Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Apples and Oranges


This also came from Wu Riddles

There are three closed and opaque cardboard boxes. One is labeled "APPLES", another is labeled "ORANGES", and the last is labeled "APPLES AND ORANGES". You know that the labels are currently misarranged, such that no box is correctly labeled. You would like to correctly rearrange these labels. To accomplish this, you may see only one fruit from one of the boxes. Which box do you choose, and how do you then proceed to rearrange the labels?

4 comments:

  1. You need to check the box labeled "APPLES AND ORANGES" first. All boxes are mislabeled so that box is either "APPLES" or "ORANGES". If you see an orange then the box labeled "ORANGES" is "APPLES" and the box labeled "APPLES" is "APPLES AND ORANGES". If you see an apple then the box labeled "APPLES" is "ORANGES" and the box labeled "ORANGES" is "APPLES AND ORANGES".

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  2. You know that the "A&O" crate has either one or the other (not both). Ask to see one fruit from that crate. Say it's an apple. you know to re-label that crate "apples".

    Now you know that the other 2 crates ("O" and "A") contain 1) a mix and 2) oranges. Oranges must thus be in "A" crate, and the mix in the "O" crate.

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  3. yeah, i got this one while pooping. enjoyed it

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  4. Got this one while in class. Multitasking or avoidance behavior?...probably the latter.

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