Solution:

You must be aware of the fact that the standard weighing system is Imperial system. This is how we weigh things or ourselves and thus the warning must be for 130 pounds according to the Imperial system.

But gold is weighed in the Troy system. In Troy system, 12 ounces makes one pound whereas in Imperial system, 16 ounces make one pound.

Thus 40 pounds (20+20) of gold bars will be 30 pounds in imperial system. The weight of thief is 100 pounds. Thus, the total is 130 pounds which can be accommodated on the rope and thus he was able to cross safely.

Solution:

They used the planks in the manner that is shown in the figure.

Solution:

This puzzle has no answer if you are considering this figure in a 2d domain. However if you follow it on a three-dimensional plane, you can do it like shown in the figure given.

Solution:

17 mins

The initial solution most people will think of is to use the fastest person as an usher to guide everyone across. How long would that take? 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins. Is that it? No. That would make this question too simple even as a warm up question.

Let’s brainstorm a little further. To reduce the amount of time, we should find a way for 10 and 7 to go together. If they cross together, then we need one of them to come back to get the others. That would not be ideal. How do we get around that? Maybe we can have 1 waiting on the other side to bring the torch back. Ahaa, we are getting closer. The fastest way to get 1 across and be back is to use 2 to usher 1 across. So let’s put all this together.

1 and 2 go cross
2 comes back
7 and 10 go across
1 comes back
1 and 2 go across (done)

Total time = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins

Solution:

2 cakes

At each toll bridge you are required to give half of your cakes, and you receive one back. Which leaves you with 2 cakes after every bridge.

Solution:

Since the knife was in her hand which implies that she was planning to kill her husband "Inspector Montalbano".

Solution:

Karate Kid (car + at + tea + kid)

Solution:

Fifteen minutes can easily be measure using these two hour glasses.

Step 1: He will start both the hourglass.

Step 2: The moment the eleven minute hourglass is empty, he will invert it.

Step 3: When the thirteen minutes hourglass is empty, he will invert the eleven minute hourglass.
In step 3, we will have counted thirteen minutes. Since we inverted the eleven minute hourglass in step 2, it started from fresh and was inverted just for two minutes (13-11=2). In this manner when it is reversed when the thirteen minute hourglass is finished, it will have two minutes of sand left. This time when the sand finishes, he will have measured fifteen minutes. (13+2=15)

Solution:

So that the following plan can be followed, let us number the coins from 1 to 12. For the first weighing let us put on the left pan coins 1,2,3,4 and on the right pan coins 5,6,7,8.

There are two possibilities. Either they balance, or they don't. If they balance, then the different coin is in the group 9,10,11,12. So for our second one possibility is to weigh 9,10,11 against 1,2,3

(1) They balance, in which case you know 12 is the different coin, and you just weigh it against any other to determine whether it is heavy or light.
(2) 9,10,11 is heavy. In this case, you know that the different coin is 9, 10, or 11, and that that coin is heavy. Simply weigh 9 against 10; if they balance, 11 is the heavy coin. If not, the heavier one is the heavy coin.
(3) 9,10,11 is light. Proceed as in the step above, but the coin you're looking for is the light one.

That was the easy part.

What if the first weighing 1,2,3,4 vs 5,6,7,8 does not balance? Then any one of these coins could be the different coin. Now, in order to proceed, we must keep track of which side is heavy for each of the following weighings.

Suppose that 5,6,7,8 is the heavy side. We now weigh 1,5,6 against 2,7,8. If they balance, then the different coin is either 3 or 4. Weigh 4 against 9, a known good coin. If they balance then the different coin is 3, otherwise it is 4. The direction of the tilts can tell us whwther the offending coin is heavier or lighter.

Now, if 1,5,6 vs 2,7,8 does not balance, and 2,7,8 is the heavy side, then either 7 or 8 is a different, heavy coin, or 1 is a different, light coin.

For the third weighing, weigh 7 against 8. Whichever side is heavy is the different coin. If they balance, then 1 is the different coin. Should the weighing of 1,5, 6 vs 2,7,8 show 1,5,6 to be the heavy side, then either 5 or 6 is a different heavy coin or 2 is a light different coin. Weigh 5 against 6. The heavier one is the different coin. If they balance, then 2 is a different light coin.

Solution:

mother

We know from (3) that the youngest person was not the victim, from (4) that the youngest person was not the helper and from (6) that the youngest person was not the killer. The youngest person can only have been the witness therefore. If we make up a chart there are now three possible combinations:

Oldest person (father) H H M

Next to oldest (mother) V M H

Next to youngest (son) M V V

Youngest (daughter) W W W

(H = Helper ; V = Victim ; M = Murderer ; W = Witness)

We can work out from (5) that the father was the oldest, from (2) that the youngest person must have been the daughter. Therefore the next to the youngest must have been the son and the next to the oldest, the mother.

Solution:

Think deeply about the door number 56, people will visit it for every divisor it has. So 56 has 1 & 56, 2 & 28, 4 & 14, 7 & 8. So on pass 1, the 1st person will open the door; pass 2, 2nd one will close it; pass 4, open; pass 7, close; pass 8, open; pass 14, close; pass 28, open; pass 56, close.
Thus we can say that the door will just end up back in its original state for each pair of divisor. But what about the cases in which the pair of divisor has analogous number for example door number 16? 16 has the divisors 1 & 16, 2 & 8, 4&4. But 4 is recurrent because 16 is a perfect square, so you will only visit door number 16, on pass 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16… leaving it open at the end. So only perfect square doors will remain open at the end.