Math riddles are a fun and engaging way to exercise your brain and sharpen your logical thinking skills. Here are 69 math riddles ranging from easy to hard, covering topics like arithmetic, algebra, geometry, probability, and more.
Easy math riddles
#1
Riddle: What is 3 plus 4?
Answer: 7
#2
Riddle: What number is exactly in the middle of 1 and 9?
Answer: 5
#3
Riddle: What is 30 divided by 1/2?
Answer: 60
#4
Riddle: How many sides does a triangle have?
Answer: 3
#5
Riddle: What number comes after 69?
Answer: 70
#6
Riddle: 87 minus 31 equals what?
Answer: 56
#7
Riddle: What is half of 100?
Answer: 50
#8
Riddle: What is 20 times 5?
Answer: 100
#9
Riddle: How many hours are in a day?
Answer: 24
#10
Riddle: What number comes between 12 and 14?
Answer: 13
Intermediate math riddles
#11
Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven
#12
Riddle: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
#13
Riddle: What 3 numbers have the same answer when multiplied or added together?
Answer: 1, 2, 3
#14
Riddle: Feed me and I live, give me water and I die. What am I?
Answer: Fire
#15
Riddle: What gets broken without being held?
Answer: A promise
#16
Riddle: What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin
#17
Riddle: What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
Answer: A piano
#18
Riddle: What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
#19
Riddle: What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle
#20
Riddle: The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness
Math riddles for kids
#21
Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge
#22
Riddle: What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
#23
Riddle: What kind of room has no walls?
Answer: A mushroom
#24
Riddle: What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library
#25
Riddle: What has to be broken before it can be used?
Answer: An egg
#26
Riddle: What belongs to you but other people use it more than you?
Answer: Your name
#27
Riddle: What starts with “e” and ends with “e” but only has one letter?
Answer: An envelope
#28
Riddle: What has four fingers and a thumb but is not alive?
Answer: A glove
#29
Riddle: What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold
#30
Riddle: What has a face but no body?
Answer: A clock
Hard math riddles
#31
Riddle: What 7-letter word contains thousands of letters?
Answer: Mailbox
#32
Riddle: What word looks the same when upside down and reversed?
Answer: Noon
#33
Riddle: What word has kst in the middle, in the beginning, and at the end?
Answer: Inkstand
#34
Riddle: I have cities with no people, oceans with no water, and deserts with no sand. What am I?
Answer: A map
#35
Riddle: What tastes better than it smells?
Answer: A tongue
#36
Riddle: What starts with T, ends with T, and is full of T?
Answer: A teapot
#37
Riddle: What is harder to catch the faster you run?
Answer: Your breath
#38
Riddle: A farmer has 17 sheep, and all but 9 die. How many are left?
Answer: 9
#39
Riddle: David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle, and who’s the third son?
Answer: David
#40
Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge
Math riddles for adults
#41
Riddle: What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chicago
#42
Riddle: If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?
Answer: A secret
#43
Riddle: What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer: A stamp
#44
Riddle: What loses its head in the morning and gets it back at night?
Answer: A pillow
#45
Riddle: The person who makes it has no need for it. The person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin
#46
Riddle: What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left?
Answer: Your left hand
#47
Riddle: What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Answer: Your name
#48
Riddle: What is that you will break even when you name it?
Answer: Silence
#49
Riddle: The eight of us go forth, not back. To protect our king from a foe’s attack. What are we?
Answer: Chess pawns
#50
Riddle: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
Math brain teasers
#51
Riddle: Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill said he had no brothers. Who’s telling the truth?
Answer: They all are. The three doctors are Bill’s sisters.
#52
Riddle: What runs around a backyard but doesn’t move?
Answer: A fence
#53
Riddle: The more there is, the less you see. What am I?
Answer: Darkness
#54
Riddle: What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold
#55
Riddle: What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
#56
Riddle: What goes up and down but does not move?
Answer: A staircase
#57
Riddle: What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library
#58
Riddle: What has 13 hearts but no organs?
Answer: A deck of playing cards
#59
Riddle: What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
#60
Riddle: What gets broken without being held?
Answer: A promise
Math logic puzzles
#61
Riddle: How far can a dog run into the woods?
Answer: Halfway, after that he’s running out of the woods.
#62
Riddle: A farmer had 17 sheep and all but 9 died. How many are left?
Answer: 9
#63
Riddle: How many cubic feet of dirt are in a hole 6 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet long?
Answer: There are no cubic feet of dirt in a hole.
#64
Riddle: If you’re running a race and you overtake the second person, what place are you in?
Answer: Second place
#65
Riddle: A doctor gives you three pills telling you to take one every half hour. How long will the pills last?
Answer: 1 hour. After half an hour you’ll have taken 1 pill. After a half hour more you’ll have taken the 2nd pill. In another half hour you’ll take the last pill.
#66
Riddle: Is it possible to draw a square with three sides? Why or why not?
Answer: No, because by definition a square has four sides.
#67
Riddle: Which travels faster – heat or cold?
Answer: Neither, they both travel at the same speed.
#68
Riddle: If there are 10 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
Answer: You have 2 apples.
#69
Riddle: How much dirt is in a hole 4 feet deep and 2 feet wide?
Answer: There is no dirt in a hole.
Conclusion
These math riddles should get your mind thinking logically and creatively. Riddles are great for exercising your brain, improving concentration and developing problem solving skills. The key is to examine the clues carefully and avoid making assumptions. Did you get stumped on any of these? The trickier riddles show that math can be as much fun as it is functional!
