Lateral Thinking Puzzles 1
JUST IN TIME What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
JUST IN TIME [Answer] The letter m.
ONE-WAY STREET A girl who was just learning to drive went down a one-way street in the wrong direction, but didn't break the law. How come?
ONE-WAY STREET [Answer] She was walking.
PANDORA'S BOX I Once upon a time, there was a girl named Pandora, who wanted a bright groom so she made up a few logic problems for the wannabe. This is one of them. Based upon the inscriptions on the boxes (none or just one of them is true), choose one box where the wedding ring is hidden. Golden box: The ring is in this box. Silver box: The ring is not in this box. Lead box: The ring is not in the golden box.
PANDORA'S BOX I [Answer] The given conditions indicate that only the inscription on the lead box is true. So the ring is in the silver box.
PANDORA'S BOX II And here is the second test. At least one inscription is true and at least one is false. Which means the ring is in the... Golden box: The ring is not in the silver box. Silver box: The ring is not in this box. Lead box: The ring is in this box.
PANDORA'S BOX II [Answer] The ring must be in the golden box, otherwise all the inscriptions would be either true or false.
PEARS There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical). But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground. How come?
PEARS [Answer] At first, there were 2 pears on the tree. After the wind blew, one pear fell on the ground. So there where no pears on the tree and there were no pears on the ground.
PHILOSOPHER'S CLOCK One absentminded ancient philosopher forgot to wind up his only clock in the house. He had no radio, TV, telephone, internet, or any other means for telling time. So he traveled on foot to his friend's place few miles down the straight desert road. He stayed at his friend's house for the night and when he came back home, he knew how to set his clock. How did he know?
PHILOSOPHER'S CLOCK [Answer] One absentminded ancient philosopher forgot to wind up his only clock in the house. He had no radio, TV, telephone, internet, or any other means for telling time. So he traveled on foot to his friend's place few miles down the straight desert road. He stayed at his friend's house for the night and when he came back home, he knew how to set his clock. How did he know?
RECTANGULAR HOUSE A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All the sides have southern exposure. A big bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why?
RECTANGULAR HOUSE [Answer] The bear is white since the house is built on the North Pole.
RICE Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men do?
RICE [Answer] There are more Chinese men than Japanese men.
ROUND VS. SQUARE Why is it better for manhole covers to be round rather than square?
ROUND VS. SQUARE You can turn a square manhole cover sideways and drop it down the diagonal of the manhole. You cannot drop a round manhole cover down the manhole. Therefore, round manhole covers are safer and more practical than square ones.
THE BALL How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.
THE BALL [Answer] Throw the ball straight up in the air.
THE COURT OF LAW I And now a few cases from the island of honestants and swindlecants. A prisoner at the bar was allowed to say one sentence to defend himself. After a while he said: "A swindlecant committed the crime." Did it rescue him?
THE COURT OF LAW I [Answer] Yes, the statement helped him. If he is an honestant, then a swindlecant committed the crime. If he is a swindlecant, then his statement points to an honestant who is guilty. Thus he is again innocent regarding the statement.
THREE APPLES If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
THREE APPLES [Answer] If you take 2 apples, then you have of course 2.
A MAN IN AN ELEVATOR 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? (This is one of the more popular and most celebrated of all lateral thinking logic puzzles. It is a true classic.)
A MAN IN AN ELEVATOR [Answer] The man is of short stature. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but he can ask people to push them for him. He can also push them with his umbrella.
A PING-PONG BALL IN A HOLE Your last good ping-pong ball fell down into a narrow metal pipe imbedded in concrete one foot deep. How can you get it out undamaged, if all the tools you have are your tennis paddle, your shoe-laces, and your plastic water bottle, which does not fit into the pipe?
A PING-PONG BALL IN A HOLE [Answer] All the tools are random things that are not going to help you. All you have to do is pour some water into the pipe so that the ball swims up on the surface. And if you say that you don't have any water, then think about what you drank today and if you can use that somehow :-)
APPLES A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them among 5 kids so that each one has an apple and one apple stays in the basket?
APPLES [Answer] Answer to this riddle goes as follows: 4 kids get an apple (one apple for each one of them) and the fifth kid gets an apple with the basket still containing the apple.
BEAR Albert Einstein allegedly made this riddle for his scholars. A fellow encountered a bear in a wasteland. There was nobody else there. Both were frightened and ran away. Fellow to the north, bear to the west. Suddenly the fellow stopped, aimed his gun to the south and shot the bear. What color was the bear? If you don't know, this may help you: if the bear ran about 3.14 times faster than the fellow (still westwards), the fellow could have shot straight in front of him, however for the booty he would have to go to the south.
BEAR [Answer] It all happened on the North Pole. When the man shot, he must have been right on the North Pole. Getting it? So it makes sense to assume that the only color the bear could be was WHITE. So this is it. I've heard another logical solutions (even that there are no bears neither on the North nor on the South Pole), but this one presented makes sense to me. And what about you?
BULBS There are three switches downstairs. Each corresponds to one of the three light bulbs in the attic. You can turn the switches on and off and leave them in any position. How would you identify which switch corresponds to which light bulb, if you are only allowed one trip upstairs?
BULBS [Answer] Keep the first bulb switched on for a few minutes. It gets warm, right? So all you have to do then is ... switch it off, switch another one on, walk into the room with bulbs, touch them and tell which one was switched on as the first one (the warm one) and the others can be easily identified :)
BURIED Why can't a man living in the USA be buried in Canada?
BURIED [Answer] Why should a living man be buried?
CHRISTMAS BRAIN TEASER Four angels sat on the Christmas tree amidst other ornaments. Two had blue halos and two - yellow. However, none of them could see above his head. Angel A sat on the top branch and could see the angels B and C, who sat below him. Angel B, could see angel C who sat on the lower branch. And angel D stood at the base of the tree obscured from view by a thicket of branches, so no one could see him and he could not see anyone either. Which one of them could be the first to guess the color of his halo and speak it out loud for all other angels to hear?
CHRISTMAS BRAIN TEASER [Answer] There are 2 possible solutions: 1. if angels B and C had aureole of the same color, then angel A must have immediately said his own color (other then theirs), 2. if angels B and C had different colors, then angel A must have been silent and that would have been a signal for angel B, who could know (looking at angel C) what his own color is (the other one then C had).
FINGERS What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?
FINGERS [Answer] Normal - I wouldn't be very happy if I had all my fingers (10) on one hand.
FIRE You can start a fire if you have alcohol, petrol, kerosene, paper, candle, coke, a full matchbox and a piece of cotton wool. What is the first thing you light?
FIRE [Answer] A match, of course.
FORK IN THE ROAD You are travelling down a country lane to a distant village. You reach a fork in the road and find a pair of identical twin sisters standing there. One standing on the road to village and the other standing on the road to neverland (of course, you don't know or see where each road leads). One of the sisters always tells the truth and the other always lies (of course, you don't know who is lying). Both sisters know where the roads go. If you are allowed to ask only one question to one of the sisters to find the correct road to the village, what is your question?
FORK IN THE ROAD [Answer] Indirect question: "Hello there beauty, what would your sister say, if I asked her where this road leads?" The answer is always negated. Tricky question: "Excuse me lady, does a truth telling person stand on the road to the village?" The answer will be YES, if I am asking a truth teller who is standing at the road to village, or if I am asking a liar standing again on the same road. So I can go that way. A similar deduction can be made for negative answer. Complicated question: "Hey you, what would you say, if I asked you ...?" A truth teller is clear, but a liar should lie. However, she is forced by the question to lie two times and thus speak the truth.
HEAD BANDS Three Palefaces were taken captive by a hostile Indian tribe. According to tribe's custom they had to pass an intelligence test, or die. The chieftain showed 5 headbands - 2 red and 3 white. The 3 men were blindfolded and positioned one after another, face to back. The chief put a headband on each of their heads, hid two remaining headbands, and removed their blindfolds. So the third man could see the headbands on the two men in front of him, the second man could see the headband on the first, and the first could not see any headbands at all. According to the rules any one of the three men could speak first and try to guess his headband color. And if he guessed correctly - they passed the test and could go free, if not - they failed. It so happened that all 3 Palefaces were prominent logicians from a nearby academy. So after a few moments of silence, the first man in the line said: "My headband is ...". What color was his head band? Why?
HEAD BANDS [Answer] The first one (he did not see any head bands) thought this way: The last one is silent, which means, he does not know, ergo at least one of head bands he sees is white. The one in the middle is silent too even though he knows what I already mentioned. If I had a red head band, the second one would have known that he had a white head band. However, nobody says anything, so my head band is not red - my head band is white.
HOCKEY One big hockey fan claimed to be able to tell the score before any game. How did he do it?
HOCKEY [Answer] The score before any hockey game should be 0:0, shouldn't it?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS I There are two kinds of people on a mysterious island. There are so-called Honestants who speak always the truth, and the others are Swindlecants who always lie. Three fellows (A, B and C) are having a quarrel at the market. A gringo goes by and asks the A fellow: "Are you an Honestant or a Swindlecant?" The answer is incomprehensible so the gringo gives another quite logical question to B: "What did A say?" B answers: "A said that he is a Swindlecant." And to that says the fellow C: "Do not believe B, he is lying!" Who is B and C?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS I [Answer] It is impossible that any inhabitant of such an island says: "I am a liar." An honestant would thus be lying and a swindlecant would be speaking truth. So B must have been lying and therefore he is a swindlecant. And that means that C was right saying B is lying - so C is an honestant. However, it is not clear what is A.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS II Afterwards he meets another two aborigines. One says: "I am a Swindlecant or the other one is an Honestant." Who are they?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS II [Answer] Logical disjunction is a statement "P or Q". Such a disjunction is false if both P and Q are false. In all other cases it is true. Note that in everyday language, use of the word "or" can sometimes mean "either, but not both" (e.g., "would you like tea or coffee?"). In logic, this is called an "exclusive disjunction" or "exclusive or" (xor). So if A was a swindlecant, then his statement would be false (thus A would have to be an honestant and B would have to be a swindlecant). However, that would cause a conflict which implicates that A must be an honestant. In that case at least one part of his statement is true and as it can't be the first one, B must be an honestant, too.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS III Our gringo displeased the sovereign with his intrusive questions and was condemned to death. But there was also a chance to save himself by solving the following logic problem. The gringo was shown two doors - one leading to a scaffold and the second one to freedom (both doors were the same) and only the door guards knew what was behind the doors. The sovereign let the gringo put one question to one guard. And because the sovereign was an honest man he warned that one guard is a Swindlecant. What logic question can save the gringo's life?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS III [Answer] There are a few types of questions: Indirect question: "Hey you, what would the other guard say, if I asked him where this door leads?" The answer is always negated. Tricky question: "Hey you, does an honestant stand at the door to freedom?" The answer will be YES, if I am asking an honestant who is standing at the door to freedom, or if I am asking a swindlecant standing again at the same door. So I can walk through the door. A similar deduction can be made for negative answer. Complicated question: "Hey you, what would you say, if I asked you ...?" An honestant is clear, but a swindlecant should lie. However, he is forced by the question to lie two times and thus speak the truth.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS IV Our gringo was lucky and survived. On his way to the pub he met three aborigines. One made this statement: "We are all Swindlecants." The second one concluded: "Just one of us is an honest man." Who are they?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS IV [Answer] The first one must be a swindlecant (otherwise he would bring himself into a liar paradox), and so (knowing that the first one is lying) there must be at least one honestant among them. If the second one is lying, then (as the first one stated) the third one is an honestant, but that would make the second one speak the truth. So the second one is an honestant and C is a swindlecant.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS IX After a hard day the gringo wanted some time to relax. But a few minutes later two aborigines wanted to talk to him. To make things clear, the gringo asked: "Is at least one of you an honestant?" After the answer, there was no doubt. Who are they and who answered?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS IX [Answer] If the aborigine answered "Yes.", the gringo would not have been able to identify them. That means, the answer had to be "No.", and the one who said that was a liar and the other one was an honest man.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS V In the pub the gringo met a funny guy who said: "If my wife is an Honestant, then I am Swindlecant." Who is this couple?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS V [Answer] It is important to explore the statement as a whole. In this logical conditional ("if-then" statement) p is a hypothesis (or antecedent) and q is a conclusion (or consequent). It is obvious, that the husband is not a Swindlecant, because in that case one part of the statement (Q) " ... then I am Swindlecant." would have to be a lie, which is a conflict. And since A is an Honestant, the whole statement is true. If his wife was an Honestant too, then the second part of statement (Q) " ... then I am Swindlecant." would have to be true, which is a conflict again. Therefore the man is an Honestant and his wife is a Swindlecant. Or is it a paradox? Think about it.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VI When the gringo wanted to pay and leave the pub, the bartender told him how much his drink costed. It was quite expensive, so he asked the bartender if he spoke the truth. But the gringo did not hear the whispered answer so he questioned a man sitting next to him about it. And the man said: "The bartender said yes, but he is a big liar." Who are they?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VI [Answer] The bartender and the man sitting next to the gringo must be one honestant and one swindlecant (not knowing who is who). 1. the bartender must have said: "Yes, I speak the truth" (no matter who he is) 2. the man sitting next to gringo said: "The bartender said yes, but he is a big liar.", which is true only if BOTH parts of the sentence are true if it's true - the man is an honestant and the bartender a swindlecant, if it's false = "he is a big liar" is false - bartender is an honestant and the man is a swindlecant.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VII Going out of the pub, the gringo heard about a fantastic buried treasure. He wanted to be sure so he asked another man who replied: "On this island is a treasure, only if I am an honest man." So shall he go and find the treasure?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VII [Answer] It is important to explore the statement as a whole. If the man is an Honestant, then the whole statement must be true. One part of it, where he said that he is an honest man is true then and so the other part (about the treasure) must be true, too. However, if he is a Swindlecant, the whole statement is a lie. The part mentioning that he is an honest man is in that case of course a lie. Thus the other part must be truth. So there must be a treasure on the island, no matter what kind of man said the sentence.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VIII Thinking about the treasure, the gringo forgot what day it was, so he asked four aborigines and got these answers: A: Yesterday was Wednesday. B: Tomorrow will be Sunday. C: Today is Friday. D: The day before yesterday was Thursday. Because everything you need to know is how many people lied, I will not tell. What day of the week was it?
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS VIII [Answer] The important thing was what we did not need to know. So if we knew how many people lied we would know the answer. And one more thing - B and D said the same. If all of them lied, there would be 4 possible days to choose from (which one is not clear). If only one of them spoke the truth, it could be A or C, so 2 possible days (not clear again). If two of them were honest, it would have to be B and D saying that it was Saturday. Neither 3 nor all 4 could have been honest because of an obvious conflict. So it was Saturday.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS X There was a girl on this island, and everybody wanted her. However, she wanted just a rich swindlecant. If you were a rich swindlecant, how would you convince her saying only one sentence? And what if she wanted a rich honestant (and if you were one). Let us assume for this logic problem that there are only rich or poor people on the island.
HONESTANTS AND SWINDLECANTS X [Answer] "I am a poor swindlecant." An honestant can not say such a sentence, so it is a lie. And that's why only a rich swindlecant can say that. "I am not a poor honestant." A swindlecant can not say that, because it would be true. And that's why an honestant who is not poor (a rich one) said that.
HOTEL BILL 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 the bellboy $5 to return to the guests. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that $5 would be difficult to split 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, totaling $27. The bellboy has another $2, adding up to $29. Where is the remaining dollar?
HOTEL BILL [Answer] This is a nice nonsense. Each guest paid $9 because they gave $30 and they were given back $3. The manager got $25 and the difference ($2) has the bellboy. So it is nonsense to add the $2 to the $27, since the bellboy kept the $2.
MARRYING Is it legal for a man in California to marry his widow's sister? Why?
MARRYING [Answer] No, it is not legal to get married if you are dead.
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (DOTS) Three Masters of Logic wanted to find out who was the wisest amongst them. So they turned to their Grand Master, asking to resolve their dispute. "Easy," the old sage said. "I will blindfold you and paint either red, or blue dot on each man's forehead. When I take your blindfolds off, if you see at least one red dot, raise your hand. The one, who guesses the color of the dot on his forehead first, wins." And so it was said, and so it was done. The Grand Master blindfolded the three contestants and painted red dots on every one. When he took their blindfolds off, all three men raised their hands as the rules required, and sat in silence pondering. Finally, one of them said: "I have a red dot on my forehead." How did he guess?
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (DOTS) [Answer] The wisest one must have thought like this: I see all hands up and 2 red dots, so I can have either a blue or a red dot. If I had a blue one, the other 2 guys would see all hands up and one red and one blue dot. So they would have to think that if the second one of them (the other with red dot) sees the same blue dot, then he must see a red dot on the first one with red dot. However, they were both silent (and they are wise), so I have a red dot on my forehead. Here is another way to explain it: All three of us (A, B, and C (me)) see everyone's hand up, which means that everyone can see at least one red dot on someone's head. If C has a blue dot on his head then both A and B see three hands up, one red dot (the only way they can raise their hands), and one blue dot (on C's, my, head). Therefore, A and B would both think this way: if the other guys' hands are up, and I see one blue dot and one red dot, then the guy with the red dot must raise his hand because he sees a red dot somewhere, and that can only mean that he sees it on my head, which would mean that I have a red dot on my head. But neither A nor B say anything, which means that they cannot be so sure, as they would be if they saw a blue dot on my head. If they do not see a blue dot on my head, then they see a red dot. So I have a red dot on my forehead.
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (HATS) After losing the "Spot on the Forehead" contest, the two defeated Puzzle Masters complained that the winner had made a slight pause before raising his hand, thus derailing their deductive reasoning train of thought. And so the Grand Master vowed to set up a truly fair test to reveal the best logician amongst them. He showed the three men 5 hats - two white and three black. Then he turned off the lights in the room and put a hat on each Puzzle Master's head. After that the old sage hid the remaining two hats, but before he could turn the lights on, one of the Masters, as chance would have it, the winner of the previous contest, announced the color of his hat. And he was right once again. What color was his hat? What could have been his reasoning?
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (HATS) [Answer] After losing the "Spot on the Forehead" contest, the two defeated Puzzle Masters complained that the winner had made a slight pause before raising his hand, thus derailing their deductive reasoning train of thought. And so the Grand Master vowed to set up a truly fair test to reveal the best logician amongst them. He showed the three men 5 hats - two white and three black. Then he turned off the lights in the room and put a hat on each Puzzle Master's head. After that the old sage hid the remaining two hats, but before he could turn the lights on, one of the Masters, as chance would have it, the winner of the previous contest, announced the color of his hat. And he was right once again. What color was his hat? What could have been his reasoning?
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (STAMPS) Try this. The Grand Master takes a set of 8 stamps, 4 red and 4 green, known to the logicians, and loosely affixes two to the forehead of each logician so that each logician can see all the other stamps except those 2 in the Grand Master's pocket and the two on her own forehead. He asks them in turn if they know the colors of their own stamps: A: "No." B: "No." C: "No." A: "No." B: "Yes." What color stamps does B have?
MASTERS OF LOGIC PUZZLES (STAMPS) [Answer] B says: "Suppose I have red-red. A would have said on her second turn: 'I see that B has red-red. If I also have red-red, then all four reds would be used, and C would have realized that she had green-green. But C didn't, so I don't have red-red. Suppose I have green-green. In that case, C would have realized that if she had red-red, I would have seen four reds and I would have answered that I had green-green on my first turn. On the other hand, if she also has green-green [we assume that A can see C; this line is only for completeness], then B would have seen four greens and she would have answered that she had two reds. So C would have realized that, if I have green-green and B has red-red, and if neither of us answered on our first turn, then she must have green-red. "'But she didn't. So I can't have green-green either, and if I can't have green-green or red-red, then I must have green-red.' So B continues: "But she (A) didn't say that she had green-red, so the supposition that I have red-red must be wrong. And as my logic applies to green-green as well, then I must have green-red." So B had green-red, and we don't know the distribution of the others certainly. (Actually, it is possible to take the last step first, and deduce that the person who answered YES must have a solution which would work if the greens and reds were switched -- red-green.)
PHOTOGRAPH Brothers and sisters I have none but this man's father is my father's son. Who is the man?
PHOTOGRAPH [Answer] Answer to this riddle is simple - the man is my son.
SACK A poor farmer went to the market to sell some peas and lentils. However, as he had only one sack and didn't want to mix peas and lentils, he poured in the peas first, tied the sack in the middle, and then filled the top portion of the sack with the lentils. At the market a rich innkeeper happened by with his own sack. He wanted to buy the peas, but he did not want the lentils. Pouring the seed anywhere else but the sacks is considered soiling. Trading sacks is not allowed. The farmer can't cut a hole in his sack. How would you transfer the peas to the innkeeper's sack, which he wants to keep, without soiling the produce?
SACK [Answer] Pour the lentils into the innkeeper's sack, bind it and turn inside out. Pour in the peas. Then unbind the sack a pour the lentils back to your sack.
SEA TALES The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We traveled the sea far and wide. At one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly." How can that be possible?
SEA TALES [Answer] The marines were standing back against the sides of the ship so they were looking at each other. It does not matter where the ship is (of course it does not apply to the North and South Pole).
SHEIKH'S INHERITANCE An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower wins. After wandering aimlessly for days, the brothers ask a wise man for guidance. Upon receiving the advice, they jump on the camels and race to the city as fast as they can. What did the wise man say to them?
SHEIKH'S INHERITANCE [Answer] The wise man told them to switch camels.
SHIP LADDER A ladder hangs over the side of a ship anchored in a port. The bottom rung touches the water. The distance between rungs is 20 cm and the length of the ladder is 180 cm. The tide is rising at the rate of 15 cm each hour. When will the water reach the seventh rung from the top?
SHIP LADDER [Answer] If the tide is raising water, then it is raising the ship on water, too. So water will reach still the first rung.
SHORT RIDDLE What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die?
SHORT RIDDLE [Answer] Nothing.
SMALL HOTEL 13 people came into a hotel with 12 rooms and each guest wanted his own room. The bellboy solved this problem. He asked the thirteenth guest to wait a little with the first guest in room number 1. So in the first room there were two people. The bellboy took the third guest to room number 2, the fourth to number 3, ..., and the twelfth guest to room number 11. Then he returned to room number 1 and took the thirteenth guest to room number 12, still vacant. How can everybody have his own room?
SMALL HOTEL [Answer] Of course, it is impossible. Into the second room should have gone the 2nd guest, because the 13th guest was waiting in room number 1.
THE COURT OF LAW II A man accused of a crime, hired an attorney whose statements were always admitted by the court as undisputable truth. The following exchange took place in court. Prosecutor: "If the accused committed the crime, he had an accomplice." Defender: "That is not true!" Did the attorney help his client?
THE COURT OF LAW II [Answer] The statement of plaintiff is a lie only if the hypothesis (or antecedent) is true and conclusion (or consequent) is not true. So the solicitor did not help his client at all. He actually said that his client was guilty and there was no accomplice.
THE MAGNET This logic puzzle was published in Martin Gardner's column in the Scientific American. You are in a room with no metal objects except for two iron rods. Only one of them is a magnet. How can you identify which one is a magnet?
THE MAGNET [Answer] You can hang the iron rods on a string and watch which one turns to the north (or hang just one rod). Gardner gives one more solution: take one rod and touch with its end the middle of the second rod. If they get closer, then you have a magnet in your hand. The real magnet will have a magnetic field at its poles, but not at its center. So as previously mentioned, if you take the iron bar and touch its tip to the magnet's center, the iron bar will not be attracted. This is assuming that the magnet's poles are at its ends. If the poles run through the length of the magnet, then it would be much harder to use this method. In that case, rotate one rod around its axis while holding an end of the other to its middle. If the rotating rod is the magnet, the force will fluctuate as the rod rotates. If the rotating rod is not magnetic, the force is constant (provided you can keep their positions steady).
TWINS Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year and yet they're not twins. How can this be?
TWINS [Answer] The two babies are two of a set of triplets.
VIRILE MICROBES A Petri dish hosts a healthy colony of bacteria. Once a minute every bacterium divides into two. The colony was founded by a single cell at noon. At exactly 12:43 (43 minutes later) the Petri dish was half full. At what time will the dish be full?
VIRILE MICROBES [Answer] The dish will be full at 12:44.