Riddles are a fun way to exercise the brain. Get creatively involved with maths with these 129 Fun Math Riddles for Kids. Irrespective of your age, these math riddles are sure to entertain you, get you scratching your head and exercising those mental math skills.
What we really love is how these tricky Math Riddles for Kids bring fun to learning math and take away the stodgy approach to teaching and practicing math concepts.
And they are not just for kids! If you don’t believe us, try these challenging math riddles. They are sure to get you dig through your high school math class or just work through plain logic!
- Easy Math Riddles for Kids
- Math Riddles for Middle School
- Math Riddles for Adults
- Math Riddles Printable
For the sake of convenience, we have segregated Math Riddles into different categories. Start with easy math riddles to build your tempo before you hop onto tricky math riddles.
Easy Math Riddles for Kids
These easy and funny Math Riddles for Kids are a wonderful way to get children practising their arithmetic and basic math skills. Some of these math riddles are purposely designed to check the thinking abilities and do not require much math.
Be assured all of these math brain teasers will test your kids for critical thinking, problem solving, reading comprehension abilities (yes! You read it right!) and above all, their common sense.
1. If there are 9 oranges and you take away 3, how many oranges do you have?
Answer: 3
2. If a father has 8 sons, and each son has a sister, how many children does he have?
Answer: 9 children – 8 sons, and 1 daughter.
3. There is an empty box, and it has a diameter of one foot. How many oranges can be put in this empty box?
Answer: One, as after you place one orange, the box is not empty anymore!
Quick Tip: Club these Math riddles for kids with Hands-on Kindergarten Math Activities in your classroom or homeschooling to make learning math fun and engaging.
4. This shape has more than 4 sides and less than 9 sides and can be found in a beehive predominantly? What shape is it?
Answer: Hexagon
5. What can we call a polygon with 3 sides and 3 vertices?
Answer: Triangle!
6. Suppose you have three ostriches on your farm laying three eggs in three minutes. How many ostriches do you need to produce 700 eggs in 700 minutes?
The answer: Only three. You don’t need additional birds because three ostriches together are laying eggs at an average of one egg per minute.
Related: Take a fun approach to practising maths with Magic Squares and Math Puzzles.
7. Guess the number. Multiply any number by this number and the answer will always be the same? What is this number?
Answer: It’s zero. Multiplying anything by 0 equals to 0.
8. How can you take 2 from 5 and still have 4?
Answer: Remove the 2 letters F and E from FIVE and you are left with IV.
Related: Also check out these Funny Riddles for Kids to get your kiddo’s mind racing.
9. How many times can you subtract the number 4 from 20?
Answer: Only once because after you subtract, it is not going to be 20 anymore.
10. I have no angles but I am not a circle. What 2D shape am I?
Answer: I am an Oval!
Related: Build early numeracy skills the fun way with these Engaging Math Activities for Preschoolers.
11. I have two equal opposite parallel sides, but I am not always a rectangle. What shape am I?
Answer: Parallelogram
12. In two years, Charles’ age will be thrice his twin Peter’s age eight years ago. How old are Charles and Peter now?
Answer: Charles and Peter are twins so their age would be the same. They both are 13 now; eight years ago, they were 5; and in two years, they will be 15.
13. Alex and Emma are awaiting their second child. If the elder child is a girl, then what is their chance to have another girl?
Answer: 50%. This is because the gender of the second child is not dependent on the gender of the earlier child.
14. How can you make 42 using five 3’s and only addition?
Answer: 3 + 3 + 3 + 33 = 42.
15. Which 3D shape looks like your favorite ice cream?
Answer: Cone.
Related: Also check out 10 Minute Math Games for Kids to build early numeracy skills.
16. Eight boys meet each other. Each of them shakes hands only once with each of the other boys. How many handshakes took place?
Answer: 28
17. A long 400-feet train travels 400 feet per minute. It goes through a 400-feet tunnel. How long does it take for a train to travel through the tunnel?
Answer: It will take two minutes. It will take one minute for the nose of the train and one more minute for the last wagon of the train to travel through the tunnel.
18. Robin tosses a coin 10 times and it lands in the heads up position all ten times. So what are the possible chances for him to toss it up again and get landed in heads up position?
Answer: He has a 50% chance to see the heads up position. This is because the coin toss is not dependent on the first 10 tosses.
Quick Tip: Math Board Games are wonderful at sneaking math into your child’s play. Make sure to include a few in your child’s collection.
19. Once upon a time, there were seven dwarfs who were all brothers. They were all born two years apart. The youngest dwarf is seven years old. How old is his oldest brother?
Answer: The Oldest Brother is 19 Years.
20. What do math teachers like to eat?
Answer: Pi(e)!
This funny riddle is part joke! Make sure to check out Math Jokes to bring humour to math.
21. If you count 4 years, how many days will there be altogether?
Answer: 1461 days. 365 X 4 + 1= 1461 as one of the years is a leap year.
22. In a class, there are 12 kids. If six kids are wearing socks, 4 wearing shoes and 3 are wearing both. How many are bare feet?
Answer: 5 kids are bare feet
23. Michelle is 54 years old and her mother is 80, how many years ago was the age of Michelle’s mother three times Michelle’s age?
Answer: Forty-one
Quick Tip: Pair these riddles with Math Trivia Quiz for Kids.
24. Three times what number is no larger than two times that same number?
Answer: 0
25. How can you make 20 using only four 9s?
Answer: 9 + 99/9 = 20
26. How can you make 33 using five 4s?
Answer: 44 – 44/4 = 33
27. X is a three-digit number. The tens digit is 5 more than the ones digit. The hundreds digit is 8 less than the tens digit. What is X?
Answer: 194.
Related: Also check out Guessing Games to exercise your mental muscle the fun way.
28. What do you get if you divide 2 by half?
Answer: 4!
29. If 1=4
2= 8
3=12
What does 4 equal to?
Answer: 1! It’s given 1=4, hence 4=1!
30. I am not an odd number. I am more than 90 but not more than 100. If you subtract me from 100, you get nothing. What number am I?
Answer: 100
31. If you were to pick a random odd number between 1 and 10, what are the chances that you will pick an odd number?
Answer: 50%
Quick Tip: While you are at these riddles, throw in a few Funny Questions To Ask Kids to get your kids talking and sharing their heart out.
32. What is the next number in the series? 7645, 5764, 4576?
Answer: 6,457! The last number is moved to the front to make the next number in the series.
33. Amy has as many apples as there are complete weeks in a year. How many apples does she have?
Answer: 52 apples
34. A sphere has three, a circle has two; What is it?
Answer: Dimensions! A sphere has three dimensions and a circle has two dimensions.
35. Bees love geometry. What’s their favorite figure?
Answer: It’s a hexagon
Related: Learn all about these wonderful insects with Bee Fun Facts for Kids.
36. What should you add to 55,555 to make it equal 500?
Answer: The minus sign! Place minus (-) between 555 and 55 to make 555 – 55 = 500.
37. Which statement is correct: 12 plus 15 is 28, or 15 plus 12 are 28?
Answer: Both are false because 12 + 15 = 27 not 28.
38. Your mother has ordered a pizza for eight people. How many times will she need to cut the pizza to get eight slices?
Answer: Four times!
Quick Tip: Take a brain break with these Funny Back To School Would You Rather Questions for Kids.
39. Identify the pattern and find the next number in the sequence – 2, 4, 8, 16, 32…
Answer: 64! The pattern is to double each consecutive number.
40. I’m a place in a city, but I am also a math problem solution! The math problem is: What should you multiply by six to get a cube?
Answer: Times Square
41. What is half of 2 plus 2?
Answer: 3. Half of 2 is 1 and 1 + 2 = 3!
42. What did hexagon say to a circle?
Answer: You are pointless!
43. How many sides a circle has?
Answer: Two – inside and outside!
44. What did one math book say to another?
Answer: Want to listen to my problems?
45. A woman has four daughters and each daughter has a brother. How many children does the woman have?
Answer: Five. Each daughter has the same brother.
46. A boy goes to the vegetable market to buy a dozen tomatoes. On the way back home, all but nine get mushed and ruined. How many tomatoes are still good?
Answer: Nine!
47. What occurs twice in a week, once in a year but never in a day?
Answer: Letter ‘e’
48. Which 3 numbers give the same result when multiplied together as when added together?
Answer: 1, 2 and 3! 1x 2 x 3 = 6 and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6
49. This one-digit number is more than 3 and less than 9. It is the number of sides in 2 triangles. Can you find out the number?
Answer: Six!
50. I am the reciprocal of 9 multiplied by 2, and the product of 9 times 9. What number am I?
Answer: 81
51. I am a 2 digit number, with the same digit in both ones and tens place. My digit added twice results in a ten. What number am I?
Answer: 55.
52. I am a 3D shape with 6 faces and 12 edges, but I am not a cube. What shape am I?
Answer: A Cuboid.
53. I am found in every house in every room; I am also found in polygons and quadrilaterals. What am I?
Answer: I am a Corner.
54. Tommy is 100 cm tall, and his friend Harry is 1000mm tall. Who is taller?
Answer: Both have equal height. 1 cm equals 10 mm.
55. I am round in shape but not a circle, nor an oval. What am I?
Answer: I am Sphere.
56. If you add me twice, you get a century, and I myself mark a golden jubilee. What number am I?
Answer: 50.
57. Four times this number is century and twice is half-century. What number is it?
Answer: 25.
58. I am round in shape and rhyme with sing. You can find on people’s fingers. What am I?
Answer: I am a Ring.
59. I am greater than 50 and smaller than 100. I am known as diamond jubilee. What number am I?
Answer: 75.
Math Riddles for Middle School
Middle schoolers know their math and certainly understand how to work their way to math problems. However, these tricky math riddles for kids will not only test your middle schooler’s math skills but also their ability to reason and use logic to get to the right answer.
Related: Try this pack Logical Reasoning Puzzles to build non-verbal and verbal reasoning skills.
Make sure to read these challenging math riddles for kids carefully to get the answer right.
60. What can you put between a 7 and 8 so that the result is greater than seven, but less than eight?
Answer: A decimal point! 7 < 7.8 < 8
61. What is the product if you multiply all numbers on a phone’s dial pad?
Answer: 0
62. In a pond, there are some flowers with some bees hovering over them. If each bee lands on a flower, one bee doesn’t get a flower. If two bees share each flower, there is one flower left out.How many flowers and bees are there?
Answer: 4 bees and 3 flowers.
Related: Add Trivia for Kids to these riddles for more fun!
63. Leon works at the aquarium. When he tries to put each turtle in its own tank, he has one turtle too many. But if he puts two turtles per tank, he has one tank too many. How many turtles and how many tanks does Leon have?
Answer: 3 tanks and 4 turtles
64. If you place three matches on a table and tell a friend to add two more matches to make eight, how can he do so?
Answer: Make a Roman numeral eight.
65. I asked a girl how old she was. She said, “In 2 years, I will be twice as old as I was 5 years ago.” How old is she?
Answer: 12
66. A man dies of old age on his 25th birthday. How is this possible?
Answer: He was born on February 29th.
67. There are 3 positive numbers. You can add these numbers or multiply them together. The result you get will be the same. Which are the numbers?
Answer: 1,2 & 3
68. There are two brothers. Two years ago, the elder brother was three times as old as the younger brother. In three years from now, the elder brother will be twice as old as the younger brother. How old are each of the brothers now?
Answer: The older brother is 17 years old, and the younger brother is 7.
Quick Tip: Don’t go on a riddle trail rather add in a few Silly Jokes for Kids here and there to relax the mind and make these riddles more enjoyable.
69. The ages of a father and son add up to 66. The father’s age is the son’s age reversed. How old could they be (there are 3 possible solutions)?
Answer: 42 and 24 or 51 and 15 or 60 and 6
70. I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how?
Answer: When it is 9 am, add 5 hours to it, and you will get 2 pm.
71. Arrange four nines to make it equal to 100?
Answer: 99 + 9/9 = 100.
72. When Anna was 50 years old, her daughter Mary was half her age. If Anna is 60 years old today, how old is Mary?
Answer: Mary is 35 years old.
73. Jack has the same number of brothers and sisters. His sister has half as many sisters as brothers. How many children are in the family?
Answer: There are 7 children in the family – 4 sons and 3 daughters.
74. A quarter of the animals on a farm have four legs. The remaining three quarters of the animals have two legs. If there are 60 legs overall, how many animals are there on the farm?
Answer: 24 animals.
74. Write down the next number in the pattern: 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…
Answer: 21.
Related: Think you are too smart for these riddles? Try our Critical Thinking Math Puzzles to test your logical reasoning and arithmancy skills.
75. How can you get 23 using only the number 2?
Answer: 22 + 2/2 = 23.
76. It starts with G and ends with H, and shows mathematical data. What is it?
Answer: It’s a Graph!
77. This number can be positive or negative, and it starts with I and ends with R. What is this number?
Answer: It’s an integer.
78. A duck was given $9. A spider was given $36. A bee was given $27. Based on this information, how much money would be given to a cat?
Answer: $18. Explanation – Each animal gets $4.50 per leg!
79. Add the number to the number itself and then multiply by 4. Again divide the number by 8 and you will get the same number once more. Which is that number?
Answer: Any number!
80. Four men can make four chairs in four hours. If so, how many chairs can be made in 8 hours by eight men?
Answer: 16.
81. 1/2 of 2/3 of 3/4 of 4/5 of 5/6 of 6/7 of 7/8 of 8/9 of 9/10 of 10,000. Can you solve this in a single step?
Answer: 1000! 1/10 of 10,000 give 1000.
82. Which are the four consecutive prime numbers that get 220 when added up?
Answer: 220= 47+ 53+ 59+ 61
83.The owner of an electronics store devised his own method of pricing devices. A laptop costs $30, a refrigerator costs $60, an oven costs $20 and speakers costs $40. Using the method, how much would a television cost?
Answer: $50. Explanation – the pricing method consists of charging $5 for each letter required to spell the device.
84. The day before yesterday, I was 21, and next year I will be 24. What day is my birthday?
Answer: 31st December. Explanation – It must be on the 1st of January when I turned 22 and so 21 the day before. As it is now a new year, I will be 23 this year and 24 next year.
85. I am a three-digit number. My first digit is 7 less than my second digit. My second digit is 8 times bigger than the third digit. Can you guess which number am I?
Answer: 181
86. There are two ducks in front of a duck. And, there are two ducks behind a duck. How many ducks are there?
Answer: Three
87. I am a well-known word that starts with G and ends with a Y. I am the mathematical study of shapes and size. What am I?
Answer: Geometry.
88. I am a mathematical term and remain constant. I am also a sweet dessert that you love. I am related to a circle and have a day dedicated to celebrate me. What am I?
Answer: π pi.
Tricky Math Riddles for Adults
Why should kids have all the fun? Check your reasoning skills and put your math skills to test with these enjoyable Math Riddles for Adults.
These funny math riddles are just the right brain workout that can be sneaked in without fuss in your daily routine. Besides, when kids see you working on these riddles they too are motivated to try them out.
Quick Tip: Give Tongue Twisters a try. They are a great at building memory and are sure to challenge you.
These math riddles for teens and adults are sure to get you thinking and revisiting your long forgotten math class.
90. A slug is in a 20-meter-deep pit. It climbs five meters during the day but slides four meters back every evening. How long will it take for a slug to escape the hole?
Answer: It will take 16 days. Explanation – On the first day, the snail reaches one meter. On the second day, it reaches two meters: 1 + 5 – 4 = 2. On the third day, it climbs three meters. On day 15, it reaches 15 meters. On day 16, the snail reaches 20 meters, and escapes the pit.
91. What single digit appears most frequently between and including the numbers 1 and 1,000 (including both the numbers?)?
Answer: Digit 1. It appears 301 times while the remaining digits appear 300 times from 1 to 1000.
92. What number is third of a half?
Answer: 3/2
93. What is the smallest whole number that is equal to seven times the sum of its digits?
Answer: 21!
94. The total cost of a pair of shoes and a hoodie is $150. The hoodie cost $100 more than the pair of shoes. How much does each item cost?
Answer: The hoodie costs $125, and the shoes cost $25.
95. If you go to the movies and you’re paying, is it cheaper to take one friend to the movies twice or two friends to the movies at the same time?
Answer: It’s cheaper to take two friends at the same time. Explanation: In this case, you would only be buying three tickets, whereas if you take the same friend twice, you are purchasing four tickets.
96. I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is six more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I?
Answer: 193
97. Grandpa Tom left half his money to his granddaughter and half that amount to his grandson. He left a sixth to his sister, and the remainder, $1,000, to the animal home. How much did he leave altogether?
Answer: $12,000. Explanation – Granddaughter inherited half of the total amount (1/2). Grandson inherited half of the amount inherited by granddaughter that makes it a quarter (1/4). He left one-sixth of his amount to his sister and $1000 for the animal home. Adding all these should give the total amount.
98. I will be everything if you put me on my side. I will be nothing if you cut me in half. What am I?
Answer: The number 8. Explanation – On turning 8 on the side it becomes infinity and cutting it into half horizontally makes it 0.
99. There is a patch of lily pads in a lake. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake?
Answer: 47 days!
100. Figures with sides have it, but a circle doesn’t. What is it?
Answer: Angle!
Did we get you with this one? Such tricky math riddles force you to simplify things and think at the basic level, which makes them fun!
101. Mary’s friends were chipping in to buy her a wedding present. At first, 10 friends chipped in but then 2 of them dropped out. Now, each of the 8 had to chip in another dollar to bring the amount back up. How much money did they plan to collect?
Answer: $40.
102. It is midnight and it is raining. The weather forecast predicts it will be warm and sunny for the next two days. Will it be sunny in 48 hours?
Answer: No, it won’t be sunny weather because it will also be midnight in 48 hours.
103. My friend lives at the reverse of my house number. The difference between our house numbers ends in two. What are the lowest possible numbers of our house numbers?
Answer: 19 and 91.
104. I have a calculator that can display ten digits. How many different ten-digit numbers can I type using just the 0-9 keys once each, and moving from one keypress to the next using the knight’s move in chess?
Answer: You can form the four ten-digit numbers – 5034927618, 5038167294, 8167294305 and 4927618305.
Explanation – The trick is to know that the number must start or end on the key 5, followed/preceded by the ‘0’ key. There is no other way of using all ten keys.
105. What is the smallest whole number that is equal to seven times the sum of its digits?
Answer: 21.
106. A mobile and it’s cover cost $110 in total. The mobile costs $100 more than its cover. How much does the mobile and its cover cost?
Answer: $105 for mobile and $5 for its cover.
107. “How heavy is this bag of yam?” asked the man. “Thirty-two pounds divided by half of its own weight,” said the grocer. How much did the bag of yam weigh?
Answer: 8 lbs
108. What is the smallest number that increases by 12 when it is flipped and turned upside down?
Answer: 86. Explanation – When 86 is turned upside down and flipped, it becomes 98 and 98 -86 = 12
109. If you count 20 houses on your right going to the office and 20 houses on your left while coming home, how many houses did you count?
Answer: 20! Explanation – You have just flipped sides…the number of houses are the same.
110. If 4 + 2 = 26
8 + 1 = 79
6 + 5 = 111,
Then, what is 7 + 3 = ?
Answer: 410. Explanation – The number is formed by adding the digits and then subtracting the digits. The sum forms the units and tens digit and the difference is on hundred’s place i.e (7-3)(7+3) = 410
111. If 2 + 2 = 44,
3 + 3 = 96,
4 + 4 = 168,
5 + 5 = 2510,
then what is the value of 6 + 6 ?
Answer: 3612. Explanation – the number is obtained by squaring the digit followed by the sum of the digits i.e (6X6)(6+6) = 3612
112. What is 7 + 7 ÷ 7 + 7 x 7 – 7 ?
Answer: 50! Explanation – You have to use BODMAS.
113. Use numbers 1 to 9 and add them to make a sum of 100. They must stay in the same order and you can use any operative – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Answer: 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+(8×9) = 100.
114. A man has 53 pairs of socks in his drawer with 21 blue pairs, 15 black pairs and 17 red pairs. The lights are out and it is completely dark. How many socks must he take out to make 100 percent certain he has at least one pair of black socks?
Answer: 39 pairs of socks or 78 individual socks. Explanation – In the worst-case scenario, the man pulls out only blue and red. That will be a total of 21 + 17 = 38 pairs of socks i.e 38 x 2 = 76 socks. To make sure he has at least one pair of black socks, he must pull out another two socks from the drawer, making the total socks pulled out, 39 pairs or 78 socks.
115. If 1A2B5 is a multiple of 9, then what is the least value of (A + B)?
Answer: Least value for A+B = 1
116. Five people were eating chocolates, A finished before B, but behind C. D finished before E, but behind B. What was the finishing order?
Answer: CABDE
117. You have two U.S. coins with a total value of 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?
Answer: One is a quarter, and one is a nickel.
118. What will be the sign of the product if you multiply together 201 negative numbers and 20 positive numbers?
Answer: Negative
119. Divide 250 into two so that one will be 400 percent of the other. What are the numbers?
Answer: 200 and 50.
120. There are several books on a bookshelf. If one book is the 4th from the left and 6th from the right, how many books are on the shelf?
Answer: Nine books
121. I am a 3 digit number. If you add all my three digits, the sum is the same as the sum of the digits at the tens and hundreds place. What number am I?
Answer: 100.
122. What do you need to do to make this equation true? 81 x 9 = 801.
Answer: Simply just turn it upside down — 108 = 6 x 18.
123. Double me and multiply by 3. Then divide me by 6 and you will have me once more. What number am I?
Answer: Any number. Explanation: If a number is doubled( that is multiplied by 2) and multiplied by 3, it’s actually been multiplied by 6 (2X3 = 6), so dividing by 6 will get you the original number again.
124. A woman describes her daughters, saying, “They are all blonde, but two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two.” How many daughters does she have?
Answer: Three – one blonde, one brunette and one redhead!
125. How can you add eight 8’s to get the number 1,000?
Answer: 888 +88 +8 +8 +8 =1,000
126. What is common in the numbers 11, 69, and 88?
Answer: They read the same when read from the right side after turning upside down.
127. I am a 3 digit number less than 130. If you add my ones and hundreds place digits, you get the tens place number. What number am I?
Answer: 121.
128. I am an odd number. Take an alphabet away from me and I become even. Which number am I?
Answer: Seven. Take off ‘s’ from seven and it becomes ‘even’!
129. A grandfather, two fathers, and two sons went to eat ice-cream. How many ice-creams did they buy in total?
Answer: Three- grandfather is also a father & father is also a son.
Download Math Riddles for Kids Free Printable
Math Riddles For Kids
FAQ
1. If there are 9 oranges and you take away 3, how many oranges do you have? Answer: 3
2. If a father has 8 sons, and each son has a sister, how many children does he have? Answer: 9
3. If you count 4 years, how many days will there be altogether? Answer: 1461
4. I have no angles but I am not a circle. What 2D shape am I? Answer: Oval
5. What do you get if you divide 2 by half? Answer: 4
1. A man dies of old age on his 25th birthday. How is this possible? Answer: He was born on February 29.
2. I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how? Answer: When it is 9 am, add 5 hours to it, and you will get 2 pm.
3. Four men can make four chairs in four hours. If so, how many chairs can be made in 8 hours by eight men? Answer: 16
4. Which are the four consecutive prime numbers that get 220 when added up? Answer: 47, 53, 59, 61
5. What is the smallest whole number that is equal to seven times the sum of its digits? Answer: 21
