Riddle-Box

New twist on red and blue socks - Solution

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:54:56 +0000

Below comes a solution of variation on problem about red and blue socks new twist on red and blue socks

The answer is four.

Two Indians

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:49:48 +0000

Two American Indians were sitting on a log - a big Indian and a little Indian. The litde Indian was the son of the big Indian, but thebig Indian was not the father of the little Indian.
How do you explain that?

Another legal puzzle

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:08:54 +0000

Two men were being tried for a murder. The jury found one of them guilty and the other one not guilty. The judge turned to the guilty one and said: ‘This is the strangest case I have ever come across! Though your guilt has been established beyond any reasonable doubts, the law compels me to set you free.’
How do you explain this?

Who was the murderer

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:45:39 +0000

This story concerns a caravan going through the Sahara desert. One night they pitched tents. Our three principal characters are A, B, and C. A hated C and decided to murder him by putting poison in the water of his canteen (this would be C’s only water supply). Quite independently of this, B also decided to murder C, so (without realizing that C’s water was already poisoned) he drilled a tiny hole in C’s canteen so that the water would slowly leak out. As a result, several days later C died of thirst. The question is, who was the murderer, A or B ? According to one argument, B was the murderer, since C never did drink the poison put in by A, hence he would have died even if A hadn’t poisoned the water. According to the opposite argument, A was the real murderer, since B’s actions had absolutely no effect on the outcome; once A poisoned the water, G was doomed, hence C would have died even if B had not drilled the hole. Which argument is correct?
At this point I’ll tell you the joke of a woodchopper from the Middle East who came looking for a job at a lumber camp. The foreman said,’ I don’t know if this is the kind of job you want; here we chop trees.’ The woodchopper said, ‘That’s precisely the sort of work I do.’ The foreman replied, ‘ Okay, here’s an axe - let’s see how long it takes you to chop down this tree here.’ The woodchopper went over to the tree and felled it with one blow. The foreman, amazed, said, ‘Okay, try that big one over there.’ The woodchopper went over to the tree — biff, bam — in two strokes die tree was down. ‘Fantastic!’ cried die foreman. ‘Of course you are hired, but how did you ever learn to chop like that?’ ‘Oh,’ he replied, ‘ I’ve had plenty of practice in the Sahara Forest.’ The foreman thought for a moment. ‘You mean,’ he said, ‘die Sahara Desert.’ ‘Oh yes,’ replied the woodchopper, ‘it is now!’

Inhabitants of Podunk

admin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:43:27 +0000

Here is a well-known logic puzzle: Given that there are more inhabitants of New York City than there are hairs on the head of any inhabitant, and that no inhabitant is totally bald, does it necessarily follow that there must be at least two inhabitants with exactly the same number of hairs?

Here is a little variant of this problem: In the town of Podunk, the following facts are true:
(1) No two inhabitants have exactly the same number of
hairs.
(2) No inhabitant has exactly 518 hairs.
(3) There are more inhabitants than there are hairs on
the head of any one inhabitant.

What is the largest possible number of inhabitants of Podunk?

New twist on red and blue socks

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:29:35 +0000

A new twist on the above problem: Suppose some blue socks and the same number of red socks are in a drawer. Suppose it turns out that the minimum number of socks I must pick in order to be sure of getting at least one pair of the same colour is the same as the minimum number I must pick in order to be sure of getting at least two socks of different colours. How many socks are in the drawer?

You may leave your comments related to this problem, before you look at the right answer.

Red and Blue Socks

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:38:51 +0000

The following is a very simple problem which many of you know. Twenty-four red socks and 24 blue socks are lying in a drawer in a dark room. What is the minimum number of socks I must take out of the drawer which will guarantee that I have at least two socks of the same colour?

[005] Solution

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:37:37 +0000

Here comes th solution for Whose picture is the man looking at v.2.

The answer to this problem, ‘ Brothers and sisters have I none, but this man’s son is my father’s son,’ is that the man is looking at a picture of his father.

[006] Solution

admin — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:25:45 +0000

This is a solution for problem What Happens if an Irresistible Cannonball Hits an Immovable Post?

The given conditions of the problem are logically contradictory. It is logically impossible that there can exist both an irresistible cannonball and an immovable post. If an irresistible cannonball should exist, then by definition it would knock over any post in its way, hence there couldn’t exist an immovable post. Alternatively, if there existed an immovable post, then by definition, no cannonball could knock it over, hence there could not exist an irresistible cannonball. Thus the existence of an irresistible cannon-ball is in itself not logically contradictory, nor is the existence of an immovable post in itself contradictory; but to assert they both exist is to assert a contradiction.

The situation is not really very different than had I asked you: ‘There are two people, John and Jack. John is taller than Jack and Jack is taller than John. Now, how do you explain that ?’ Your best answer would be,’ Either you are lying, or you are mistaken.’

[006] What Happens if an Irresistible Cannonball Hits an Immovable Post?

admin — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:54:01 +0000

This is another problem from my childhood which I like very much. By an irresistible cannonball we shall mean a cannonball which knocks over everything in its way. By an immovable post we shall mean a post which cannot be knocked over by anything. So what happens if an irresistible cannonball hits an immovable post?

Before you look at solution of this problem you may suggest your your opinion in comments.