Math riddles and puzzles with answers
These math riddles turn numbers into a game, with 50 puzzles that range from quick counting questions for kids to tricky logic problems for grown-ups. Every riddle comes with a clear answer and a short working, so you can check your thinking step by step.
Start with the number riddles and easy puzzles for a warm-up, then move on to the logic and tricky sections where the obvious answer is usually wrong. Finish with a few funny ones and the hard puzzles at the end if you want a real challenge.
Math riddles for kids with answers
Riddle 1
Turn me upside down and I lose 3. Which single digit am I?
Show answer
9Upside down, 9 looks like 6, and 9 minus 6 is 3. A 6 turned over gains 3 instead.
Riddle 2
Riya has 3 red pencils and twice as many blue ones. She gives 2 blue pencils to her brother. How many pencils does she have now?
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7 pencilsShe has 3 red and 6 blue pencils, which is 9. Giving away 2 leaves 7.
Riddle 3
In a room there are 2 spiders and 3 cats. Spiders have 8 legs and cats have 4. How many legs are in the room?
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28 legs2 spiders give 2 x 8 = 16 legs and 3 cats give 3 x 4 = 12 legs, so 16 + 12 = 28.
Riddle 4
I live between 10 and 20 on the number line. Both 3 and 5 divide me exactly. Who am I?
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15A number divisible by both 3 and 5 is a multiple of 15, and 15 is the only one between 10 and 20.
Riddle 5
A square sheet of paper has 4 corners. You snip off one corner with a single straight cut. How many corners does it have now?
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5 cornersThe cut removes one corner but creates two new ones, so 4 minus 1 plus 2 gives 5.
Riddle 6
A pizza is cut into 8 equal slices. Aman eats a quarter of it and Neha eats 3 slices. How many slices are left?
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3 slicesA quarter of 8 slices is 2. So 8 minus 2 minus 3 leaves 3 slices.
Riddle 7
My three digits are counting numbers in a row, from smallest to biggest, and they add up to 15. Which three-digit number am I?
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456Three numbers in a row that add to 15 must be 4, 5 and 6, because the middle one is 15 / 3 = 5.
Riddle 8
How many times can you subtract 5 from 25?
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Only onceAfter the first subtraction you are no longer taking 5 from 25, you are taking it from 20.
Riddle 9
A school bus leaves with 12 children. At the first stop 5 get off and 3 get on. At the next stop 4 more get on. How many children are on the bus now?
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14 children12 minus 5 is 7, plus 3 is 10, plus 4 is 14.
Riddle 10
Double me, then add 4, and you get 20. What number am I?
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8Work backwards: 20 minus 4 is 16, and half of 16 is 8.
Number riddles
Riddle 11
My tens digit is 3 times my ones digit, and the difference between my two digits is 4. Which two-digit number am I?
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62If the ones digit is n, the tens digit is 3n and 3n minus n = 2n = 4, so n is 2 and the number is 62.
Riddle 12
Spell me in English and each letter comes earlier in the alphabet than the letter before it. Which number am I?
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OneO comes after N, and N comes after E, so O, N, E runs backwards through the alphabet. No other number from zero to one hundred does this.
Riddle 13
Divide me by 3, 4 or 5 and the remainder is always 2. I am bigger than 2. What is the smallest number I can be?
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62The LCM of 3, 4 and 5 is 60, so the number is 2 more than a multiple of 60. The smallest above 2 is 62.
Riddle 14
Add me to myself or multiply me by myself and you get the same answer. I am not zero. What number am I?
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22 + 2 = 4 and 2 x 2 = 4. For any other number above zero the two answers are different.
Riddle 15
I am a prime number less than 10. Add 10 to me and I am still prime. Add 20 and I am prime yet again. What am I?
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33, 13 and 23 are all prime. For 2, 5 and 7 one of the three numbers is not prime (12, 15 and 27).
Riddle 16
My two digits multiply to 24 and add up to 11. I am bigger than 50. What number am I?
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83The only digits that multiply to 24 and add to 11 are 3 and 8. The number bigger than 50 is 83.
Riddle 17
I am both a perfect square and a perfect cube. I am bigger than 1 but smaller than 100. What am I?
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6464 is 8 x 8 and also 4 x 4 x 4. The next number like this is 729.
Riddle 18
My two digits add up to 3 and multiply to 2. I am less than 20. What number am I?
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12Only the digits 1 and 2 add to 3 and multiply to 2. That gives 12 or 21, and 12 is the one below 20.
Riddle 19
A brick weighs 1 kg plus half a brick. How much does a whole brick weigh?
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2 kgIf 1 kg equals the other half of the brick, then half a brick is 1 kg and the whole brick is 2 kg.
Riddle 20
A cup and a saucer cost Rs 90 together. The cup costs twice as much as the saucer. How much does the saucer cost?
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Rs 30The cup is two shares and the saucer one share, so 3 shares cost Rs 90 and one share is Rs 30.
Riddle 21
Seven children each send one greeting card to every other child in the group. How many cards are sent in total?
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42 cardsEach of the 7 children sends 6 cards, and 7 x 6 = 42. Unlike handshakes, a card from A to B is different from a card from B to A.
Riddle 22
Climbing from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor takes you 6 seconds. At the same speed, how long does it take to climb from the 1st floor to the 9th?
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24 secondsGoing from floor 1 to 3 means 2 flights, so each flight takes 3 seconds. Floor 1 to 9 is 8 flights, which is 24 seconds.
Riddle 23
Three identical taps fill a tank in 6 hours. How long would 9 of the same taps take to fill it?
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2 hoursThe job takes 3 x 6 = 18 tap hours. Shared by 9 taps that is 18 / 9 = 2 hours.
Riddle 24
A parking lot holds only cars and motorbikes. There are 15 vehicles and 46 wheels. How many cars are there?
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8 carsIf all 15 were bikes there would be 30 wheels. Each car adds 2 more wheels, and 16 extra wheels means 8 cars.
Riddle 25
If 4 painters paint 4 walls in 4 hours, how many walls can 8 painters paint in 8 hours?
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16 wallsOne painter paints one wall in 4 hours. 8 painters working 8 hours give 64 painter hours, which is 64 / 4 = 16 walls.
Riddle 26
Yeast in a jar doubles every minute and fills the jar in exactly one hour. When was the jar a quarter full?
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After 58 minutesIt was half full one minute before the end, at 59 minutes, and a quarter full one minute before that.
Riddle 27
Opposite faces of a dice always add up to 7. If the top face shows 2, what is the total of the four side faces?
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14All six faces add to 21. The top is 2 and the bottom is 5, so the four sides add to 21 minus 7 = 14.
Riddle 28
Think of a number. Add 7, multiply by 2, subtract 4, halve it, then subtract the number you started with. What do you always get?
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5Adding 7 and doubling gives 2n + 14. Subtracting 4 and halving gives n + 5, so taking away n always leaves 5.
Tricky math riddles with answers
Riddle 29
Which is bigger: 2 multiplied by itself 10 times, or 10 multiplied by itself just twice?
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2 multiplied 10 times2 to the power 10 is 1024, while 10 x 10 is only 100.
Riddle 30
A toy costs Rs 100 after a 20% discount. What was its price before the discount?
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Rs 125After 20% off you pay 80% of the price. 100 / 0.8 = 125, and 20% of 125 is 25.
Riddle 31
Two trains start 100 km apart and run towards each other at 40 km per hour and 60 km per hour. After how long do they meet?
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1 hourTogether they close the gap at 40 + 60 = 100 km per hour, so 100 km takes exactly 1 hour.
Riddle 32
Half of a number is 8 more than a quarter of it. What is the number?
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32Half minus a quarter is a quarter, so a quarter of the number is 8 and the number is 32.
Riddle 33
Meera is 4 and her brother is three times her age. When Meera turns 12, how old will her brother be?
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20Her brother is 12 now, so he is always 8 years older. When Meera is 12 he will be 20, not 36.
Riddle 34
A carpenter cuts a long rope into 5 pieces. How many cuts does he make?
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4 cutsEach cut adds one piece. Starting from 1 piece, 4 cuts give 5 pieces.
Riddle 35
Your birthday falls on a Saturday this year, and there is no 29 February before the next one. On which day will it fall next year?
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SundayA normal year has 365 days, which is 52 weeks and 1 day, so the birthday moves one day forward.
Riddle 36
Write the numbers from 1 to 20. How many times do you write the digit 1?
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12 times1 appears in 1, then as the tens digit of 10 to 19 (10 times), and once more as the ones digit of 11. That is 1 + 10 + 1 = 12.
Riddle 37
What do you get when you add the first ten odd numbers, 1 + 3 + 5 and so on up to 19?
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100The sum of the first n odd numbers is n x n, so ten odd numbers add to 10 x 10 = 100.
Riddle 38
Tara reads 12 pages on the first day and 3 more pages each day than the day before. How many pages has she read after 5 days?
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90 pagesShe reads 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 pages. Adding them gives 90.
Riddle 39
On a digital clock, in how many of the minutes from 1:00 to 1:59 does the digit 3 appear on the screen?
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15 minutesThe minutes 30 to 39 give 10, and 03, 13, 23, 43 and 53 give 5 more, so 15 in all.
Riddle 40
A number leaves a remainder of 3 when divided by 7. What remainder does double the number leave when divided by 7?
Show answer
6Doubling also doubles the remainder, so it becomes 2 x 3 = 6, which is still less than 7.
Funny math riddles with answers
Riddle 41
Why was the equals sign never proud?
Show answer
It knew it was not greater than anyoneThe equals sign shows two things are the same, so it is never greater than or less than the other side.
Riddle 42
Which table can you learn by heart but never eat your dinner on?
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A times tableA multiplication table is a list of number facts, not furniture.
Riddle 43
Why did the fraction 7/4 go to see the doctor?
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It was feeling improperA fraction whose top number is bigger than its bottom number is called an improper fraction.
Riddle 44
Why do two parallel lines never have an argument?
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They never meetParallel lines stay the same distance apart forever, so they never cross.
Riddle 45
Why is a 120 degree angle always grumpy?
Show answer
It is never rightA right angle is exactly 90 degrees. An obtuse angle like 120 degrees can never be right.
Riddle 46
Why did the student multiply all her homework by zero?
Show answer
So nothing was left to doAny number multiplied by zero gives zero.
Hard maths puzzles for older kids and adults
Riddle 47
A mother is 30 years older than her daughter. In 5 years she will be 4 times as old as her daughter. How old is the daughter now?
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5 years oldToday they are 5 and 35. In 5 years they will be 10 and 40, and 40 is 4 times 10.
Riddle 48
What is the smallest number of sweets that can be shared equally among 4, 6 or 9 children with none left over?
Show answer
36 sweetsThe number must be a multiple of 4, 6 and 9. Their LCM is 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 = 36.
Riddle 49
A price goes up by 25%. By what percent must the new price come down to get back to the old price?
Show answer
20%Rs 100 becomes Rs 125. Taking off Rs 25 brings it back, and 25 is 20% of 125.
Riddle 50
I am the smallest four-digit number with four different digits that add up to 10, and my first digit is my largest. What am I?
Show answer
4123Four different digits with a largest of 3 add to at most 6, so the largest must be 4. The only set is 4, 3, 2, 1, and the smallest order with 4 first is 4123.
Math riddles: images to share
Save any card and share it. The answer is printed upside down at the bottom of each card.
How to use these riddles
Use these maths puzzles as a five-minute starter in class, a challenge on a long car ride or a family quiz after dinner. Read the riddle out loud, give everyone a minute to think, then reveal the answer and talk through the working together. Kids enjoy the counting and funny riddles, while older students and adults usually prefer the logic and hard sections.
When a tricky math riddle seems impossible, slow down and write down what you know. Many puzzles hide a trap in the wording, such as counting flights of stairs instead of floors or an age difference that never changes. Drawing a quick picture, working backwards from the answer or testing small numbers will crack most of them. If you are stuck, check the explanation and then try a similar puzzle on your own.
Tips
- Read every word of the riddle twice, because tricky maths puzzles often hide the key detail in a single phrase.
- Work backwards from the result when a riddle says what happens at the end, such as doubling and adding to reach a number.
- Test small numbers or draw a quick sketch before reaching for long calculations.
More riddles and puzzles
Questions people ask
What is a good math riddle for kids?
Short riddles with counting, like the spiders and cats legs puzzle or the digit that loses 3 when turned upside down, work well for kids. They use small numbers and have an answer children can check themselves.
How do I solve tricky math riddles faster?
Look for the trap in the wording first, such as gaps between events or values that stay the same over time. Then write down the facts, try small numbers and work backwards when the final result is given.
Are these maths puzzles with answers suitable for class?
Yes. Each puzzle has a worked explanation, so teachers can use them as warm-ups, homework extras or quiz rounds. The sections are arranged from easy to hard, which makes it simple to pick puzzles for any class level.
What is the difference between a math riddle and a math puzzle?
A math riddle usually hides the answer in clever wording or a play on words, while a math puzzle asks you to work out an answer through steps and logic. This page mixes both so you get fun and real reasoning.
Do adults enjoy number riddles too?
Many adults love them, especially the logic and hard sections where the first answer that comes to mind is often wrong. They make good party questions because everyone can join in without special knowledge.
Every riddle on this page is written and checked by the Paheli World team. How we make our riddles.