The Riddle Thread….

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  • #1068667
    anon for this
    Participant

    chaverim, I didn’t say that there is. But Dr. Pepper indicated that she’d prefer that people stop asking her to do so, and that the requests come more frequently than she’d like. Perhaps watching children, which apparently is not part of her job description, interferes with the performance of her required job duties. Responsibilities to one’s employer must come before performing chessed.

    Obviously there’s nothing inherently wrong with caring for children. That’s what I do for much of my day–because caring for my kids is part of my job description.

    #1068668
    chaverim
    Member

    anon, Dr. Pepper didn’t say that it occurs too frequently or interferes with her employment duties. (In fact the inference is that it is to help the customers, something the employer may appreciate from is employees.) I’m sure she doesn’t mind doing chesed once in a while.

    #1068669
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    It doesn’t happen too often and I get a kick out of it when it happens.

    The best part is when I walk into the room and say, “Hi, I’m Dr. Pepper”. The parents turn red in the face and the kids crack up.

    #1068670
    chaverim
    Member

    anon: See, Dr. P confirmed it. She actually enjoys it – especially making them turn red in the face!

    BTW Dr. P, if you say it when you walk into the room, how does the parent ever get a chance to ask you to watch the kid?

    #1068671
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    No reason to spend too much time on this. It rarely happens but it does happen (obviously with new patients).

    Usually the case is someone sees me returning the files to the receptionist after an appointment and assumes I’m a nurse. They don’t realize I’m a doctor until I meet them in the office and introduce myself. The kids think it’s hilarious that there is really a person named Dr. Pepper and the parents are mortified.

    #1068672
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    To get back to the main topic-

    Someone offers to sell you a piece of jewelery but insists that the transaction take place on the NYC subway during rush hour. You’re not sure how much you’re willing to pay for it until you see it. You plan on making an offer between $1 and $1,000. Being that it’s on the subway during rush hour you don’t want to display too much cash.

    Here’s the plan-

    You’re going to put different amounts of cash into a number of different envelopes and write the amount in each envelope on the top left corner, and give him the envelopes that contain the exact amount.

    How many different envelopes do you need, and what are the amounts in each one, to be able to come up with all the possible numbers between $1 and $1,000?

    #1068673

    Dr. Pepper-

    Assuming whole dollar amounts only:

    1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and…

    The last envelope can have any amount from 489 thru 1000.

    #1068674

    Correction – 489 thru 512

    #1068675
    noitallmr
    Participant

    Give me a 9 letter English word that you can take off one letter and it will still be a word then another and another one at a time, each time making sense, till the very last letter…

    #1068676
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    startling

    starling

    staring

    string

    sting

    sing

    sin

    in

    I

    #1068677
    mepal
    Member

    Hey dr pepper, you figured that out on your own?

    #1068678
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    No, Josephf asked it about 7 months and one week ago.

    But I remembered it on my own.

    #1068679
    mepal
    Member

    that’s good!

    #1068680
    Joseph
    Participant

    Dr. P, how did you calculate it to have been 7 months <i>and one week</i> ago?

    Allowed markup: a blockquote code em strong ul ol li.

    bbpress allows “em”, not “i” for italics – YW Moderator-42

    #1068681
    nameless
    Member

    What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer?

    A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge.

    #1068682
    Joseph
    Participant

    Riddle:

    1. There are five houses.

    2. The Englishman lives in the red house.

    3. The Spaniard owns the dog.

    4. Coffee is drunk in the green house.

    5. The Ukrainian drinks tea.

    6. The green house is immediately to the right of the ivory house.

    7. The Old Gold smoker owns snails.

    8. Kools are smoked in the yellow house.

    9. Milk is drunk in the middle house.

    10. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

    11. The man who smokes Chesterfields lives in the house next to the man with the fox.

    12. Kools are smoked in a house next to the house where the horse is kept.

    13. The Lucky Strike smoker drinks orange juice.

    14. The Japanese smokes Parliaments.

    15. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

    Now, given that one resident drinks water, which is it? Given that one resident owns a zebra, which is it? (And explain how you deduced as such.)

    In the interest of clarity, it must be added that each of the five houses is painted a different color, and their inhabitants are of different national extractions, own different pets, drink different beverages and smoke different brands of American cigarettes. In statement 6, right refers to the reader’s right.

    #1068683
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    Josephf-

    Around the day that “I can only try” answered the riddle I was very busy at work in case I needed to take off from work for a couple days (my wife was due in a few days and I might have had to be busy going to the hospital, bringing them home, possibly a bris…) and I posted my last post for about one week.

    The morning my daughter was born I signed on again and posted a riddle (anyone remember it?). She turns 7 months old today so that’s how I know that “I can only try” answered it around 7 months and one week ago.

    You actually responded to that last post, “Dr Pepper – Not very intuitive :)”

    Do you feel the same way now?

    #1068684
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    What is black & white & red all over?

    #1068685
    nameless
    Member

    A Yeshiva Bochur!

    Only the best guy in Lakewood, the rest are only red to girls their age of which there are fewer

    #1068686
    Joseph
    Participant

    Dr. Pepper: I do believe a fine grained, and well trained, memory as you posses IS very intuitive (unlike counting down post numbers.)

    Now did I get you stumped (on behalf of squeak) with my above posted riddle? No resorting to help.

    #1068687
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    The classic answer is a newspaper.

    What else can you come up with!

    #1068688
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    nameless you figured out my answer,

    I was going to say A good Lakewood bochur.

    #1068689
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    a Skunk with poison ivy!

    #1068690
    nameless
    Member

    Or a Zebra with a sunburn, lol

    #1068691
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    lol!

    zebra roadkill, I like, It flows.

    #1068692
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    Josephf-

    I actually solved it before. Around 12 years ago, when I was in Israel, a Rebbi gave me a Jewish version of the puzzle which his kid needed solved for extra credit. (The kids teacher probably needed it solved for his own kid but that’s a whole different chad gadya…)

    Instead of different nationalities it was names like Chaim, Moshe, Tzvi, Eliyahu and Dovid…

    Writing out the whole logic would take too long but it is doable.

    Do you just want the answer?

    #1068693
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    A Panda eating sweet & sour chicken!

    #1068694
    <<Step 1>>
    Nation Drink Smoke Pet House #
    England red
    Spain dog
    Ukraine tea
    Norway 1
    Japan parliament

    coffee green 5
    milk 3
    orange juice Luck Strike
    water
    kool yellow
    Old Gold snails
    fox
    Chesterfield
    horse
    zebra
    ivory 4
    blue 2

    <<Step 2>>
    Nation Drink Smoke Pet House #
    England red
    Spain dog
    Ukraine tea
    Norway kool yellow 1
    Japan parliament

    S or J coffee green 5
    milk 3
    E or S orange juice Luck Strike
    water
    E or U Old Gold snails
    fox
    Chesterfield
    zebra
    ivory 4
    U or J horse blue 2

    <<Step 3>>
    Nation Drink Smoke Pet House #
    England milk Old Gold snails red 3
    Spain orange juice Luck Strike dog ivory 4
    Ukraine tea Chesterfield horse blue 2
    Norway water kool fox yellow 1
    Japan coffee parliament zebra green 5

    #1068696
    Joseph
    Participant

    And we have a winner!

    Congratulations goes to ICOT on solving the Zebra Puzzle.

    Dr Pepper: ICOT got it in record time. Didn’t seem to take too long at all…

    #1068697
    bein_hasdorim
    Participant

    To answer my original Riddle

    What is black & white & red all over?

    ………………………………

    ………………………………

    ………………………………

    A Penguin with a nosebleed!

    This happens once in a while when the window cleaner at the aquarium

    does an exceptional job cleaning the observation window.

    Nebach, poor penguin! 🙁

    #1068698
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    Josephf-

    I was planning on writing an explanation for each step of the way, not a table.

    #1068699
    squeak
    Participant

    A shidduch list.

    #1068700
    Joseph
    Participant

    Dr Pepper: Okay. I only requested the deductions to see something more comprehensive than “the water is drunk by the Norwegian and the Japanese is the one who keeps the Zebra.”

    Here is a long-winded explanation of ICOT’s solution:

    STEP 1

    We are told the Norwegian lives in the 1st house (10). It does not matter whether this is counted from the left or from the right. We just need to know the order, not the direction.

    From (10) and (15), the 2nd house is Blue. What color is the 1st house? Not Green or Ivory, because they have to be next to each other (6 and the 2nd house is Blue). Not Red, because the Englishman lives there (2). Therefore the 1st house is Yellow.

    It follows that Kools are smoked in the 1st house (8) and the Horse is kept in the 2nd house (12).

    So what is drunk by the Norwegian in the 1st, Yellow, Kools-filled house? Not Tea since the Ukrainian drinks that (5). Not Coffee since that is drunk in the Green house (4). Not Milk since that is drunk in the 3rd house (9). Not Orange Juice since the drinker of Orange Juice smokes Lucky Strikes (13). Therefore it is Water (the missing beverage) that is drunk by the Norwegian.

    STEP 2

    So what is smoked in the 2nd, Blue house where we know a Horse is also kept?

    Not Kools which are smoked in the 1st house (8). Not Old Gold since that house must have Snails (7).

    Let’s suppose Lucky Strikes are smoked here, which means Orange Juice is drunk here (13). Then consider: Who lives here? Not the Norwegian since he lives in the 1st House (10). Not the Englishman since he lives in a Red house (2). Not the Spaniard since he owns a dog (3). Not the Ukrainian since he drinks tea (4). Not the Japanese who smokes Parliaments (14). Since this is an impossible situation, Lucky Strikes are not smoked in the 2nd house.

    Let’s suppose Parliaments are smoked here, which means the Japanese man lives here (14). Then consider: What is drunk here? Not Tea since the Ukrainian drinks that (4). Not Coffee since that is drunk in the Green house (4). Not Milk since that is drunk in the 3rd house (9). Not Orange Juice since the drinker of that smokes Lucky Strike (13). Again, since this is an impossible situation, Parliaments are not smoked in the 2nd house.

    Therefore, Chesterfields are smoked in the 2nd house.

    So who smokes Chesterfields and keeps a Horse in the 2nd, Blue house? Not the Norwegian who lives in the 1st House (10). Not the Englishman who lives in a Red house (2). Not the Spaniard who owns a dog (3). Not the Japanese who smokes Parliaments (14). Therefore, the Ukrainian lives in the 2nd House, where he drinks Tea (5).

    STEP 3

    Since Chesterfields are smoked in the 2nd house, we know from (11) that the Fox is kept in either the 1st house or the 3rd house.

    Let us first assume that the Fox is kept in the 3rd house. Then consider: what is drunk by the man who smokes Old Golds and keeps Snails (7)? We have already ruled out Water and Tea from the above steps. It cannot be Orange Juice since the drinker of that smokes Lucky Strikes (13). It cannot be Milk because that is drunk in the 3rd house (9), where we have assumed a Fox is kept. This leaves Coffee, which we know is drunk in the Green house (4).

    So if the Fox is kept in the 3rd house, then someone smokes Old Golds, keeps Snails and drinks Coffee in a Green house. Who can this person be? Not the Norwegian who lives in the 1st house (10). Not the Ukrainian who drinks Tea (5). Not the Englishman who lives in a Red house (2). Not the Japanese who smokes Parliaments (14). Not the Spaniard who owns a Dog (3).

    This is impossible. So it follows that the Fox is not kept in the 3rd house, but in the 1st house.

    STEP 4

    From what we have found so far, we know that Coffee and Orange Juice are drunk in the 4th and 5th houses. It doesn’t matter which is drunk in which; we will just call them the Coffee house and the Orange Juice house.

    So where does the man who smokes Old Gold and keeps Snails live? Not the Orange Juice house since Lucky Strike is smoked there (13).

    Suppose this man lives in the Coffee house. Then we have someone who smokes Old Gold, keeps Snails and drinks Coffee in a Green (4) house. Again, by the same reasoning in STEP 3, this is impossible.

    Therefore, the Old Gold-smoking, Snail-keeping man lives in the 3rd house.

    It follows that Parliaments are smoked in the Green, Coffee-drinking house, by the Japanese man (14). This means the Spaniard must be the one who drinks Orange Juice, smokes Lucky Strikes and keeps a Dog. By extension, the Englishman must live in the 3rd house, which is Red. By process of elimination, the Spaniard’s house is the Ivory one.

    By now we have filled in every ‘blank’ except one, and it is clear that the Japanese is the one who keeps the Zebra.

    #1068701
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    Did you type that up or copy it from somewhere?

    #1068702
    YW Moderator-72
    Participant

    Dr. Pepper – Don’t ask such simple questions… this thread is meant for tough riddles…

    it sure looks like a cut and paste to me…

    #1068703
    Joseph
    Participant

    My fingers are still red from typing that answer to pi… er, Einstein’s Riddle.

    #1068705

    Joseph-

    Thank you.

    Dr. Pepper-

    Typing up a verbal description of the progression of the grid would take me at least a half-hour.

    #1068706
    areivimzehlazeh
    Participant

    b_h: a “bang your head here” sign 😉

    #1068707
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    I can only try-

    I used a grid also, but each time I filled in a piece of info I wrote an explanation to justify it.

    #1068709

    Mayor Bud Mountain of the city of Wencroy has a problem.

    He decides to create a new lottery game to fleece the citizens and fill the coffers.

    In order to do so successfully, he decides the lottery will:

    1) Only carry 50% of unwon prize money forward from one drawing to the next.

    2) Appear to have good odds to a potential player.

    3) In actuality be quite difficult to win.

    Mayor Mountain decides that the new lottery will have thirty-six numbers, 1 thru 36.

    Now he needs your help.

    If the drawing required picking one out of one number correctly, the odds of a single ticket being a winner would be 1/36.

    If the drawing required picking two out of two numbers correctly, the odds of a single ticket being a winner would be significantly lower.

    To make the likelihood of a winning ticket being sold as small as possible, how many numbers should the new game draw and require a player to match to win?

    #1068710
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    With 18 numbers the odds would be 1/9,075,135,300.

    1	1 in	 36
    2 1 in 630
    3 1 in 7,140
    4 1 in 58,905
    5 1 in 376,992
    6 1 in 1,947,792
    7 1 in 8,347,680
    8 1 in 30,260,340
    9 1 in 94,143,280
    10 1 in 254,186,856
    11 1 in 600,805,296
    12 1 in 1,251,677,700
    13 1 in 2,310,789,600
    14 1 in 3,796,297,200
    15 1 in 5,567,902,560
    16 1 in 7,307,872,110
    17 1 in 8,597,496,600
    18 1 in 9,075,135,300
    19 1 in 8,597,496,600
    20 1 in 7,307,872,110
    21 1 in 5,567,902,560
    22 1 in 3,796,297,200
    23 1 in 2,310,789,600
    24 1 in 1,251,677,700
    25 1 in 600,805,296
    26 1 in 254,186,856
    27 1 in 94,143,280
    28 1 in 30,260,340
    29 1 in 8,347,680
    30 1 in 1,947,792
    31 1 in 376,992
    32 1 in 58,905
    33 1 in 7,140
    34 1 in 630
    35 1 in 36
    36 1 in 1

    #1068711

    Dr. Pepper-

    Bingo!

    I’m not even going to verify your answer, since you’re the one who showed me the method of calculating odds in the “cards” puzzle a while back.

    Here’s a variation I gave the kids at the Shabbos table:

    To win a prize, I will either pick two out of five numbers, or four out of five numbers. You must then correctly guess the numbers I picked. Most people choose the two out of five option, because the choice which is correct (4 out of 5) is counter-intuitive.

    #1068712
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    This is based on a true situation.

    A guy I know was about to get engaged when they submitted their numbers to Dor Yeshorim and were told that they are probably not compatible.

    The test that Dor Yeshorim performed had a 4% rate of false positives for the genetic disorder that they both tested positive for (in other words there was a 4% chance that he was not a carrier and a 4% chance that she was not a carrier). The rov that called them informed them that there is a much more expensive test that is 100% accurate.

    Before spending over $1,000 on the test, he wanted to know the probability that they would be compatible.

    What are the chances that they are compatible?

    #1068713

    Dr. Pepper-

    First of all, nebuch.

    What happened at the end?

    A 4% chance is 1 out of 25.

    25 * 25 is 625.

    Of the 625 possible combinations:

    – 24 are boy non-carrier, girl carrier

    – 24 are girl non-carrier, boy carrier

    – 1 is both non-carrier

    – the remaining combinations are that both are carriers

    The answer is 49/625 (or 7.84%) that they are compatible. Not the best odds, but IMHO probably worth $1,000 if they were about to get engaged.

    There must be a more elegant solution.

    #1068714
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    Yes I can only try, that’s the correct answer.

    He assumed it was 8% (4% chance that he was not a carrier + 4% that she is not a carrier = 8%), he happened to be close though.

    The method I used was 1 – .96 * .96 = .0784 or 7.84%.

    He did not feel it was worth it for such a small chance. I felt that I didn’t have the qualifications to convince him otherwise but I strongly convinced him to speak to a rov (which at first he refused to).

    The rov from Dor Yeshorim who told them the news advised them to not speak with each other anymore and any communication between the two of them should go through him, the shadchan or another competent person. For obvious reasons he did not tell the shadchan what happened (he didn’t feel it was right to have the shadchan know that she was a carrier) he just said “thank you” and that he would highly recommend the girl to anyone else but they are not meant for each other.

    He found out through the rov that she went for additional testing and he felt he owed it to her to go for the additional testing also.

    The results were that they are not compatible.

    I don’t know who she is but I heard that she got married.

    He is married with some kids.

    #1068715

    Dr. Pepper-

    It’s nice that they each found their bashert, but it sounds like they they had major agmus nefesh beforehand.

    I wonder if there are people who check compatibility before going out or after the first date or two just to avoid this.

    Neat solution to your problem – if you didn’t already have a doctorate you could use my answers in a thesis “solutions from the mathematically challenged” 🙂

    #1068716
    Rachel613
    Member

    Ok i have a riddle:

    You have two cubes, serving as your dice, but the sides are blank – no numbers are written on them. Place numbers on the dice so that you can always arrange them to show you any date in any month – 01, 02, 03…..29, 30 , 31.

    Any answers?

    #1068717
    oomis
    Participant

    Hi, Rachel, if you are new to this site, welcome. If not, welcome, anyway.

    #1068718
    Rachel613
    Member

    Yeah i am. thanx! I’ve actually been reading the coffee room for a while but i never had the patience to actually register….so here i am!

    #1068719

    Rachel613-

    Good riddle.

    I already know it, so it’ll have to wait for someone else to answer.

    Welcome aboard.

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