Good, Short Riddles

[A790]

First:

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?


Second:

How did Mark legally marry three women in Michigan, without divorcing any of them, becoming legally separated, or any of them dying?


Please don't google the answers :)

[bubbley]

Im innocent???

[bulaian]

You'll sentence me to six years in prison

[malcolmk14]

first: no idea

second: mark was a pastor

[bubbley]

Second: Mark was muslim lol

[Godfuader]

1) The glove does not fit

2) Guy was a marriage officiant like a priest or pastor??

[A790]

Originally posted by bulaian
You'll sentence me to six years in prison

Correct :)


Originally posted by Godfuader
2) Guy was a marriage officiant like a priest or pastor??

Originally posted by malcolmk14
second: mark was a pastor

Correct :)

Okay, two more.

First:

If "everything I say is a lie" am I telling you the truth or a lie?


Second:

What row of numbers comes next in this series?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

[malcolmk14]

Originally posted by A790


Correct :)



Correct :)

oh sure just give him the credit.
bastard.

[A790]

Originally posted by malcolmk14


oh sure just give him the credit.
bastard.
What you talkin' bout? ;)

[962 kid]

Originally posted by A790



Second:

What row of numbers comes next in this series?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

1113213211?

[slowy]

First:

If "everything I say is a lie" am I telling you the truth or a lie?

i think you wrote it wrong, if you didnt then you are telling a lie. Not necessarily everything you say is a lie, just that statement.

[GiangZilla]

1113213211

[A790]

Originally posted by 962 kid
1113213211?

Originally posted by GiangZilla
1113213211

Originally posted by slowy
First:If "everything I say is a lie" am I telling you the truth or a lie?

i think you wrote it wrong, if you didnt then you are telling a lie. Not necessarily everything you say is a lie, just that statement.

All correct :)

For the second one, that statement has to be a lie because the truth doesn't contradict itself. At least, it can't in that situation.

[bball2]

Originally posted by A790
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221 [/B]

That one took me a while to get, if anyone has any trouble, try saying each row out loud while glancing at the row above it. :thumbsup:

Here's another one:

You are in a room. There are two doors leading out of this room. One door leads to certain death, the other to a great life. There are two people in the room; they both know which door is which. One person always lies, the other always tells the truth. You do not know which one is which. You can ask one question to one of them. What question do you ask to ensure you choose the door that leads to a great life?

[Barking_Spidre]

Originally posted by bball2


That one took me a while to get, if anyone has any trouble, try saying each row out loud while glancing at the row above it. :thumbsup:

Here's another one:

You are in a room. There are two doors leading out of this room. One door leads to certain death, the other to a great life. There are two people in the room; they both know which door is which. One person always lies, the other always tells the truth. You do not know which one is which. You can ask one question to one of them. What question do you ask to ensure you choose the door that leads to a great life?

Something along the lines of "if you were the other person, which door would you take to live?" Then you take the opposite door they said?

Liar would tell you to go to death door because he lies anyways, truth teller will lie as well, because he'll act like the liar?

[A790]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's another one:

You are in a room. There are two doors leading out of this room. One door leads to certain death, the other to a great life. There are two people in the room; they both know which door is which. One person always lies, the other always tells the truth. You do not know which one is which. You can ask one question to one of them. What question do you ask to ensure you choose the door that leads to a great life?
"Do you know which door leads to a great life, and if so, can you show me?"

[black13]

You have two coins adding up to 15 cents. One of them is not a nickel, what are they?

[slowy]

Originally posted by black13
You have two coins adding up to 15 cents. One of them is not a nickel, what are they?

a dime and a nickle, the dime is the on that is not a nickle...?

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by black13
You have two coins adding up to 15 cents. One of them is not a nickel, what are they?
Someone watches the office too much :rofl:

[FallenAngel]

Originally posted by bball2

Here's another one:

You are in a room. There are two doors leading out of this room. One door leads to certain death, the other to a great life. There are two people in the room; they both know which door is which. One person always lies, the other always tells the truth. You do not know which one is which. You can ask one question to one of them. What question do you ask to ensure you choose the door that leads to a great life?

"Which door would the other person tell me to go through to get to the great life?"

Then take the other door. (Assuming you want a great life and not death)

[sillysod]

This is a problem I got in university from a professor at the beginning of a semester. He wouldn't give the answer until the semester ended. Took me (retardedly) 1 week to figure it out.


There are 4 captured POWs burried in the sand up to their necks.
Three are on one side of a high brick wall and one is burried on the other side.

Their captors have told them that if one of them can say what color hat he are wearing they all get to leave alive. If they get it wrong they all die.

The captors tell the POW's that there are 2 blue hats and 2 red hats. That is all they know.

The POW's cannot talk or they die.
The POW's cannot turn their heads and look around the only thing they can see is what is in front of them (wall or the hats of the guys infront).

Do they all die? If not who figures out what color his hat is.


This is not a trick question with a stupid mirror wall etc. It is truly a thinking problem.

Amazing graphic included!

[icetraycnb]

^^
I would say it's the guy in the middle of the three (the guy in the red hat on the right in your picture).

If the guy behind him doesn't say anything, we can assume that he doesn't know the answer meaning the two hats in front of him are two different colors. So if the middle guy realizes that the guy behind him doesn't know, then he knows his hat has to be different from the person in front of him.

??

[Eleanor]

:werd:

[sillysod]

wow... that didn't take you long.

that's what i get for taking the special ed courses haha

[bball2]

Originally posted by FallenAngel


"Which door would the other person tell me to go through to get to the great life?"

Then take the other door. (Assuming you want a great life and not death)

Correct :thumbsup:


Originally posted by Barking_Spidre


Something along the lines of "if you were the other person, which door would you take to live?" Then you take the opposite door they said?

Liar would tell you to go to death door because he lies anyways, truth teller will lie as well, because he'll act like the liar?

Not quite, the guy who always tells the truth will just point to the right door, after all the liar will go through the correct door even if he tells you it's the wrong door. Basically just change your question from "which door would you take to live" to "which door would they tell me to take to live"


Originally posted by A790

"Do you know which door leads to a great life, and if so, can you show me?"

Not quite, the liar will lead you to the wrong door, the guy who always tells you the truth will lead you to the right door.

[bball2]

Here's another one that you hear at the start of a lot probability / statistics courses. It's called the Monty Hall problem:


Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

[trieuth]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's another one that you hear at the start of a lot probability / statistics courses. It's called the Monty Hall problem:



no cause your odds went from 33% to 66% of picking the right door

[Atriux]

Edit: ... Nevermind >.<

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's another one that you hear at the start of a lot probability / statistics courses. It's called the Monty Hall problem:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?


Haha I love this one. People freak the hell out when you explain it to them, and there are a lot of people who just can't comprehend why the right answer is to switch. Watch this blow up on here...I won't post the solution because I want to see some people try to reason through it.

[JRSC00LUDE]

^

Is it because when you first chose you had a 1/3 chance of being right but now that the choice is narrowed if you pick again you have a 1/2 chance of being right? :dunno:

[pattyt]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's another one that you hear at the start of a lot probability / statistics courses. It's called the Monty Hall problem:




Thats from 21 :P lol good movie, good riddle.

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by pattyt



Thats from 21 :P lol good movie, good riddle.

It's actually from way before 21. I heard it in that movie too, and it was cool, but this thing has been around forever.

[bball2]

First time I heard it was on that tv show NUMB3RS, then I heard it one of my lectures at UofC.


Originally posted by trieuth


no cause your odds went from 33% to 66% of picking the right door
Well, if you change the first word in your answer from no to yes. Then you are correct :thumbsup:

So basically
--------------

It is advantageous to switch when the host asks you to, your chance of picking the door with the car in it goes from 1/3 to 2/3. The explanation is kind of difficult to comprehend at first, but wikipedia has a pretty good page on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_hall_problem

Anyways the first couple times I heard it, it made absolutely no sense, even when someone tried to explain it to me. So if you want to understand it, try getting a deck of cards out, 2 2's, and an ace. Keep the cards face up, close your eyes and pick one randomly, from the cards that you didn't pick, toss out a two, then choose the card that you didn't toss out or pick the first time. If you do it a bunch of times you'll see that you get the ace roughly 2/3 of the time.

Easiest way to think of it is, as long as you pick one of the goats to start with (2/3 chance), you'll always get the car if you decide to switch. :)

[kokanee27]

Originally posted by bball2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_hall_problem

Anyways the first couple times I heard it, it made absolutely no sense, even when someone tried to explain it to me. So if you want to understand it, try getting a deck of cards out, 2 2's, and an ace. Keep the cards face up, close your eyes and pick one randomly, from the cards that you didn't pick, toss out a two, then choose the card that you didn't toss out or pick the first time. If you do it a bunch of times you'll see that you get the ace roughly 2/3 of the time.

Easiest way to think of it is, as long as you pick one of the goats to start with (2/3 chance), you'll always get the car if you decide to switch. :)

thanks for that!!
my friend told me this riddle over the summer and i argued and argued that it made absolutly no sense to change your answer
but thanks to this explanation, it makes perfect sense

[97'Scort]

Not so much a riddle as a math problem. Let's assume one iteration, for those familiar:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies ("defects") for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

(credit to wikipedia for this version)

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by 97'Scort
Not so much a riddle as a math problem. Let's assume one iteration, for those familiar:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (&quot;defects&quot;) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

(credit to wikipedia for this version)

Ah, Prisoner's Dilemma...

[bball2]

Originally posted by 97'Scort
Not so much a riddle as a math problem. Let's assume one iteration, for those familiar:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (&quot;defects&quot;) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

(credit to wikipedia for this version)

For one iteration it's always best to defect (snitch, sell the other guy out), because no matter what the other guy does, you will always get the same or less years when you defect.

This changes for more than one iteration (when the prisoners find out its better to stay silent to get less years), or if you get more time behind bars if both of you defect compared to if only one person defects.

[97'Scort]

Good stuff :)

[CokerRat]

Originally posted by kokanee27


thanks for that!!
my friend told me this riddle over the summer and i argued and argued that it made absolutly no sense to change your answer
but thanks to this explanation, it makes perfect sense


There's a really good section on the wiki page that helps to explain it to thick-headed people like myself:

Increasing the number of doors

It may be easier to appreciate the solution by considering the same problem with 1,000,000 doors instead of just three (vos Savant 1990). In this case there are 999,999 doors with goats behind them and one door with a prize. The player picks a door. The game host then opens 999,998 of the other doors revealing 999,998 goats—imagine the host starting with the first door and going down a line of 1,000,000 doors, opening each one, skipping over only the player's door and one other door. The host then offers the player the chance to switch to the only other unopened door. On average, in 999,999 out of 1,000,000 times the other door will contain the prize, as 999,999 out of 1,000,000 times the player first picked a door with a goat. A rational player should switch.

[Stealth22]

For those that watch this show, you might remember this:

P9WFKmLK0dc

[bball2]

Here's two more:

There's a tennis tournament with one hundred twenty-seven players. You've got one hundred twenty-six people paired, and one not paired. In the next round, there are sixty-four players and thirty-two matches. How many matches, total, does it take to determine a winner?

---

We're playing Russian Roulette, I load up two bullets in the gun in adjacent chambers (next to each other), spin the barrel, snap it shut, point it at my head and pull the trigger. Click. I'm still alive. Now it's your turn, but you have a choice whether to pull the trigger right away, or spin it before you pull the trigger. What's the better option? (Assuming your just an adrenaline junkie and not suicidal)

[Kloubek]

^^ The first seemed too much work to answer.

But for the Russian Roulette question, you are better off spinning it again.

Say you had an 8-shot pistol. On the initial spin, you have a 2 out of 8 chance of getting a bullet. You didn't die, but you DID eliminate an empty chamber. Now you have a 2/7 chance of hitting a bullet. Whereby spinning again, you have a 2/8 chance once again.

[bball2]

Originally posted by Kloubek
^^ The first seemed too much work to answer.

But for the Russian Roulette question, you are better off spinning it again.

Say you had an 8-shot pistol. On the initial spin, you have a 2 out of 8 chance of getting a bullet. You didn't die, but you DID eliminate an empty chamber. Now you have a 2/7 chance of hitting a bullet. Whereby spinning again, you have a 2/8 chance once again.
:guns: Kloubek

Haha sorry man, but you got the first part backwards. Try it again but remember that the bullets are next to each other. Doesn't matter if you use a 6-shot pistol or an 8-shot pistol, the choice will be the same either way (albeit, with different percentages).

Hint: Remember that I shot the pistol at myself first, so the 2/7 probability doesn't apply.

Hint for the first one: You have to really think outside the box on this one, the answer is super simple. :thumbsup:

[A790]

Originally posted by bball2
We're playing Russian Roulette, I load up two bullets in the gun in adjacent chambers (next to each other), spin the barrel, snap it shut, point it at my head and pull the trigger. Click. I'm still alive. Now it's your turn, but you have a choice whether to pull the trigger right away, or spin it before you pull the trigger. What's the better option? (Assuming your just an adrenaline junkie and not suicidal)
Pull the trigger right away. You know that the last chamber was empty, and because of that, you know that odds are the chamber in front of it is empty as well as there is only a 1/6 (or however many bullets the chamber holds) chance that the next chamber has a bullet in it. If the chamber that was empty was the one immediately past the two bullets you're safe, and as long as it wasn't the chamber preceding the two bullets, your safe.

[realazy]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's two more:

There's a tennis tournament with one hundred twenty-seven players. You've got one hundred twenty-six people paired, and one not paired. In the next round, there are sixty-four players and thirty-two matches. How many matches, total, does it take to determine a winner?


One match is all it takes. Every match has a winner.

[EvolutionI]

For russian roulette, easy. I will use a 8 shot barrel for the explanation. First guy spins it, 2/8 chance. If he doesn't get shot, that means since the bullets are beside each other, the second bullet is out of play. So you only have a 1/6 chance of getting shot, vs a 1/4 chance if you spin it.

[bball2]

Originally posted by A790

Pull the trigger right away. You know that the last chamber was empty, and because of that, you know that odds are the chamber in front of it is empty as well as there is only a 1/6 (or however many bullets the chamber holds) chance that the next chamber has a bullet in it. If the chamber that was empty was the one immediately past the two bullets you're safe, and as long as it wasn't the chamber preceding the two bullets, your safe.


Originally posted by EvolutionI
For russian roulette, easy. I will use a 8 shot barrel for the explanation. First guy spins it, 2/8 chance. If he doesn't get shot, that means since the bullets are beside each other, the second bullet is out of play. So you only have a 1/6 chance of getting shot, vs a 1/4 chance if you spin it.

Both of you are correct :thumbsup:
You have to remember since I shot myself first, the only you're gonna die is if I pulled the trigger on a bullet next to the two adjacent bullets. In a 6 bullet pistol that's a 4/6 (0.25) chance (vs. 2/6 (0.33) chance if you spin again), and in a 8 bullet pistol that's a 1/6 (0.17) chance (vs. 2/8 (0.25) if you spin again).


Originally posted by realazy


One match is all it takes. Every match has a winner.
Not quite. The question is more along the lines, how many matches does it take to figure out the winner out of every one (think of March madness, one loss and you're out).

Hint: Try a super simple example, there are 7 people (2^3 - 1, instead of 2^7 -1). How many matches does it take to determine the winner? It's one of those things that after you figure it out, I could ask what if there were 1,024,345 people in the tournament and you could answer it in under a second.

[bball2]

Originally posted by bball2
Here's two more:

There's a tennis tournament with one hundred twenty-seven players. You've got one hundred twenty-six people paired, and one not paired. In the next round, there are sixty-four players and thirty-two matches. How many matches, total, does it take to determine a winner?

Just thought I'd give the answer to this riddle; if you have 127 people int he tennis tournament, it takes 126 matches to determine a winner. If you have 1,092 people in a tournament, it would take 1,091 matches to determine a winner. You have to stop think about brackets and all that stuff, just keep it super simple.

[onehawtrex]

Originally posted by bball2


Just thought I'd give the answer to this riddle; if you have 127 people int he tennis tournament, it takes 126 matches to determine a winner. If you have 1,092 people in a tournament, it would take 1,091 matches to determine a winner. You have to stop think about brackets and all that stuff, just keep it super simple.


hmmm

126/2=63 winners(63 matches)
63 winners+ the odd man out=64
64/2=32 winners(32 matches)
32/2=16 winners(16 matches)
16/2=8 winners(8 matches)
8/2=4 winners(4 Matches)
4/2=2 winners(2 matches)
2/2= 1 winner (1 match)

63,32,16,8,4,2,1=126

hey thats pretty neat how it works out in the end...

[A790]

I have many feathers to help me fly.

I have a body and head, but I’m not alive.

It is your strength which determines how far I go.

You can hold me in your hand, but I’m never thrown.

What am I?

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by A790
I have many feathers to help me fly.

I have a body and head, but I’m not alive.

It is your strength which determines how far I go.

You can hold me in your hand, but I’m never thrown.

What am I?

The first thing that came to mind is a quill, but that's only got one feather...

[adam c]

Originally posted by A790
I have many feathers to help me fly.

I have a body and head, but I’m not alive.

It is your strength which determines how far I go.

You can hold me in your hand, but I’m never thrown.

What am I?

badminton birdie

[A790]

Originally posted by HyperZell


The first thing that came to mind is a quill, but that's only got one feather...

Incorrect.


Originally posted by adam c


badminton birdie

You know, that one probably fits too, but it's not what I was thinking.

[FreakinPrince]

i like the bridie answer but it doesn't have feathers it got that whatever its called
and a birdie is thrown in the air to start the game


^^i would say an arrow?

[A790]

Originally posted by FreakinPrince
^^i would say an arrow?
Bingo bango :)

[onehawtrex]

ive got a couple for you guys

You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?


I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?

A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it?


they are kinda easy but oh well

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by onehawtrex
ive got a couple for you guys

You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?


I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?

A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it?


they are kinda easy but oh well

Don't know, sponge, suicide.

[nich148_9]

Originally posted by onehawtrex
ive got a couple for you guys

You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?


Corn on the cob.

[Atriux]

Corn is the well known one, fish works too =] (throw away scales, cook the fish, eat the skin/meat, throw away the bones. More subtle though.)

[onehawtrex]

correct correct and correct...damn i thought they woulda been a bit harder haha