Puzzle Corner

[ChrO]

Riddle me this: A snail is at the bottom of a 15 meter tree. He tries to reach the top. Each day, he manages to climb 4 meters, but during night, while he sleeps, he slips back 3 meters. How many days will he need to reach the top?

According to my calculations, the snale would reach the 15 metres during the day of the 12th day.

"Marbles in a bath"

How many 1 cm diameter marbles can you put into an empty 1 cubic metre bath?

You can put 1 marble in it, after that it is not empty... :P

[daamon]

"Marbles in a bath"

How many 1 cm diameter marbles can you put into an empty 1 cubic metre bath?

You can put 1 marble in it, after that it is not empty... :P

Correct - Are you a lateral thinker, or did you know it already?

[flaninacupboard]

i couldn't put any marbles in an empty bath, as i have no equipment designed for usage in a vacuum :P

[daamon]

i couldn't put any marbles in an empty bath, as i have no equipment designed for usage in a vacuum :P

I suppose that's an equally valid answer, albeit tangential to the lateral!!!

[ChrO]

"Marbles in a bath"

How many 1 cm diameter marbles can you put into an empty 1 cubic metre bath?

You can put 1 marble in it, after that it is not empty... :P

Correct - Are you a lateral thinker, or did you know it already?

I thought it had to be a trick question, because you cant calculate it, it depends on how the marbles pack together...

Here is another puzzle:
You can move 2 match sticks, to get the spider out of the glass, and i mean outside the glass... (the glass has to look exactly the same afterwards.)

[SquirrelDip]

@ChrO: How's this:



Okay, a square with 9 uniformly spaced dots as shown below. Take a pen and draw only 4 lines, without picking up your pen or backtracking over an already drawn line, covering every dot :

[daamon]

Hi ChrO,

I've PM'd what I think might be the answer - just in case it is right and others want to have a go...

EDIT: @ SquirrelDip - Not being funny, but I'm guessing Chr0's after a description (diagrammatic / worded) of how you did it... I ended up with the same arrangement, so I guess we did it the same way...

[ChrO]

This puzzle may or may not be solvable. The version I am presenting here is solvable because I omit 1 thing.



You must connect each service to each house by a solid line but it does not have to be straight. Each line can only go to one house and you must not cross any of your lines nor go through any other house to bring the service in. Have fun!

This one is hard!!!
I have solved it, but the last house needs a cell phone...

[ChrO]

Both Daamon and SquirrelDip.
You are absolutely right.
It took me longer...

@SquirrelDip, like this?

[daamon]

This one is hard!!!
I have solved it, but the last house needs a cell phone...

I agree - It sounds like I've got to the same point as you...

[daamon]

New Puzzle: "9 Dots, 10 Lines"

You have to draw 9 dots on a flat sheet of paper such that 10 separate straight lines can be drawn, with each line covering exactly 3 dots. What is the arrangement of the dots?

[SquirrelDip]

Both Daamon and SquirrelDip.
You are absolutely right.
It took me longer...

@SquirrelDip, like this?

Correct!

[SquirrelDip]

Take four 9's and only four 9's. Arrange them any whay you like and apply any mathematical function such that the result is 100.

i.e.

(9 * 9) + 99
99 + 99
etc...

[northcat_8]

99+(9/9)=100

[daamon]

"Four 9's" - Solution?

(9 / 9) + 99 = 1 + 99 = 100

This is relying on the mathematical rule that brackets means that the operation contained in them is done first.

[SquirrelDip]

@daamon/northcat_8 : Both correct! This is actually a good puzzle for the grade school kids...

@daamon : Correct on your rule, however, according to mathematical rule the brackets are not necessary (but do add clarity).

[daamon]

New Puzzle: "Large Hands"

Using only your 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, what's the highest number you can count up to? Please supply your reasoning with your answer.

[SquirrelDip]

LOL... Don't know if this is where you're heading with the "Large Hands" but I'll guess 1024 (or 2^10). Gotta have pretty good dexterity though...

[daamon]

LOL... Don't know if this is where you're heading with the "Large Hands" but I'll guess 1024 (or 2^10). Gotta have pretty good dexterity though...

The classic (wrong) answer - close, but no cigar.

EDIT: Right thinking, but its 2^10-1 = 1023. 2^10 in binary is 10000000000, i.e. 1 with 10 zeros - 11 digits, but you only have 10 digits - I hope! - So the max is 1111111111 (10 1's - represented by all 10 fingers up), being 1 less than 2^10. Hence 2^10-1.

[RabidDog]

Is the answer to the house and services problem to simply draw your lines back around the other side of the paper and over the top?

1/4 dollar problem .. the reason why it is not correct is that you are using fractions and integers.. any fraction squared becomes smaller unlike an integer which gets larger (except 1)
eg 1/2^2 = 1/4
2^2 = 4

In maths mult & div precede addition and subtraction (I think)

[SquirrelDip]

Is the answer to the house and services problem to simply draw your lines back around the other side of the paper and over the top?

1/4 dollar problem .. the reason why it is not correct is that you are using fractions and integers.. any fraction squared becomes smaller unlike an integer which gets larger (except 1)
eg 1/2^2 = 1/4
2^2 = 4

In maths mult & div precede addition and subtraction (I think)

No, the problem has to do with the units. daamon and Northcat_8 have augued that since the square root of a dollar is meaningless you cannot take the square root of a dollar and hence the square root of (1/4 dollar) = (1/2 dollar). My point also dealt with the units in so much that you must take the square root of the units even though they are meaningless.

We've had much debate on the above point. We are all augueing the same error but we have a dissagreement in details. daamon and Northcat_8 will argue that mathematically you must have similar units or the equations are not valid, I am argueing that the math is correct regardless of the units as long as the math is correctly followed.

[gll99]

RabidDog

Is the answer to the house and services problem to simply draw your lines back around the other side of the paper and over the top?

Thanks for trying but no. That would be the same as extending the page and would have no effect. You could draw this setup on a sphere and go all the way around and it still would not solve it. You need to stay on the visible page but except as stated in the puzzle, you can scribble anywhere in continuous lines to link the house to it's 3 services. It's a loophole in my rules more than anything else. The puzzle is normally impossible to do (which would have been no fun) but I left a path open in my description which makes it possible to do. Remember! Our minds create restrictions where there are none. Hope that makes it easier now.

[Tommyknocker]

This puzzle may or may not be solvable. The version I am presenting here is solvable because I omit 1 thing.



You must connect each service to each house by a solid line but it does not have to be straight. Each line can only go to one house and you must not cross any of your lines nor go through any other house to bring the service in. Have fun!

Can you go under the utility companies to provide services?

[RabidDog]

then the services are simply connected one to each house then from house to house eg one line from each service as below

[gll99]

RabidDog
My rules:

You must connect each service to each house by a solid line but it does not have to be straight. Each line can only go to one house and you must not cross any of your lines nor go through any other house to bring the service in.

Do you think you are breaking the rules?

Tommyknocker

Can you go under the utility companies to provide services

Draw a picture.

[gll99]

Who owns the zebra?



It helps if you draw the houses and write the things you know for sure. Nothing is guesswork. There are variations of this puzzle posted on the net with different nationalities, animals and cigarettes etc.. I recently found a solution posted on the net from a few years ago which was wrong because someone said he tried this color here and then that color there until he made it fit. That is the wrong way to solve this.

It is mostly a process of elimination. As a realistic but ficticious example:

At one point in the logic, 2 nationalities (call them A and B) can only go in house 2 or house 5. A third nationality (call it C) can also go in house 4 or house 5.
What does that tell me. it tells me that A and B must occupy house 2 and 5 even though I am not yet sure which one. That point is not important right now. What is important is that if A and B must occupy house 2 and 5 then C must go in house in house 4.
Much of the logic is like that.
I redid it twice without writting down my logic and came up with the same answer. next I will have to redo it and write down my logic step by step so that I can present the explanation along with the solution.

I'll wait another couple of days and start posting step by step logic a bit at a time if no one else does.

[daamon]

Who owns the zebra?"

I'll wait another couple of days and start posting step by step logic a bit at a time if no one else does.

Please don't - I'm in the process of working it out...

Same goes for the "Houses and Utilities Suplliers" one - That one's a b*stard!

[gll99]

daamon

Same goes for the "Houses and Utilities Suplliers" one - That one's a b*stard!

Check out my comment to Tommyknocker. The solution may disappoint you.

Who owns the zebra is fun. I'll wait a while longer. Remember everything should fall into place through elimination. There is no trial and error involved.

btw) the island native at the fork in the road where the natives tell the truth all the time or lie all the time has not been solved. I will post the right way to get the road to town within a few days if no one guesses that one. It is not the same as a similar one posted earlier because there is no way to tell if the native you have encountered is a truth teller or a liar.

[northcat_8]

gll99 -

I was just going to let that one go by but...
I'm on it, don't post the answer for a few days.

[daamon]

@ gll99 - You're evil...

If the answer to "Houses and Utilities Suplliers" is disappointing, I will hunt you down...

As for the lying (or not) native - I give up. Post the answer as and when you want to... But, I will hunt you down...

And "Who owns the zebra?" On the case...