11.03.2010

The first bite

Hello, this is the first riddle, to welcome everyone on our blog:
You have three boxes, labeled "Apples", "Oranges" and "Apples and oranges". You know all the labels are misplaced and you have to replace them correctly, after sampling only one piece of fruit from one of the boxes.
How will you do that?

25 comments:

  1. Natalie Mandikou, GreeceNovember 4, 2010 at 3:59 PM

    me me me me me!! :D

    We open one random box and we get oranges, for example. We pick the label "Oranges" from the other box (which, as we already know, is misplaced), and put it in the correct one. But we now have a box without a label (aka the one which previously had the "oranges" label), an untouched box and the label the box with the oranges used to have. We know that the untouched box'es label is wrong, so we pick it and replace it with the spare one (the one we picked from the box with the oranges). We now still have a box without a label, but we have the label from the second box, so we match them. Tadaaaah! :D

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  2. Well, Natalie...
    If you take out an orange, the box could very well hold oranges OR oranges and apples. How will you know which is it? :D

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  3. Teachers aren't suppose to answer this?? Only for students??

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  4. Of course you can, but since you will certainly have the right answer, let them have fun first! :)

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  5. Natalie Mantikou, GreeceNovember 14, 2010 at 10:37 AM

    Oh, I didn't realise that I would have to take only one piece of fruit! I don't know then..! :P

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  6. Read it carefully! What box will give you undoubted data? :) Don't give up!

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  7. Take a fruit from the box labeled "apple and orange". If it is an apple the right label is "apple" for this box. The right label for the box labeled "orange" is "apple and orange" and the right label for the box labeled "apple" is "orange". If the fruit you took is an orange the right label for this box is "orange",the right label for the "orange" box is "apple" and the third box is "apple and orange".
    Thank you, you are amazing!
    Sotiria (mum) from Greece

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  8. I am so sorry for answering, even if my answer may be mistaken. I was overexcited and didn't see that it was for kids only! Can I suggest another riddle as a "sorry" gift?


    "We have two measuring cans. The first one can take up to 3 litres of milk, the second one can take up to 2 litres. We want to measure out one litre of milk, but we can only use those two cans. What can we do?"

    Sotiria (mum) from Greece

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  9. I will not say "right" or "wrong" yet...let others try too! :)
    Thank you.

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  10. Hi everybody,

    Let me first say that Sotiria ( the mom from Greece) was rigth and secondly that the solution to the other riddle is: "Take the 3 litre can and fill it with milk. Then fill the 2 litre can by milk out of the 3 litre can and fill it untill it's completely filled. Now there is exactly 1 litre left in the 3 litre can."

    Greets,

    Manal (student from Holland)

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  11. Shell I give you more riddles?

    If not than don't read the following;)

    1. A man was to be sentenced, and the judge told him, "You may make a statement. If it is true, I'll sentence you to four years in prison. If it is false, I'll sentence you to six years in prison." After the man made his statement, the judge decided to let him go free. What did the man say?


    2. If your sock drawer has 6 black socks, 4 brown socks, 8 white socks, and 2 tan socks, how many socks would you have to pull out in the dark to be sure you had a matching pair?

    3. If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?

    4. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

    5. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?


    I know that not all of them are about math, but they're still fun to think about;)

    Greets,

    Manal (Student> Holland)

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  12. 1. The man said nothing, so the judge had to keep his word. Thanx, Manal!

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  13. @ libelef, that's what I thought, at first but that answer looked to easy so I went looking at the answers and I saw that it was a way more complicated asnwer. So keep thinking;)

    Manal

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  14. Let me try, Manal. The man said: "what I am saying now is false". Well?
    Irina

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  15. It's something like that but not exactly, you're almost there keep thinking;)

    Manal

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  16. A stamp can travel around the world and remain in the corner of the letter.
    (I Googled it, so I know the other answers as well!)
    :))

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  17. @libelef, that's not fair!! You were supposed to think about it yourself. I am very disappoitend in you:P.

    Manal

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  18. Sorry you are disappointed, Manal. Should you be with a librarian who teaches information literacy? It is part of my job to search the web and tell students they can find anything if their key words are right. At least I was honest!
    :)

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  19. I was just kidding:p

    Manal

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  20. It's ok. My students found it entertaining!!

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  21. If your sock drawer has 6 black socks, 4 brown socks, 8 white socks, and 2 tan socks, how many socks would you have to pull out in the dark to be sure you had a matching pair?
    Answer: Five, because the socks are four. So if we add one sock to the four, we are sure we’ll have a matching pair.

    If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?
    Answer: I’ve got one cup of sugar.

    Right???

    Desirè from Italy

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  22. Your first answer is right and the second is right as well, but try to give an explanation. Thab I know for sure you understand it ;)

    Manal

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  23. Another riddle from the greek team:

    Show that 1 peanut ? 11 pears.
    Proof: (by contradiction)

    Suppose 1 peanut = 11 pears.
    We know that a pear is infinitely better (greater) than an apple,
    i.e. 1 pear = ∞ apples
    so 11 pears = 11(∞) apples (1)

    Also, we know that since peanuts grow below ground and apples grow above ground, apples are higher (greater) than peanuts,
    i.e., 1 apple = (k + p) peanuts, (2)
    Where k = height of apple (on tree) above ground
    and p = distance below ground to where peanut is growing
    (k, p > 0)

    Sub equation (2) into equation (1) to get
    11 pears = 11(∞)(k + p) peanuts;
    a contradiction! Since 11(∞)(k + p) ? 1.

    Thus, 1 peanut ? 11 pears
    Source:http://www.mathnews.uwaterloo.ca/Issues/mn8904/mathfood.php

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