fandomhigh | Logic, Reason and Critical Thinking, Class 11: Period 4, Thursday, November 19

"Good afternoon, class," Miss Bennet said warmly. "As you well know, we have, of late, been discussing problem-solving. Today I thought it might be interesting for us to apply some of the principles we've been working on."

She uncovered the blackboard to reveal a great deal of writing.

1. Suppose there is a coin inside a bottle, and further suppose someone places a cork into the mouth of the bottle. How can one retrieve the coin without either pulling out the cork or smashing the bottle?

2. Your sock drawer contains ten pairs of white socks and ten pairs of black -- no other colors. Suppose your roommate prefers to sleep in, and you kindly choose socks in the darkness each morning. How many socks must you take from the drawer to ensure your socks for today will match?

3. A gentleman has passed on, and left his wine-cellar to his three devoted sons. In the wine cellar were seven full barrels of wine, seven half-full barrels, and seven empty barrels. His will only asked that the three split the wine equally -- each must have the same number of full, half-full, and empty barrels. There are no measuring devices handy, and yet the father's request is accomplished. How?

4. All of my flowers but two are roses. All of my flowers but two are tulips. All of my flowers but two are daisies. How many flowers do I have?

5. On a table before you are eight jelly donuts, and a balancing scale. Inside one of them is a diamond ring, placed there by the king. The king states that he will give you the ring if you can correctly tell him which jelly donut has the ring. You may not open any of the donuts, and you may only use the scale twice. How will you succeed?

6. Mary's mother has four children. The eldest is named April; the next, May, and the one following that, June. What is the youngest child's name?

7. A horse is tied to a fifteen-foot-long rope. There is a bale of hay twenty-five feet away from him. Yet the horse is able to eat the hay comfortably. Why?

8. Three men arrange to stay at a hotel for the evening; the room rate is thirty dollars, so each contributes ten. After the men have settled in, the manager realizes he overcharged them -- their room should have been twenty-five, not thirty. He gives the bellboy five dollars to return to the men. The bellboy, being devious, gives each man one dollar and pockets the remaining two. Thus, each man paid nine dollars, for a total of twenty-seven. The bellboy took two. Where is the missing dollar?

"There are logical answers to each of these," Miss Bennet assured them. "This is not a quiz. I would like for us to discuss these puzzles together and see if we can arrive upon the solutions. And I will give hints, but only if you ask very nicely."

Logic, Reason and Critical Thinking, Class 11: Period 4, Thursday, November 19

During the Lecture [LOG-11]