Brain Teasers

[ChipperT]

Okay, here's one I remembered from my youth. It's a visual, attached (forgive my non-existent art skills). The lines represent 4 toothpicks, arranged in the shape of a martini glass. The circle is an olive. You are to move two of the toothpicks in such a way as to redraw the glass but leaving the olive outside the glass.

An easy one. You move the "stem" and the right side so that the glass is upside down and the olive is beside the stem. Wish I could draw it!

 

[Access_guy49]

That damn matchstick one i have no idea... lol.
how about this:

A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?

 

[Kryst51]

An easy one. You move the "stem" and the right side so that the glass is upside down and the olive is beside the stem. Wish I could draw it!

You got to it before me!

 

[Vassago]

That's just it guys, if you have 1,000,000 doors and the host reveals that 999,998 of them are goats, you really do have a 999,999 chance of winning if you switch! It's simple math... The fact that you know which ones are goats is IRRELEVANT and thrown in there to make you second guess... What the host is essentially doing is trading your one door for all of the rest of the doors, but letting you know what's behind 999,998 of them. If you stay where you are, it doesn't matter what's behind the rest of the doors, you might as well not even know because your chances of winning will not change.

Check the attachment... I know the code isn't perfect and I didn't put in any error control to make sure you pick a door in the range of doors you enter, but you should get the idea. You can enter the number of games to play, number of doors to choose from, and the door number you pick. Then just click Play, it'll show you the total number of wins in either choice, give you two kept doors, the winning door, and a percentage of wins on staying or switching. With 3 doors, it was roughly 66% on 100 games win on switching. With 5 doors, it was roughly 80% on 100 games win on switching. If you select the winning door, it keeps a random losing door. You really can't argue with the math here guys!

 

[Brianwarnock]

The Goats behind the Doors is like the God threads some believe and some don't.

I still don't see why the odds of the opened doors are given to the door you haven't chosen, not that it matters since we now know them to be zilch.

You can produce all of the maths that you like but a choice from two is still 1/2 even if the original was 1/infinite.

Brian

 

[chergh]

A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?

I was stumped but my wife proffered this explanation.

The guy is very short so he cannot reach the 10th floor button, only the 7th floor. When anyone else is in the elevator he can ask them to press it for him and when it is raining he can use his umbrella to press the button. Otherwise he has to walk the last three floors.

 

[Kryst51]

I was stumped but my wife proffered this explanation.

The guy is very short so he cannot reach the 10th floor button, only the 7th floor. When anyone else is in the elevator he can ask them to press it for him and when it is raining he can use his umbrella to press the button. Otherwise he has to walk the last three floors.

If I were him I would carry the umbrella always. Hee Hee...

 

[Vassago]

The Goats behind the Doors is like the God threads some believe and some don't.

I still don't see why the odds of the opened doors are given to the door you haven't chosen, not that it matters since we now know them to be zilch.

You can produce all of the maths that you like but a choice from two is still 1/2 even if the original was 1/infinite.

Brian

But the math proves what your brain cannot see. I can't explain it better than that. You're behaving like someone religious who can't see science proving something he believes wrong!

 

[Access_guy49]

I was stumped but my wife proffered this explanation.

The guy is very short so he cannot reach the 10th floor button, only the 7th floor. When anyone else is in the elevator he can ask them to press it for him and when it is raining he can use his umbrella to press the button. Otherwise he has to walk the last three floors.

Correct!!! ok.. how about this one, it's pretty common, i'm sure it wont take long for someone to get.

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?

 

[Access_guy49]

While i'm at it... What can you put in a bucket, that you CAN see! that makes it lighter.

 

[pbaldy]

Correct!!! ok.. how about this one, it's pretty common, i'm sure it wont take long for someone to get.

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?

Ah, trick question:

They paid 25 for the room, not 30. They paid out 27, LESS the 2 kept by the bellboy is 25.

 

[Fifty2One]

That is the unrefundable portion of the HST so I would say that Dalton McGuinty has the $1

Correct!!! ok.. how about this one, it's pretty common, i'm sure it wont take long for someone to get.

Three people check into a hotel. They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager finds out that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets $2 and gives $1 to each person. Now each person paid $10 and got back $1. So they paid $9 each, totalling $27. The bellboy has $2, totalling $29.
Where is the remaining dollar?

 

[Access_guy49]

Ah, trick question:

They paid 25 for the room, not 30. They paid out 27, LESS the 2 kept by the bellboy is 25.

Good stuff.... but i did like Fifty2one's answer!

ok...

Brothers and sisters, I have none, but this man's father is my fathers son. Who am I?

 

[Kryst51]

Good stuff.... but i did like Fifty2one's answer!

ok...

Brothers and sisters, I have none, but this man's father is my fathers son. Who am I?

It works better if you include the whole riddle:

A man is holding a photograph of a man and says "brothers and sisters i

have none but this mans father is my fathers son". who is the man in the photo?

Answer: Himself

 

[Access_guy49]

It works better if you include the whole riddle:

A man is holding a photograph of a man and says "brothers and sisters i

have none but this mans father is my fathers son". who is the man in the photo?

Answer: Himself

Yes.. when i pasted it in, i didn't copy the "top line" my mistake, thank you..
and that is not correct.

 

[pbaldy]

Good stuff.... but i did like Fifty2one's answer!

ok...

Brothers and sisters, I have none, but this man's father is my fathers son. Who am I?

Is it

the speaker's son?

 

[Access_guy49]

Is it

the speaker's son?

yep!

Anyone got the bucket teaser on the previous page?

 

[Kryst51]

yep!

Anyone got the bucket teaser on the previous page?

I don't believe you.... I challenge you to prove it!

 

[Vassago]

While i'm at it... What can you put in a bucket, that you CAN see! that makes it lighter.

That should be...

a hole?

 

[Kryst51]

That should be...

a hole?

Or.... a candle/lantern/lamp