come fiddle with my riddle ?

Published on June 22, 2004 By mignuna In Just Hanging Out

i have the strength of sixty men, i'm over ten feet tall
i'm footed, though i never move, it's said that i can fall

in grand ballrooms i can be seen holding up affairs
and i can bring the house down if i crack up near the stairs

... what am i ?

if you know the solution to this riddle, please make me very happy by posting it

... but if you do post the answer, you must post the next riddle to be guessed by the next successful person, and so on. or so i hope.

course, the whole thing could get ignored, too. how embarrasing that would be. hehe. oh, well ... the risks one will take in order to achieve linguistic banter these days apparently know no bounds !!!. somebody guess, dammit

Comments (Page 14)

196

mignuna

on Oct 04, 2004

i have so lost control of this thread. i am so sorry. and so slack !. and soooo grateful.

i will do better this week, i promise.

mig XXX

197

Lengirl

on Oct 04, 2004

Citahellion -- YOU GOT IT

!!!!! Water it is...

I would be very interested in more logic puzzles... I love a good brain workout!!

try this:-
I give you a group of three.
One is sitting down and will never get up.
The second eats as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry.
The third goes away and never returns.

What are they?

Ciao

198

citahellion

on Oct 04, 2004

I don't have an answer for your new one yet, Lengirl, but in looking at the City of Truth one, I realized that as long as the Truthful door leads to the City of truth, a perfectly serviceable question would be "Is my shirt red?" If the door gets the answer right, go through it.

199

citahellion

on Oct 05, 2004

I'm taking a wild stab at your latest one here...

Is it a fire? (A pile of wood "sitting down" which will never get up; a flame that consumes everything; and a column of smoke)

200

Lengirl

on Oct 06, 2004

Citahellion -- WELL DONE!! you are correct

You could also substitute a stove as the pile of wood but YEAH !!!

Have you got anymore brain teasers? I could do with some mental aerobics...

Ciao

201

citahellion

on Oct 06, 2004

OK, here are a couple of puzzles from Raymond Smullyan's book, "What Is the Name of This Book?"

You are on the Island of Knights and Knaves. Knights always speak the truth, and Knaves always lie. Every inhabitant on the island (except you) is either a Knight or a Knave, but they have no distinguishing markings. Generally speaking, your task is to determine whether a given person is a Knight or a Knave.

So, puzzle 1:
You are in a garden with 3 inhabitants, which we will call A, B, and C. You ask A, "How many knights are among you?" A answers you, but a fart from a passing raccoon drowns out his answer.
You turn and ask B, "What did he say?" To which B replies, "A said that there is one knight among us."
At that, C pipes up and says "Don't believe B, he's lying."

Now, what are B and C?

Puzzle 2:
A says, "Either I am a knave or B is a knight."
What are A and B?

Puzzle 3:
You have three people in a room.
A says," All of us are knaves."
B says, "Exactly one of us is a knight."
What are A, B, and C?

202

Lengirl

on Oct 06, 2004

Okay, here's my thoughts for these -
Puzzle 1: A and C are knights
Puzzle 2: A is a knave and B is a knight
Puzzle 3: B is a knight, A and C are knaves.

Give this one a try...

I have a hundred legs, But cannot stand.
I have a long neck, But no head.
I cannot see, and I'm neat and tidy, As can be.
What am I?

Ciao!!

203

citahellion

on Oct 06, 2004

Gotta ding you on not answering the question asked for puzzle one (you gave A and C's types, B and C were asked for).

You've got #2 wrong.
You've got #3 right.

To explain the logic behind #3 for any one else who's still reading:
If A is telling the truth, then he is claiming that he (and all the others) are knaves (i.e. liars). A liar will never truthfully admit to being a liar, so A must not be telling the truth. Therefore A is a knave.
This means A's statement is false; they are not all knaves. So either B or C (or both) is a knight.
If B is a knave, then C must be the knight. But If B is a knave, then since we know A to also be a knave, that would mean there is exactly one knight, and B's statement would be true; which it cannot be if he is a knave. So B cannot be a knave, he has to be a knight.
Since B is a knight, his statement is true, and since B is the one knight referenced, the other 2 must both be knaves. Therefore C is a knave, and thus all three are identified.

204

citahellion

on Oct 06, 2004

... and for your riddle, I' ll guess a mop or a broom.

205

citahellion

on Oct 08, 2004

So was I right?

206

Lengirl

on Oct 10, 2004

Sorry!! Have been away

!! Yes you are completely correct with broom. For the knights and knaves:
1: B is a knave and C is a knight. (A is also a knight.) So B is lying when he said A said that there was only one knight, and C is telling the truth when he says B is lying.
2: How about, A and B are both knights. Then A is telling the truth when he says that either he is a knave or B is a knight.

Ciao!!

207

citahellion

on Oct 10, 2004

You are correct on #1, except that it is impossible to tell what A is because since B is a knave, we have no idea what A actually said, and therefore we cannot hope to evaluate whether it was true or false.

Explanation: We know because of what C said ("B is lying") that B and C cannot be either both knights or both knaves (This is the case regardless of what B actually said; if B said something true, and C said "B is lying", then B is a knight and C is a knave; if B said something false and C said "B is lying", then B is a knave and C is a knight.) Therefore, if A actually DID say "There is only one knight among us", there are two possibilities: First, A is a knight. Therefore he made a true statement, and B and C must both be knaves to comply with his statement. This contradicts our knowledge that B and C must be different types, so it can't be the case. The other possibility is that A and one of B/C are knaves, and the other is a knight. If this is the case, though, then A made a true statement (since there is only one knight), which contradicts our assumption that A is a knave. Going back, we must conclude that A could not have said "There is only one knight among us". This means B lied about what A said. Therefore B is the knave and C must be the knight.

You are also correct on #2.

Explanation: What gets a lot of people, apparently, is the notion of "inclusive" vs. "Exclusive" or statements. In order for the statement "Either X or Y" to be true, X can be true, Y can be true, or both X and Y can be true. The only way the statement is false is if both X and Y are false.
So if A was a knave (and therefore lying), both "I am a knave" and "B is a knight" must be false. But obviously "I am a knave" would not be a false statement if A were a knave. Therefore A must be a knight. And since the "I am a knave" portion of his statement was false, the other portion must be true in order to make the statement as a whole true, and so B is also a knight.

New problems:

1)
Suppose A says, "I am a knave, but B isn't."
What are A and B?

2) ("of the same type" = either both knights, or both knaves.)
A says "B is a knave."
B says "A and C are of the same type."
What is C?

208

citahellion

on Oct 12, 2004

By the way, shadesofgrey posted a great logic puzzle a while ago which seemed to receive very little attention...

check it out here.

Don't look at the comments until you've tried to solve it, though, because the first comment contains the answers.

209

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Oct 12, 2004

my first is on behalf of you
my second sealess one
my third and fourth together
and your speaker i become

This pro'lly isn't the answer, I skipped to the end of the thread, so I didn't see an answer, but I would say a politician...

210

Silver_and_Jade_Tears

on Oct 12, 2004

An electric engine is travelling west at 94 MPH, getting 45 MPG. The wind is blowing south at 24 MPH, and the sun is 45 degrees north of the horizon which is also to the west. Which direction is the smoke from the trains stack blowing?

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!