ASF Puzzles & Conundrums Thread

[bellenuit]

Yes... Visualise that you have 2 trains both departing at the same time, one from either town, running towards each other. They will definitely run into each other at one moment in time through the journey.

Correct

This would have been harder to work out but the fuse question before was too similar.

It was the fuse problem that made me remember this problem.

 

[galumay]

I am thinking to turn the deck upside down so there are 42 facing up and only 10 face down, but it doesnt seem to help!

EDIT - Ok, got it. I wont post the solution yet. Will be interested to see if anyone works it out without cheating. (like me!)

 

[cynic]

One solution:

If the blind man were to tear each card into two pieces and pile them separately he would have two piles with the same number of card pieces facing up as facing down.

Another solution:

Deal out ten cards and then turn the ten card pile upside down.

Edit: Quick explanation:- The number of upside down cards in the remainder of the deck will equal ten less the upside cards dealt into the pile of ten. Hence the right way up cards in the ten pile equals the number of upside down cards in the remaining deck. Hence the need to turn the ten pile upside down.

 

[bellenuit]

One solution:

Deal out ten cards and then turn the ten card pile upside down.

Edit: Quick explanation:- The number of upside down cards in the remainder of the deck will equal ten less the upside cards dealt into the pile of ten. Hence the right way up cards in the ten pile equals the number of upside down cards in the remaining deck. Hence the need to turn the ten pile upside down.

Correct. That's it.

 

[skc]

Deal out ten cards and then turn the ten card pile upside down.

Delightfully simple.

I can't believe I didn't work it work.

BTW, Bellenuit... if you have more of these can you please post them earlier in the day (say around lunch). It's been affecting my sleep lately

 

[barney]

This is an oldie but still a goody if you don't know it ....... if you have a brain like mine it won't be immediately obvious

I know these are simple, but ........ Welcome to my world


Three friends check into a hotel. They are staying in the same room.

They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room.

The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return to the people.

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 missing $1?

 

[cynic]

Delightfully simple.

I can't believe I didn't work it work.
...

That's exactly how I felt about that fuse problem!

Based upon the current trend, I suspect that bellenuit is going to have us experiencing more of the same throughout the coming weeks.

 

[skyQuake]

This is an oldie but still a goody if you don't know it ....... if you have a brain like mine it won't be immediately obvious

I know these are simple, but ........ Welcome to my world


Three friends check into a hotel. They are staying in the same room.

They pay $30 to the manager and go to their room.

The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is $25 and gives $5 to the bellboy to return to the people.

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 missing $1?

Manager has 25, bellboy has 2, = $27
Each person has $-9, = $-27

Here's a few from a Children book that were surprisingly tricky!

 

[bellenuit]

Manager has 25, bellboy has 2, = $27
Each person has $-9, = $-27

Here's a few from a Children book that were surprisingly tricky!
View attachment 62644

I think for the first one, the water will be heavier by the equivalent weight of water that his finger displaces.

First take a detached object that is floating. When something floats in water that is equal or less dense than water, it displaces the equivalent amount of water to its own weight and the total weight (if it were a container like the picture) would be the original weight plus the weight of the floating object (or plus the weight of the displaced water, which is the same). This is Archimedes Principle. The upward push from the water is equivalent to the downward push of the object. If the object is denser than water, the amount of water it displaces if fully submerged, weighs less than the object itself, so the upward pressure is less than the downward pressure hence it sinks.

In this case the finger doesn't float but is being held up by the hand. But the amount of pull pressure the hand needs to hold the finger at that point is reduced by the push up from the water and that push up is equivalent to the amount of water the finger displaces. If the finger were detached and assuming it were denser than water it would sink as in the example above. The pull exerted by the hand to stop it sinking is equivalent to the difference between the weight of the submerged finger and the weight of the displaced water.

It is very hard to judge the "pull" needed in practice as most of the effort you would feel is in holding up your complete arm and hand and the finger is a negligible portion of that. But if instead of your finger, imaging most of your body submerged in water and you are holding on to a bar of some sort. It should be obvious that it takes less effort to stay holding the bar when your are nearly fully submerged in water than if you were doing it completely out of water. That's because of the assistance the water is giving you keeping you almost afloat with you only having to contribute a small bit of extra effort to so that the displaced water's upward pressure equals you body's downward pressure.

 

[trainspotter]

First one is a NO - it is called displacement. As long as his finger does not touch the bottom or sides then it will NOT be heavier.

Second - Because it was typed

Third - The elephant. Same colour dress as the bag and we all KNOW elephants LOVE to colour match their accesories

 

[bellenuit]

First one is a NO - it is called displacement. As long as his finger does not touch the bottom or sides then it will NOT be heavier.

If the finger was held up not by the hand but was severed and held up by a very slender thread that someone was holding in their hand so that the finger doesn't sink. It still doesn't touch the sides or bottom, but would clearly add to the weight of the glass.

The picture shows the glass not being full, so I take it we can assume that the displaced water doesn't overflow.

 

[cynic]

Answer to question 3: The butler did it!

Answer to question 2: The butler did it!!

Answer to question 1: Ask the bleeding butler, she must know because she's always doing it!!!

 

[skyQuake]

1. First one is indeed Yes. It does weight more - the finger has taken the place of the water and also "fills in" for the weight of the water. But since the water is still there, the glass weights more.
TL;DR - The total volume of finger+water in the glass has increased, thus weight increases.

I'll give an extra clue with 2&3 - pay close attention to the picture. This one ain't abstract

 

[skc]

1. First one is indeed Yes. It does weight more - the finger has taken the place of the water and also "fills in" for the weight of the water. But since the water is still there, the glass weights more.
TL;DR - The total volume of finger+water in the glass has increased, thus weight increases.

I'll give an extra clue with 2&3 - pay close attention to the picture. This one ain't abstract

2. It's a 4 ring binder but Bear's paper only has 3 holes.

3. Cat with the missing high heel.

 

[cynic]

2. It's a 4 ring binder but Bear's paper only has 3 holes.

I knew it!! The butler has a three ring binder!!!

 

[cynic]

1. First one is indeed Yes. It does weight more - the finger has taken the place of the water and also "fills in" for the weight of the water. But since the water is still there, the glass weights more.
TL;DR - The total volume of finger+water in the glass has increased, thus weight increases.

I'll give an extra clue with 2&3 - pay close attention to the picture. This one ain't abstract

The elephant is the butler!!!

 

[Ves]

Love this sort of thing. Haven't posted any responses, because usually when I've had the chance to check someone else has long figured it out.

Just a thought.... not sure if it's a problem for others, but it's hard to open this thread and not be exposed to spoilers (ie. someone else's thoughts or even the answer).

Would it be possible to have two separate threads - one exclusively for the logic puzzles / riddles and another for discussions of the processes and eventual answers? Shouldn't be too hard to cross-reference between the two with the right headings or post references (Tech/A used to do it in his charting threads). I hope that something like this would keep it in the spirit of community collaboration, because it's great to see, especially in the often maligned general chat section of ASF.

 

[skyQuake]

2. It's a 4 ring binder but Bear's paper only has 3 holes.

3. Cat with the missing high heel.

Correct!

Well done ASF, you have collectively passed the recommend requirement of 9 and over

Lets see how you fare with the next one

 

[cynic]

Love this sort of thing. Haven't posted any responses, because usually when I've had the chance to check someone else has long figured it out.

Just a thought.... not sure if it's a problem for others, but it's hard to open this thread and not be exposed to spoilers (ie. someone else's thoughts or even the answer).

Would it be possible to have two separate threads - one exclusively for the logic puzzles / riddles and another for discussions of the processes and eventual answers? Shouldn't be too hard to cross-reference between the two with the right headings or post references (Tech/A used to do it in his charting threads). I hope that something like this would keep it in the spirit of community collaboration, because it's great to see, especially in the often maligned general chat section of ASF.

Good idea!

 

[cynic]

I think I know the answer to #5, but I'll wait for creation of that other thread.

Edit: and #6 also.

2nd edit: and #5 as well.