Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Be Back In A New York Minute

Off to NY for a couple of days...expect some exciting posts soon after, including a laundry list of things I'm perplexed by, a review of 'Devil Wears Prada', and my dream team for the 2008 Democratic presidential ticket. Until then, enjoy these brain teasers that you may or may not already know...
  1. I have two coins that add up to $30 cents, and one of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins that I have?
  2. A magician claims the following: using his hands, he can throw a ball, have it come to a complete stop, and then reverse its direction, all without the ball ever touching any surface or being manipulated by any wires or other objects. How is this possible?
  3. You are traveling with a wolf, a cow, and a barrel of hay, when you come to a river that you must cross. Using a small row boat, you can only travel across the river with ONE of the three items at a time. However, the wolf can never be left alone with the cow (because he'd eat the cow) and the cow can never be left alone with the hay (because he'd eat the hay). Using the small row boat to take trips back and forth across the river, how could you get all three items across the river safely?
  4. You have two empty containers, one of which measures exactly 3 gallons and one of which measures exactly 5 gallons. Using the two containers and a nearby water source, how would you go about measuring EXACTLY 4 gallons of water (let's all thank 'Die Hard with a Vengeance' for this one)?
  5. You're traveling through the woods and you come to a fork in the path. Although you do not know which path is the correct path to continue on, you do know that one path of the fork will lead you to safety, while the other path of the fork will lead to certain death. There are two forest dwellers standing at the fork that do indeed know the correct path to take, however, one of them will always tell the truth and one of them will always lie (and you do not know which forest dweller is the truthful one and which is the liar). What question could you ask either of the two forest dwellers to find out, with 100% certainty, which path is the correct path to safety?
Answers when I return...
(feel free to post the answers as a comment if you think you know them)

2 comments:

Mr. Cooper said...

For your own sake and the sake of everyone that associates with you, please do not post a review of "Devil Wears Prada".

Have fun in New York!!!!

Anonymous said...

1. I couldn't answer without looking it up online, so I'm not going to say.

2. Throw the ball straight up

3. Take the cow across first. Then travel back alone. Pick up the hay and bring it across. At this point return with the cow and leave it in place of the wolf who you will bring across. Return to the cow alone and bring it over. ALl have made it safely.

4. Fill the 5 gallon jug. Then fill the 3 gallon jug from the five gallon jug. You are left with two gallons in the 5 gallon jug. Empty the full three gallon jug. Now pour the two gallons into the empty three gallon jug. You have a gallon of empty space. Fill the five gallon jug again. From the five gallon jug, pour one gallon into the available space in the three gallon jug. (This is easy b/c then it is full) you now have four gallons left in the five gallon jug. (Make sure not to spill any or the bomb will go off)

5.I actually think this is mis stated. I think a village needs to be involved so that you can ask "Which Village are you from?" Both the truth teller and liar would point to the safe village. I only propose this b/c I do not think there is a proper way to ask the question involving certain death. Of course these are logic questions so I could just be horribly wrong.