A Maths textbook by publishing house "ЭКСМО-Пресс" (Russia) in 2002. These are some of the problems in the textbook. The text has NOT been changed - it is exactly copied from the book:
1. A corner is cut from a table. How many corners are left? How many corners would be left if two, three or four corners are cut?
[Answer: If the table square (which isn't obvious), then of course we'll have five. Or four. Depends how you cut them. And that is if we keep cutting in a straight line. If we cut another one then again it depends which one and how exactly are we cutting it. Generally, the problem is too badly worded - there are too many assumptions.]
2. We have 5 light bulbs working on the chandelier. Two of them burn out. How many light bulbs are left on the chandelier?
[Answer: Excellent problem. I hope it's clear there are 5 left (it doesn't say anywhere that the bulbs were removed after they burned out). Come to think about it there could have been only 5 working but in fact the there were 10.]
3. A mother has a daughter Dasha, a son Sasha, a dog Shaggy, and a cat Kitten. How many children did the mother have?
[Answer: Biologically - two. Legally - two, again. Whether or not she considers the animals for her children (even adopted) is another question.]
4. There are 8 shoes in the corridor. How many children are playing in the room?
[Answer: Hmm, yes... Without profound knowledge, the problem is hard. We could assume with high degree if accuracy that they are not more than 4, except if somebody came barefoot or entered with his shoes still on.
If we are going to delve deeper... who knows of these are children's shoes... it could turn out that there are no children in the room.]
5. There are 12 knives on several tables . How many tables are in the room?
[Answer: Obviously - none. Or many...
A killer problem!!!!!!]
6. The hen Mirka gave birth to some chickens: one red and two white. How many chickens does Mirka have?
[Answer: It goes without saying that the chickens are three but Mirka is a mutant hen - it gives birth.]
Two blackbirds, two swallows, two hedgehogs (might be a typing mistake in Russian) flew over a house. How many birds did fly over?
[Answer: Flew over a house? If the ability to fly does not make the hedgehog a bird (might have just been thrown very high with great force), then the birds are 4.]
8. Three sparrows were sitting on the water. One flew away. How many were left?
[Answer: One is left. The one that flew away. The other sank. Guaranteed!]
9. A multicoloured ring is rolling on a table: one part is red, the other green, and the third is yellow. When the ring gets to the end of the table, which colour would we see?
[Answer: If we assume that the table has corners. As for the multicoloured ring: how should I know?]
10. Children's books are sitting on the book shelf. A dog ran over and got one, then another one, then another two. How many books would it read?
[Answer: Who knows how many. Not more than four. After all it can't read everything. But however many books it reads, it would be of use - the dog is obviously smart.]
11. Mother dropped a tray which had two cups decorated with pictures of flowers, two decorated with pictures of peaches, and two decorated with pictures of strawberries. How many cups are left?
[Answer: Depends on the softness of the floor (or wherever else she dropped them) and the fragility of the cups...]
12. The oak tree has three branches each of which has three apples. How many apples are there?
[Answer: How many in the world or on the oak? On the oak there are nine. All the apples - ma-a-any... (actually an oak with apples - somebody could have nailed three apple branches or grafted them?)]
13. How many chickens did the rooster take out, if he laid 5 eggs?
[Answer: Take them out where? On a walk? Perhaps many. But since the eggs were just laid (by the rooster...) we're not counting them.]
14. A banana falls from the Christmas Tree every 5 minutes. How many would fall in an hour?
[Answer: Clearly - 12. Unless the guy with the bag of bananas runs out earlier.]
15. Masha's skirt has got three cherries embroidered and two apples. A cherry and two apples were eaten. How many fruits were left?
[Answer: On the skirt - there were 5 images of fruits (if the cherry is a fruit) embroidered. And the fruit are three less than before.]