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Organizing Your
Mind
Brain Twisters and Their Solutions The twister is this: Can you ask just one question of this man, which calls for a "yes" or "no" answer, and find out which is the correct road to take? You don't know if he is Red or Green and even if you asked two questions, one being; "are you the Red man?". The Red man would have to say "yes", the Green man would have to lie and say "yes" as well so you wouldn't be any further ahead. I will give you the answer further down but if you are so inclined, get a piece of paper and write down different ways of stating the question. Lorayne's hint is that it is immaterial whether he is the Red or Green man, as long as the question is worded in the right way. Here is a simpler one which I won't give the answer to because if you can't get it you really aren't interested in puzzles. Fill in the three blank spaces in the following sentence, using the same seven letters, in the same order, and make it a logical sentence. The _______ Surgeon was ___ _______ to operate, because he had __ ______. Now the Answer to the Red/Green question: The question you would put to the Red or Green man is this: You would point to either road, and say, "If I had asked you before, would you have said that this was the correct road to take toward Umgowa?" Puttin the question in the past tense is what does it. If you were pointing to the correct road and asked the question of either a Red or Green man, he would have had to answer, "Yes." If you were pointing to the wrong road, either one of the men would have to give you a "No" answer. Breaking it down to help you understand in case this confuses you. First, we'll assume (which is ok to do, since this is hypothetical) you happened to have been pointing to the correct road. A Red man would have said "yes" before, therefore his answer is "yes" now. The Green man, who must lie, is a bit more complicated. If you had pointed to the correct road originally, he would have lied, and said "no." You are asking him if he would have said it was the correct road; well, he wouldn't have, so he must lie again, and say "yes," he would have. Therefore you would get a "yes" answer from either man, and naturally take the road you were pointing to. Now-- again assuming you were pointing to the wrong road: A Red man would have answered in the negative before, so he must do so again. The Green man would have lied before; he would have said "yes" when you pointed to the wrong road. Since he would have said "yes" before, and you're asking him if he would have said "yes" ---he must lie, and answer "no." You'll get a "no" answer from either man --so you take the other road, and you'll get to Umgowa! Now if that doesn't confuse you or get your mind all twisted up you must like to work out problems. I really have to concentrate on the solution and I'm afraid I would only do it if I didn't have something more interesting to do. Patricia Downing |
