Didn’t any one see Die Hard II.
Q. that may work but,
You just deactivated the bomb.
Now run.
A man kisses his wife at the door as he leaves for work. About 15 minutes later he turns around, comes back to the house and shoots his wife dead! What’s the whole story?
Auraseer you’re right I stated the puzzle incorrectly, sorry. Anyway Kat had the answer the women was a travel agent.
Restating Enright3’s puzzle:
You have a chessboard with 2 opposite corners removed. It consists of 62 smaller squares, like so.
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You also have 31 rectangular dominos, each of which covers 2 squares. Can you fill the modified chessboard with them?
The answer, I think, is no, although I haven’t been able to prove it yet.
Your Quadell
I’ve seen the chessboard problem. You get a hint to an easy solution by staring at an actual chessboard.
The cherry riddle is from ‘The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin’ by Beatrix Potter.
Here’s another math one: A proof that every positive integer can be named in 12 English words or less.
Take the set of positive integers that can’t be named in 12 English words or less; then take the least element of that set. We can call it ‘the least positive integer not nameable in twelve or fewer English words.’
Whoa, we just named it in 12 words; a contradiction.
Therefore, every positive integer can be named in 12 English words or less. Or is there a flaw in this logic?
<g>
That’s fantastic, Daniel.
No flaw at all.
Your Quadell
Boy, this just reminds me how much of my math I’ve forgotten. What you’re doing Daniel is a proof by induction. The general idea, is to prove the premise for a set case, then show that if it is true for a random case n then it is also true for case n+1. The flaw is that when you go from case n to n+1 in this problem, your name “the least integer …” is no longer valid for n, because it now applies to n+1. The premise ceases to hold for case n.
I’m sure I could have explained this much more convincingly back when I was a math major, but then it’s natural to embellish one’s prowess when thinking back to one’s college days.
This is really bugging me. I can’t figure out a simple, geometric proof for Enright3’s chessboard. I’m sure the answer is no. And I’m sure there’s a neat little easily-demonstable proof of it that I just can’t see. Anyone?
Your Quadell
Greg, actually this is a proof by contradiction. You start by assuming that the set of all positive integers that can’t be named in 12 English words of fewer is non-empty. Then, it leads to a contradiction.
Quadell, a suggestion. Draw a black & white chessboard on a piece of paper, and cut out 2 opposite corners. If you look at what you’ve got, I guarantee you’ll figure it out.
Oh yeah… That’s he one. thanks, Daniel.
Your Quadell
The puzzle regarding naming positive integers is from:
http://www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/falseProofs/fallacies.html
Here’s one suitable for all ages:
Name 10 parts of your body that are 3-letter words.
I’m assuming you can’t use a body part name more than once (i.e. list “toe” ten times)?
Eye, ear, leg, hip, toe, arm, lip, gum, gut, rib.
I posted this earlier, but no one responded, so I’ll try it again. It comes from Games magazine. Name a common English word that the first half is the opposite of the whole word, and the last half is a synonym for the whole word.
Chaim Mattis Keller
I posted this earlier, but no one responded, so I’ll try it again. It comes from Games
magazine. Name a common English word that the first half is the opposite of the whole
word, and the last half is a synonym for the whole word.
Is the word “Heroine”?
Back to the chessboard, any domino placed must cover one white square and one black square. But you have eliminated either two black or two white squares from an otherwise balanced board. You must cut at least one domino in half to make it work.
golgo13:
No, but I’m curious as to how that word fits the criteria.
Chaim Mattis Keller
You’re saying that hero <male good-deed doer> is not the opposite of heroine <female good-deed doer>? I thought by definition male and female are opposites.
Wow, a lot of these puzzles I’ve run across in GAMES magazine long long ago! It’s great to see so many fellow readers here. Perhaps some of you remember this one?
You’re given a three- or four-letter sequence that occurs in a commonly-used English word and you have to guess what word that is. There are no letters in between the letters given. My fave examples:
ewr
wsp
And for a nifty little riddle, a tip o’ th’ pen to Richard Powers:
There is a room with ten doors.
When one is open, nine are closed.
When nine are open, one is closed.
Name me.
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
Reply to Olentzero:
ewr Typewriter