Math Riddles

These Math Riddles are based on math concepts and can be solved with a bit of math and logic. These fun riddles can surely give you a tough time.

Diophantus Puzzle

Diophantus was a Greek mathematician. Little is known about the life of Diophantus except for an algebraic riddle from around the early sixth century. The riddle states:

Here lies Diophantus,’ the wonder behold.
Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old:
‘God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life,
One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife;
And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun;
In five years there came a bouncing new son.
Alas, the dear child of master and sage
After attaining half the measure of his father’s life chill fate took him.
After consoling his fate by the science of numbers for four years, he ended his life.’

How many years did Diophantus live based on the riddle?

Riddle Answer

Catch a Train

I drive at an average speed of 30 miles per hour to the railroad station each morning and just manage to catch my train on time.

On a particular morning there was a lot of traffic and at the halfway point I found I had averaged only 15 miles per hour.

How fast must I drive for the rest of the way to catch my train?

Riddle Answer