Originally posted by: Fritzo
Originally posted by: apac
Oops, nevermind. It's been a while since basic algebra.
And even longer since you took geometry?
hey now...be nice
DrPizza
Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
It's fairly well known that Fermat jotted something in the margin of a page to the effect of "I have just discovered an ingenious proof of this, but there isn't enough room in the margin." (a proof of what's known as Fermat's last theorem, which was proven in the past couple years.) A lot of sources state that it's unknown whether Fermat had actually discovered such a proof. Which is odd, because later on, Fermat spent a lot of time on a proof which was a specific case of his famous theorem. i.e. if he had a proof of the theorem, it'd have been stupid to prove something that he already proved.
Or to put it another way, it'd be like he said "I have a way to prove that all mammals have hair." Then, 5 years later, he painstakingly struggled to prove that all dogs have hair. There was one particular proof that someone suggested at one point; seemed simple enough, but then one fatal flaw was noticed. Some have speculated that Fermat had thought of that same proof, but later realized the flaw.
2Xtreme21
Diamond Member
- Jun 13, 2004
- 7,044
- 0
- 0
Originally posted by: alrocky
My version is:Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Still relies on the "inability to answer" to resolve the 3rd choice.Originally posted by: TuxDave
I like it!Originally posted by: gsellis
"If the your number is 3, answer yes, but if it is 2, answer no."
Occum would be proud.
If we assume 1 is "yes", 2 is "no", and 3 is "yes or no", is your number 1, 2 or 3?
How is that a yes or no question?
This is a classic problem. Unfortunately it isn't properly stated so many of you are grasping for solutions.
The original question goes like this:
"I am an honest person, and am thinking of one of three numbers: 1, 2 or 3. You may ask me EXACTLY one yes-no question, I will answer truthfully, and if you chose the right question, you will know which number I'm thinking of! (HINT: if I cannot answer your question, I will say I cannot answer it)."
Don't put too much thought into it.
"If 1 is not the number that you have in mind, is the number odd?"
The riddle for your answer is:
"Imagine you are in a room with 3 switches. In an adjacent room there are 3 bulbs (all are off at the moment), each switch belongs to one bulb. It is impossible to see from one room to another. How can you find out which switch belongs to which bulb, if you may enter the room with the bulbs only once? "
A slightly more difficult question is replacing the light bulbs with jars containing fireflies, and the jars are each covered with an immovable tarp (just a black thing covering the jar with the consistency of a hard metal). Flipping a switch removes the tarp from one jar.
You're still only allowed to have one switch on at a time, and you can only enter the room once. HINT: The solution to the lightbulb problem will not work here, because removing one tarp will not cause heat anywhere.
Let's forget about the first portion of my question and truncate it so it reads: Is your number 1, 2 or 3?Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Originally posted by: alrocky
My version is:Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Still relies on the "inability to answer" to resolve the 3rd choice.Originally posted by: TuxDave
I like it!Originally posted by: gsellis
"If the your number is 3, answer yes, but if it is 2, answer no."
Occum would be proud.
If we assume 1 is "yes", 2 is "no", and 3 is "yes or no", is your number 1, 2 or 3?
How is that a yes or no question?
That is a yes or no question. Of course the answer to that question would be, "Yes." If we add back the first portion, it's still a yes or no question. However, the responder would reply, "Yes" "No" or "Yes or No" and that reveals which number is the correct answer.
I'm thinking that this is a word problem disguised as a math problem since noone as yet has solved it math-wise. Gsellis posted a solution similar to one I thought of today while I was work, but his only solves two thirds of the problem. Actually the "inability to answer" complaint may not be valid and his solution could be perceived as correct.
- May 13, 2003
- 13,704
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Is there a specific time frame? I'd let it sit from a while, and let the tarps collect dust. Most one, put it back, and then pull another. One in place but with less / no dust is the first switch pulled, etc, etc.
Alright, so we finally got the answer from the T.A.
It went: "Which word has the same number of letters as the number you are thinking of, yes or no?"
Someone in here said that but I have no idea who and I'm not reading through 7 pages to figure it out, but I do remember reading it.
Thanks for all the other responses, I was honestly surprised by some of the guesses and the amount of work people put into it.
Therefore, since I believe that answer was sort of a letdown, I offer this horrible cheesy physics joke to make up for it:
What do you get if you cross a mosquito with a mountain climber?
Trick question! You can't cross a vector with a scalar!
hahahahaha...haha...ha...hmm
*slowly backs out of thread*
It went: "Which word has the same number of letters as the number you are thinking of, yes or no?"
Someone in here said that but I have no idea who and I'm not reading through 7 pages to figure it out, but I do remember reading it.
Thanks for all the other responses, I was honestly surprised by some of the guesses and the amount of work people put into it.
Therefore, since I believe that answer was sort of a letdown, I offer this horrible cheesy physics joke to make up for it:
What do you get if you cross a mosquito with a mountain climber?
Trick question! You can't cross a vector with a scalar!
hahahahaha...haha...ha...hmm
*slowly backs out of thread*
let your number be X. is X / (2-X) greater than 0?
If yes then X = 1
If no then X = 3
If N/A then X = 2
? seems easy enough to me AND its a yes no
(dont yell at me if someone already posted this one. There are WAY too many posts on this for me to read)
If yes then X = 1
If no then X = 3
If N/A then X = 2
? seems easy enough to me AND its a yes no
(dont yell at me if someone already posted this one. There are WAY too many posts on this for me to read)
Chaotic42 posted the answer.
As I thought, it's a word problem and not a math problem per se. The solution: "... you're thinking of, yes or no?" is a tricky way to fulfill the requirement: "one yes or no question..." Also since the riddle does not strickly require only a yes or no reply, this means that several solutions would be valid including Gsellis and mine.
No, all three are prime! It happens one of them is even, but that does not mean it is not prime.
Originally posted by: Alone
If I said yes, it could be one or two, for they both have three letters.
You're looking at it the wrong way. Yes has 3 letters, No has 2 letters, and you'd have to say neither if they're thinking of one since you're only given options for 2 and 3. You're thinking in terms of number of letters in the answer
Originally posted by: RedArmy
Originally posted by: Alone
If I said yes, it could be one or two, for they both have three letters.
You're looking at it the wrong way. Yes has 3 letters, No has 2 letters, and you'd have to say neither if they're thinking of one since you're only given options for 2 and 3. You're thinking in terms of number of letters in the answer
Oh, right, oops.
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