OMNI IQ TEST PROBLEMS

By Gabriel F. Calvo

This is a selection of some of the best problems that have been proposed in a number of, so-called,
uncommonly difficult I.Q. tests, that appeared over the years on the science fiction magazine OMNI
(available at Library Genesis). This collection is not intended to serve as an standardized I.Q. test.
Its main goal is to provide both smart amusement and brain training. The 80 questions have been
equally divided into two large groups: Verbal Problems and Spatio-Numerical Problems. The
diversity of the questions, some quite challenging, has been an intentionally hallmark pursued here.

VERBAL PROBLEMS

For the following problems, write the word or pre-
fix that best completes each analogy. For example, in
the analogy TASTE : (is to) GUSTATORY :: (as)
SMELL : (is to) ?, the best answer would be OL-
FACTORY. Similarly, in the analogy HOT : COLD
:: PYRO- : ?, the answer would be CRYO-.
1. NIGHT : DAY :: NOCTURNAL : ?
2. HEEL: ACHILLES :: BOX : ?
3. OF TEN: FACTOR :: OF MAGNITUDE : ?
4. WINTER : HIBERNATE :: SUMMER : ?
5. BILLION : BILLIONTH :: GIGA- : ?
6. SWIFTNESS : VELOCITY :: STICKINESS : ?
7. THOUGHT : ACTION :: OBSESSIVE : ?
8. WATER : AQUEOUS :: SNOW : ?
21. FEAR OF SPIDERS : ARACHNOPHOBE ::
LOVE OF CATS : ?
22. SMALL : LARGE :: OMICRON : ?
23. GOLD : MALLEABLE :: CHALK : ?
24. BLACK : YELLOW :: MELANCHOLIC : ?
1
25. 2 : SEMI- :: 1 21 : ?
26. SPRIGHTLY : MERCURIAL :: MOROSE : ?
27. IMAGE : IDEA :: HALLUCINATION : ?
28. LACKING MONEY : PENURIOUS ::
DOTING ON ONE’S WIFE : ?
29. TEACHING : UPLIFTING :: PEDAGOGIC : ?
30. DISEASE : PATHO- :: PHYSICIAN : ?
31. GOD : THEOLOGY :: WHY IF GOD EXISTS,
THERE IS EVIL : ?

9. HEAR : SEE :: TEMPORAL : ? 32. PLUS ULTRA: NE :: NE SAIS QUOI : ?

33. 4 : HAND :: 9 : ?
10. ONE : MONO- :: FEW : ?
34. GIFT : POISON :: LEER : ?
11. PAIN : RUE :: BREAD : ?
35. 60 : 59 :: NEO- : ?
12. SEA : LITORAL :: RIVER : ?
36. SPLIT APART : CLEAVE ::
13. INWARD : OUTWARD :: INFECTION : ? STICK TOGETHER : ?

14. WATER : SWIMMER :: CAVE : ? 37. STONEWORK SUPPORTING A STATUE :

PEDESTAL :: FEMALE STATUE
15. WIDE : NARROW :: BRACHY- : ? SUPPORTING STONEWORK : ?
16. FEEL : PALPATE :: LISTEN : ? 38. TINTINNABULATION : ONOMATOPOEIA ::
BITTERSWEET : ?
17. SCENIC : PICTURESQUE :: ROGUISH : ?
39. LOGIC : SOPHISTICAL :: FEAST : ?
18. LEG : AMBULATE :: ARM : ?
40. BEND ONE’S KNEE TO : GENUFLECTION ::
19. PILLAR : OBELISK :: MONSTER : ? TURN ONE’S BACK ON : ?

20. THITHER : HITHER :: TRANS- : ?


SPATIO-NUMERICAL PROBLEMS
For each of the next three problems, four of the five
figures have some basic, common feature that the fifth
lacks. Indicate with the appropriate letter the figure that
does not belong to the rest.
41.
42.
43.
For each of the next two problems, find the underlying
pattern in each of the sequences and draw the figure that
should fill the blank (identified by the question mark).
44.
45.
46. What is the minimum number of square and opaque
sheets of paper sufficient to reproduce the pattern
below if the sheets, which must remain unfolded,
uncut and unmarked at all times, are placed flat
on top of one another such that each line shown
corresponds to the edge of some square insofar as
it is not occluded by any overlapping square?
2
47. Suppose that ten intersecting rectangles are drawn
on a flat surface. What is the maximum number
of completely bounded areas, not further subdivi-
ded, that can thereby be formed, considering only
the sides of the rectangles as boundaries? (The fi-
gure below illustrates three intersecting rectangles
together with 13 completely bounded areas.)
48. Suppose that three circles and two triangles are
drawn on a flat surface. What is the maximum
number of completely bounded areas, not further
subdivided, that can thereby be formed, conside-
ring only the sides of these five figures as bounda-
ries?
49. In going from square A to square B in the figure,
what is the maximum number of squares that a
chess knight could touch, including A and B, if the
knight makes only permissible moves for a chess
knight (consult a book on how to play chess if in
doubt), does not touch any square more than once,
and does not go outside the 16 squares shown?
50. What is the minimum number of movements re-
quired to release the black block from the enclosed
area? In each movement, only one block can change
position. No block, except the black one, can exit
the enclosed area (exclude the small grey square at
the entrance). All movements are assumed to take
place on the flat surface containing the blocks.

51. A building has been designed consisting of several
identical cubic modules assembled together by their
faces (which are perfectly and completely fused).
The figures below depict four different views of the
building. What is the minimum number of cubes
required to construct the building?
52. If the four sides of a square consist of rods each
of which is painted white or black, six distinct co-
lor patterns are possible: (1) all sides white, (2) all
sides black, (3) one side white and the rest black,
(4) one side black and the rest white, (5) two adja-
cent sides white and the other sides black, and (6)
two opposite sides white and the other sides black.
Consider now that each of the twelve edges of a
cube is a rod that is painted white or black. How
many distinct patterns are possible if any three of
the rods are painted white and the other nine are
painted black?
53. Suppose a diagonal line is drawn across each of the
six sides of a cube from one corner to the other. How
many distinct patterns are possible if one includes
all six sides of the cube in each pattern and counts
as one pattern any patterns that can be made to
coincide by various rotations of the cube as one
rigid object?
54. If each side of a tetrahedron is an equilateral trian-
gle painted white or black, five distinct color pat-
terns are possible: all sides white, all black, just one
side white and the rest black, just one side black
and the rest white, and two sides white while the
other two are black. If each side of an octahedron is
an equilateral triangle painted white or black, how
many distinct patterns are possible?
55. Five dots are arranged in a three-dimensional space
so that no more than three at a time can have a flat
surface pass through them. If each set of three dots
has a flat surface pass through them and extend
an infinite distance in every direction, what is the
maximum number of distinct straight lines at which
these planes can intersect one another?
3
56. Suppose 27 identical cubes are glued together to
form a cubical stack, as illustrated below. If one
of the small cubes is omitted, four distinct shapes
are possible; one in which the omitted cube is at a
corner of the stack, one in which it is at the middle
of an edge of the stack, one in which it is at the
middle of a side of the stack, and one in which it is
at the core of the stack. If two of the small cubes
are omitted rather than just one, how many distinct
shapes are possible?
57. Suppose 27 identical cubical chunks of cheese are
piled together to form a cubical stack, as illustra-
ted below. What is the maximum number of these
cheese chunks through which a mouse of negligible
size could munch before exiting the stack, assuming
that the mouse always travels along the grid of 27
straight lines that pass through the centers of the
chunks parallel or perpendicular to their sides, al-
ways makes a 90 degree turn at the center of each
chunk it enters, and never visits any chunk more
than once?
58. A perfectly spherical onion is sliced by six perfectly
straight knife strokes; the pieces thereby formed
never having been moved from their original po-
sitions. What is the maximum number of pieces
into which the infinitesimally thin outer skin of the
onion can thus be divided?
59. A tetrahedral lump of clay is sliced by six perfectly
straight (i.e., planar) knife strokes, the pieces the-
reby formed never moving from their initial posi-
tions. What is the maximum number of pieces (te-
trahedral in shape) that can thereby be formed?

60. Suppose a cube of butter is sliced by five perfectly
straight (i.e., planar) knife strokes, the pieces the-
reby formed never moving from their initial posi-
tions. What is the maximum number of pieces that
can thereby be formed? (The figure below illustra-
tes three knife strokes.)
61. Suppose that a doughnut (i.e., a torus-shaped solid
object) is sliced three times by a knife, the inter-
section of the knife with the doughnut each time
creating the shape of a Möbius strip. What is the
maximum number of pieces into which the dough-
nut can thereby be sliced if the following definitions
and restrictions are observed? A Möbius strip is a
one-sided surface that is equivalent to the shape
that would be formed by holding one end of a rec-
tangle fixed, rotating the other end of the rectangle
180 degrees, and attaching it to the fixed end. A
torus is created by rotating a circle about an axis
in its plane that does not intersect the circle. The
Möbius strips are to be regarded as perfectly elastic
so that they form perfectly smooth surfaces free of
any undulations or other distortions, and each ma-
king exactly one loop about the torus. The pieces
formed never move from their initial positions in
the torus. (The figures below illustrate a torus and
a Möbius strip.)
62. What is the maximum number of completely boun-
ded volumes that can be formed by five interpe-
netrating spheres (e.g., soap bubbles), considering
only the surfaces of the spheres as boundaries and
counting only volumes that are not further subdi-
vided?
63. What is the maximum number of completely boun-
ded volumes that can be formed by three inter-
penetrating cubes, considering only the surfaces of
the cubes as boundaries and counting only volumes
that are not further subdivided?
4
64. A bowl of dim sum contains forty noodles and is
split between two people. Each person can take bet-
ween one and six noodles per bite. If the first person
to take a bite wants to guarantee to eat the last bi-
te as well, how many noodles would this person eat
on the first bite?
65. What is the maximum number of non-attacking
queens that can be placed on a chess board having
the toroidal form illustrated in the figure below?
66. Suppose a modified version of the dice game craps
is played with two regular (i.e., perfectly symmetri-
cal) icosahedra (see below). Each die has its sides
numbered from 1 to 20 so that after each throw of
the dice the sum of the numbers on the top two
surfaces of the dice would range from 2 to 40. If a
player gets the sum 21 or 39 on his first throw (a
natural), he wins. If he gets 2, 3, or 40 on his first
throw (craps), he loses. If he gets any other sum
(his point), he must throw the dice again. On this
or any subsequent throw the player loses if he gets
the sum 21 and wins if he gets his point but must
throw both dice again if any other sum occurs. The
player continues until he either wins or loses. To
the nearest percent, what is the probability at the
start of any game that a dice thrower will win?
67. Suppose there are ants at each vertex of a trian-
gle and they all simultaneously crawl along a si-
de of the triangle to the next vertex. The probabi-
lity that no two ants will encounter one another is
2/8, since the only two cases in which no encoun-
ter occurs is when all the ants go left, i.e., clock-
wise (LLL) or all go right, i.e., counterclockwise

(RRR). In the six other cases (RRL, RLR, RLL,
LLR, LRL, and LRR) an encounter occurs. Now
suppose that, analogously, there is an ant at each
vertex of a dodecahedron (see below) and that the
ants all simultaneously move along one edge of the
dodecahedron to the next vertex, each ant choosing
its path randomly. What is the probability that no
two ants will encounter one another, either en route
or at the next vertex? Express your answer reduced
to lowest common denominators, e.g., 2/8 must be
simplified to 1/4.
68. A certain lock for raising and lowering barges from
one river level to another is a rectangular paralle-
lepiped 200 meters long and 50 wide. A barge is
floating in the lock that is also a rectangular para-
llelepiped measuring 90 meters long and 25 wide.
The depth of the lock is much longer than the draft
of the barge when is fully loaded. The barge con-
tains 2000 barrels of toxic chemicals. Each barrel is
watertight, with a volume of one cubic meter and a
weight of two long tons. The water in the lock has
a density of one long ton per cubic meter. A group
of terrorists render the lock inoperable and attach
a time bomb to the side of the barge set to go off
in four hours. The barge contains elevators for mo-
ving barrels quickly to the deck, but the crew is too
shorthanded to roll the heavy barrels up an incli-
ned plane in the time allotted. The deck is only ten
centimeters below the top edge of the lock, from
which the barrels could be rolled to dry land. If
no water is entering or leaving the lock, how many
barrels at a minimum would have to be rolled into
the water in the lock in order to raise the level of
the barge so that its deck would be even with or
slightly above the top edge of the lock so that the
remaining barrels can be rolled to dry land?
69. During an International Summit, each of the Com-
missioners and the accompanying Delegates from
5
the 27 country members, took part in the inaugu-
ral session. There were 54 people in all; two from
each country (one Commissioner and one Delega-
te). Before the start of the session, some of the par-
ticipants shook hands with each other, although no
Commissioner shook hands with his/her Delegate,
and no two people shook hands more than once.
After the session, the Commissioner from Germany
asked everybody how many times they had shaken
hands. All the participants (excluding the German
Commissioner) answered and the numbers they ga-
ve were all different. How many times did the Ger-
man Commissioner shake hands?
70. There are four extremely intelligent people, Ali-
ce, Bob, Claire and Daniel, having lunch in a res-
taurant. They enjoy playing logic games. One of
them, Alice, informs to the other three that she
has thought of two integer numbers greater than
1. Then she says: ”The sum of the numbers is...”
and she whispers the sum to Bob. Subsequently,
Alice says: ”The product of the numbers is...” and
she whispers the product to Claire. Afterwards, the
following conversation takes place:
Bob: Listen Alice, I don’t think that we know the
two numbers.
Claire: Aha!, now I know the two numbers.
Bob: Oh, now I also know the two numbers.
Daniel: Well, now I do know too the two numbers.
What are the numbers?
For each of the following ten numerical sequences, find
the number that follows the underlying rule obeyed by
the preceding ones.
71. 1 3 4 8 15 27 50 ?
72. 15 52 99 144 175 180 147 ?
73. 5 7 3 1 4 5 9 5 ?
74. 14 21 13 2 5 18 0 19 5 18 9 5 ?
75. 2 15 1001 215441 ?
76. 3 23 229 2869 43531 ?
77. 8 18 30 42 60 78 ?
78. 0 5 8 8 2 3 5 2 9 4 ?
79. 2 2 3 2 4 10 1 7 4 4 4 ?
80. 1 3 8 22 65 209 732 2780 ?
This concludes the OMNI Test IQ Problems.