Bored? Tired of Politics? Tired of Liberals? Try These.

I enjoy brain teasers because they, unlike liberals, can be logically explained. If you want to take a rest from politics and liberals, try these puzzles that I enjoyed:

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1. Monty Hall Dilemma

Imagine that the set of Monty Hall's game show Let's Make a Deal has three closed doors. Behind one of these doors is a car; behind the other two are goats. The contestant does not know where the car is, but Monty Hall does.

The contestant picks a door and Monty opens one of the remaining doors, one he knows doesn't hide the car. If the contestant has already chosen the correct door, Monty is equally likely to open either of the two remaining doors.

After Monty has shown a goat behind the door that he opens, the contestant is always given the option to switch doors. What is the probability of winning the car if she stays with her first choice? What if she decides to switch?

Should the contestant keep the original door that she picked or switch? It's one thing to know the answer, but quite another to know why it is correct. Well, you should always switch from the door you originally picked. Why? To better understand the probabilities, try this exercise.

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2. The Missing Dollar

Three men go to stay at a motel, and the man at the desk charges them $30.00 for a room. They split the cost ten dollars each. Later the manager tells the desk man that he overcharged the men, that the actual cost should have been $25.00. The manager gives the bellboy $5.00 and tells him to give it to the men. The bellboy, however, decides to cheat the men and pockets $2.00, giving each of the men only one dollar.

Now each man has paid $9.00 to stay in the room and 3 x $9.00 = $27.00. The bellboy has pocketed $2.00. $27.00 + $2.00 = $29.00 - so where is the missing $1.00?

Hint: It didn't go for taxes. Go to the bottom of the problem's link for the solution--but, only after you've tried to answer it.

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3. Guess Your Number

This puzzle allows you to pick one number out of a jumbled set, and the character in the game will guess your number. Well, if that doesn't make sense, just play the game and you will understand it. Click on the above link which will take you to the quiz, and advance each page by clicking on the guy at the bottom right "thumbing a ride."

How does it work? In the third grade, I learned a math concept called "casting out nines" to check my math. There's your hint. If you understand the concept, you can impress your friends by guessing their numbers.

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Wasn't that fun and a nice diversion from the worries of the world? If you didn't cheat and looked ahead at the solutions, these could keep you busy for hours--years if you're a liberal. Okay, back to work.