Posers(delightful problems for agile minds)

Here I will post posers for you all to solve. There will be 80 in all.

What is a poser?
It is not...
- A riddle meant to decieve.
- A "problem" which requires mathematical skill.
- A puzzle, which is made to tease the mind without purpose.

It is...
- A straightforeward exercise in reason.
- A statement of fact from which a person with a reasonably agile mind can proceed to a logical conclusion.

When you solve one (or think you have) post your answer and how long it took you to solve it. If your answer is correct I will tell you.

Scoring
After every poser, a time limit will be set.
10 points for getting the answer within the time limit
7 points for getting the answer within twice the time limit
3 points for anytime after that


After every 10 posers, scores will be tallied.

obviously I won't be able to tell wether you're lying or not so please be honest. These are meant to be fun. If you're lying, then its not fun.

A man who wears either blue or brown socks keeps them all in the same drawer in a state of complete disorder. In total there are 20 blue and 20 brown socks in the drawer.

Assuming that there is insufficient light for the man to see the color of the socks, how many must he take out of the drawer to be sure that he has a matching pair?

2 minutes

Guess: 3

*no mind power used in this guess -.-'*

Time: ...er...30 seconds.

I think I'll post the answers 3 days after the question, just to give some people to read and answer it.

I would also say 3.

yes it was 3.

that was an easy one. they'll slowly get harder but you won't have to worry for a while.

A chemist had been working on discovering a liquid in which all substances will disolve. One day he announced that he had a bottle full of the desired liquid. What's wrong with his claim?

3 minutes

liquid is a substance? <it would dissolve too> <molecules would dissolve themselves>

or, the bottle would dissolve too.

20 Seconds.

#2 answer

the bottle would disolve.

Two cars start out together and continue to move in the same direction. One of them never exceeds the speed limit, which is 40 miles per hour. The second car never gets ahead of the first car, yet the driver of the second car legitimately gets a ticket for speeding. How can this happen?

7 minutes

Actually, i have no idea for this one.

So i'll just say the first thing that comes to mind.

The cop was using a radar detector that caught the second car only because the second car was blocking the first car from view.

Then again if the speed limit is 40...

Maybe during a turn, the second car would have to speed up if it was on the outside of the other car, in order to not get ahead or behind. So, it would exceed the speed limit, and get a ticket.

- 1.5 minutes.

The second car got a speeding ticket for going to low below the speed limit.

I was thinking that, but would it still be called a "speeding" ticket?

both of you have decent, abstract but logical answers. Too bad both are wrong. Try again you two, and remeber, don't assume anything.

You bring up a good point, yes.



Buuuut, Wikipedia redirects "speeding ticket" to traffic ticket. And DMV.org lists one of the reasons for a traffic ticket as "going to slow".

Wikipedia
DMV

I didn't research before I posted, I just posted what made the most sense to me.

VashTSPD wrote:

You bring up a good point, yes.



Buuuut, Wikipedia redirects "speeding ticket" to traffic ticket. And DMV.org lists one of the reasons for a traffic ticket as "going to slow".

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speeding_ticket">Wikipedia</a>
<a href="http://www.dmv.org/ny-new-york/traffic-tickets.php">DMV</a>

I didn't research before I posted, I just posted what made the most sense to me.

I know. I never said it wasn't a good answer, I just said it was wrong.

They are on different roads with different speed limits.

Tay and I - 3 seconds. (out of our asses? maybe...)

Ying Fa wrote:

They are on different roads with different speed limits.

Tay and I - 3 seconds. (out of our asses? maybe...)

no

aww........just tell me already!! I wanna know now....

what if there was only one cop, he obviously couldnt go after both, so he would only be able to stop one of them.

#3 answer

The second car lets the first car get a considerable distance ahead and then travels over the speed limit to catch up.

A game is played in which two players participate. A group of markers (coins, marbles, matchsticks, etc.) is reduced in turn by each player by removing from the group at least 1 but not more than 4 markers. The player who takes the last marker is the winner.

Assuming a group of 17 markers, what move would you make if it was your turn and how would you continue to play to win?

15 minutes

You would take one marker on your first turn.

On every turn after that, you would take five minus what your opponent took. So if they took 2, you would take 3, if they took 4 you would take 1.

At the end, there would be five marks left, the fewest your opponent could take would be 1 and the most would be 4; always leaving you with 1-4 markers on your turn.

-2 minutes

VashTSPD wrote:

You would take one marker on your first turn.

On every turn after that, you would take five minus what your opponent took. So if they took 2, you would take 3, if they took 4 you would take 1.

At the end, there would be five marks left, the fewest your opponent could take would be 1 and the most would be 4; always leaving you with 1-4 markers on your turn.

<i>-2 minutes</i>

hmm, thats not the answer given but it might work. I'd gave to work it through to be sure. Thats good thinking though.

It works, rest assured. You can apply the same strategy with different amounts of markers and 'grabs' too. I used to play it in school with one or two turns and eleven markers. It wasn't as fun once we figured out the pattern to win. I just adopted it to the four grabs and 17 markers. I wonder what the answer you have is though...