Research shows that regular brain exercises, such as riddles and puzzles, can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.  Besides, they’re fun to do!  If you have a minute, try to figure this one out and post your explanation as a comment.  I’ll put up the answer sometime next week.  Let’s see who the real brainiacs of Summit Ridge are!

You are a med student working in a chemistry lab and you need to prop up a beaker of water so that its base is exactly 17″ above the table (don’t worry about why). Besides the beaker, the only objects in the lab are a yardstick and five phone books, at 1″, 3″, 4″, 5″, and 6″ thick each.

How do you arrange the books so that you can prop up the beaker at the correct height?

Hint

If you’re stuck then you’re forgetting something very important. Remember – these are BOOKS, not blocks of wood.