Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 18 19 [20] 21 22 ... 36

Author Topic: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread  (Read 37926 times)

ed boy

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #285 on: March 23, 2011, 12:46:29 pm »

That's why I specified an arbitrarily large number of pills in each bottle.
Logged

Sowelu

  • Bay Watcher
  • I am offishially a penguin.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #286 on: March 23, 2011, 01:49:52 pm »

You are in charge of distributing pills to sick people are part of a medical trial. You are given lots of bottles of pills (an arbitrarily large amount).

Hmm, I think the number of pills per bottle was kind of vague there (what 'arbitrarily large' attached to), but that works!
Logged
Some things were made for one thing, for me / that one thing is the sea~
His servers are going to be powered by goat blood and moonlight.
Oh, a biomass/24 hour solar facility. How green!

ed boy

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #287 on: March 26, 2011, 10:30:47 am »

Your friend Jimmy is thinking of a number which is either one, two or three. You do not know which number it is. In order to work it out, you can ask him one question, to which he will either answer "Yes", "No", or "I cannot truthfully answer yes or no".

What do you ask him?
Logged

Ricky

  • Bay Watcher
  • Ancient Wizard Dance.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #288 on: March 26, 2011, 01:13:37 pm »

Ask Jimmy if it's odd, then guess.

Logged
Ah, I wish I had been lucky enough to be scum.
I'd make such great scum...

Urist Imiknorris

  • Bay Watcher
  • In the flesh, on the phone and in your account...
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #289 on: March 26, 2011, 01:22:03 pm »

EDIT: no, my idea won't work.

I was going to say "is your number prime?"
« Last Edit: March 26, 2011, 01:26:37 pm by Urist Imiknorris »
Logged
Quote from: LordSlowpoke
I don't know how it works. It does.
Quote from: Jim Groovester
YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
Quote from: Cheeetar
If Tiruin redirected the lynch, then this means that, and... the Illuminati! Of course!

Darvi

  • Bay Watcher
  • <Cript> Darvi is my wifi.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #290 on: March 26, 2011, 01:25:23 pm »

"is it bigger than two?"
Logged

Urist Imiknorris

  • Bay Watcher
  • In the flesh, on the phone and in your account...
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #291 on: March 26, 2011, 01:27:21 pm »

"is it bigger than two?"

If not, then it's 1 or 2. We need absolute certainty.
Logged
Quote from: LordSlowpoke
I don't know how it works. It does.
Quote from: Jim Groovester
YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
Quote from: Cheeetar
If Tiruin redirected the lynch, then this means that, and... the Illuminati! Of course!

Darvi

  • Bay Watcher
  • <Cript> Darvi is my wifi.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #292 on: March 26, 2011, 01:30:23 pm »

My question is ambiguous enough to mean either "strictly bigger than" or "bigger than or equals to". If he doesn't know what I mean, he can't give a proper answer if it's two.
Logged

Urist Imiknorris

  • Bay Watcher
  • In the flesh, on the phone and in your account...
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #293 on: March 26, 2011, 01:33:51 pm »

Is the square root of (your number minus two) greater than 0?

If 3, yes.
If 2, no.
If 1, cannot truthfully answer.
Logged
Quote from: LordSlowpoke
I don't know how it works. It does.
Quote from: Jim Groovester
YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
Quote from: Cheeetar
If Tiruin redirected the lynch, then this means that, and... the Illuminati! Of course!

Nikov

  • Bay Watcher
  • Riverend's Flame-beater of Earth-Wounders
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #294 on: March 26, 2011, 01:36:48 pm »

The needy want, but never need
Oft declared, never acheived
Many tried, never succeeded
Many died, the past unheeded
Logged
I should probably have my head checked, because I find myself in complete agreement with Nikov.

Earthquake Damage

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #295 on: March 26, 2011, 01:38:54 pm »

My question is ambiguous enough to mean either "strictly bigger than" or "bigger than or equals to". If he doesn't know what I mean, he can't give a proper answer if it's two.

No, it isn't.  If you mean "at least two" then don't say "greater than two".  You can't reasonably (key word, that) argue "it's ambiguous because I may not have said what I meant" and expect his answer to reflect that.
Logged

Sowelu

  • Bay Watcher
  • I am offishially a penguin.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #296 on: March 26, 2011, 06:02:55 pm »

Your friend Jimmy is thinking of a number which is either one, two or three. You do not know which number it is. In order to work it out, you can ask him one question, to which he will either answer "Yes", "No", or "I cannot truthfully answer yes or no".

What do you ask him?

Is (1 / (your number - 2)) both odd and negative?

Yes:  His number is 1.  (It equates to 1 / -1, or -1, so it is odd and negative)
No:  His number is 3.  (It equates to 1 / 1, or 1, so it is odd but not negative)
Cannot truthfully answer:  His number is 2.  (It equates to 1 / 0, which is either undefined or positive-infinity depending on what level of pedantry you've been taught.  Both undefined nor positive-infinity cannot be truthfully answered yes or no as being odd)
Logged
Some things were made for one thing, for me / that one thing is the sea~
His servers are going to be powered by goat blood and moonlight.
Oh, a biomass/24 hour solar facility. How green!

Leafsnail

  • Bay Watcher
  • A single snail can make a world go extinct.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #297 on: March 26, 2011, 06:36:43 pm »

If you're going with positive infinity, though, then it definitely isn't negative, and therefore you could say "false".

For undefined I'm not so sure, but I don't think you could say that undefined is actually negative or odd - it's just not a number at all.  If you asked "Is this banana odd and negative" then I would answer "No".
Logged

Sowelu

  • Bay Watcher
  • I am offishially a penguin.
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #298 on: March 26, 2011, 06:40:21 pm »

Ack, you're right.  And I should have done "odd and positive" I suppose, but yeah, I guess I have no idea what other people would say about 'undefined' there.
Logged
Some things were made for one thing, for me / that one thing is the sea~
His servers are going to be powered by goat blood and moonlight.
Oh, a biomass/24 hour solar facility. How green!

Urist Imiknorris

  • Bay Watcher
  • In the flesh, on the phone and in your account...
    • View Profile
Re: The questions, riddles and puzzles thread
« Reply #299 on: March 26, 2011, 06:41:09 pm »

If you're going with positive infinity, though, then it definitely isn't negative, and therefore you could say "false".

For undefined I'm not so sure, but I don't think you could say that undefined is actually negative or odd - it's just not a number at all.  If you asked "Is this banana odd and negative" then I would answer "No".

But is the banana even or positive?

Also, you can probably induce an electric charge on a banana (positive or negative), and you must admit bananas are pretty odd.
Logged
Quote from: LordSlowpoke
I don't know how it works. It does.
Quote from: Jim Groovester
YOU CANT NOT HAVE SUSPECTS IN A GAME OF MAFIA

ITS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME
Quote from: Cheeetar
If Tiruin redirected the lynch, then this means that, and... the Illuminati! Of course!
Pages: 1 ... 18 19 [20] 21 22 ... 36