — the formula is doubling the previous number. 26.) 10 = 3. The number after the equal sign refers to the number of letters in the number before the equal sign. 27.) An even number!
Kids Math Riddles
28.) How much time is in a quarter of an hour?
29.) You have $24.60 with 7 bills and 3 coins. What bills and coins do you have?
30.) If you were to write a random whole number between 1 and 10, then what are the chances that number will be odd?
ANSWERS: 28.) 15 minutes 29.) 30.) One $10, two $5, four $1, 2 quarters, and one dime. 50%.
Scoring Key For our Math Riddles Challenge
If you answered 24 – 30 correct: A Student — Well done!
If you answered 17 – 23 correct: B Student — Good job!
If you answered < 17 correct: Needs Improvement — Practice more.
By Greg Johnson, Casey O’Halloran & Michael O’Halloran | Published 7/13/2020
Greg and Mike are co-founders of ListCaboodle.com and Casey is our quiz expert.
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