Michael Archer
Well-known member
I was thinking about these the other day and I realized how much I like a good one. Before you go and post one, I want to make a point that this thread is only for good word problems. By that I mean, a good word problem has unequivocal wording, defines a clear problem and has a single clever solution. Let me give some examples:
A shitty word problem: Imagine you're in a brick castle with no doors, no windows and no way to get out; how do you get out? Answer: Stop imagining. (this is just retarded--I don't need to explain why)
A mediocre word problem: What eats and lives but drinks and dies? Answer: fire. (This isn't bad except it might be confusing--eating and drinking implies animal functions, so people aren't going to think of inanimate objects)
An awesome word problem. You might remember this from the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie; you might also remember that the girl got it wrong: You're in a hallway with two doors. One door leads you out of the hallway and the other leads you to instant death. You don't know which door leads where and you're not about to flip a coin with your life. In front of each door stands a guard; one guard always lies and the other one always tells the truth. These guards are aware of their own habits and the habits of the other guard i.e. The truth guard knows that he tells the truth while his friend always lies and the lying guard knows that he lies and his friend always tells the truth. The only problem is that you have no way of knowing which guard is which.
If you can ask only one guard a single question, what would it be to get you out of the hallway alive. (This question is unequivocal, defines a clear goal, and has a single solution. It's the best one I've heard in my life. I'll wait a bit longer to post the solution.)
TL
R version:
Go.
A shitty word problem: Imagine you're in a brick castle with no doors, no windows and no way to get out; how do you get out? Answer: Stop imagining. (this is just retarded--I don't need to explain why)
A mediocre word problem: What eats and lives but drinks and dies? Answer: fire. (This isn't bad except it might be confusing--eating and drinking implies animal functions, so people aren't going to think of inanimate objects)
An awesome word problem. You might remember this from the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie; you might also remember that the girl got it wrong: You're in a hallway with two doors. One door leads you out of the hallway and the other leads you to instant death. You don't know which door leads where and you're not about to flip a coin with your life. In front of each door stands a guard; one guard always lies and the other one always tells the truth. These guards are aware of their own habits and the habits of the other guard i.e. The truth guard knows that he tells the truth while his friend always lies and the lying guard knows that he lies and his friend always tells the truth. The only problem is that you have no way of knowing which guard is which.
If you can ask only one guard a single question, what would it be to get you out of the hallway alive. (This question is unequivocal, defines a clear goal, and has a single solution. It's the best one I've heard in my life. I'll wait a bit longer to post the solution.)
TL
R version:
Go.
