Riddles

I still don’t get it…

alex and traumgänger : sorry 3906 is wrong. the error you make is deviding by 5 without multiplying by 4 , remember each man removes 1/5 which leavs 4/5 so when the first man wakes he gives one nut to the monkey 3906-1=3905 then he removes his 1/5 which gives 3905-39051/5=3905(1-1/5)=3906*4/5=3124
this number leavs 4 nuts for the monkey.

and traumgänger going backwards only works if you know how many coconut are left after the fifth man hides his share.

ps: I dont’ think you can solve the problem for 101 on a calculater or computer ,the number is to big.

There are only three words in: “the English language”
What is the third word?
Language

Got it!

Sometimes semi-colons: and quotes" can be so useful

Forget about the first sentence. It’s completely unrelated.
It’s funny how hard this is with the answer right below it.

wow… these sort of threads can get really confusing after being gone for only two days…

I just answered in order of appearance, and then removed any of the explanations I had that were answered later.

jabbervock-it isn’t 5 feet.

jesta-about alladin…I see no way to do that one, maybe your wording is confusing me, are you saying that he got his genie to see that both the envelopes had “banished” in them?

ulrik_tk-if the guard gets to decide which jar to use, and you have to use all the balls, it wouldn’t matter how you “arrange” them because it is the same as having all the balls in one jar.

jabbervock-there is no answer to the “raven/writing-desk” riddle. the most common “semi-response” is “Poe wrote on both”. this “riddle” is from alice in wonderland.

Dream-addict-yep, 3 feet, the boat isn’t fixed to the land but to the water

jesta-also, you could say “he was cleaning on a balcony” (about the window cleaner).

Third time lucky. Is it 3121?

kmcdonald: Sleeper answered the riddle correctly. The prisoner puts 1 white ball in one jar, and the rest of the balls in the other jar.
Then there is a 50% chance for both jars. If the guard takes in the jar with the white ball, there is a 100% chance for him to take a white. If he takes a ball in the other jar, there is 49/99 = 49,9% chance for him to take a white.
So then there is about 74% chance for a white.

Now I got it. Really a brain-twister.

Ok,this one is nice, but perhaps a bit difficult to describe in english:

You are in a prisoners cell with a lamp.In a different cell are three switches.If you find out wich one works for the lamp, you are free.You can leave your cell only one time, go to the cell with the switches, and return.Then you have to know the answer.

I know the answer, but I won’t tell it so early

Well, it sounds too easy, so i don’t know if it’s right. But if there’s only bars between the cells, and not walls, you can see the lamp.
You could also take the lamp with you.

No, you can´t see the lamp unless you are in the cell the lamp is in, and you can´t take the lamp with you
Sorry,in german I perhaps could have described it better

Okay, what if I flipped over switch 1, let it be on for a while, then flipped it over back, switced on switch 2, and let switch 3 be in the off position. Then, if the lamp is dark, but hot, it is switch 1. If it is lit, then it is switch 2. If it is dark, and cold, then it is switch 3. Am I not brilliant?

How about this one: In my bedroom, there are 3 metres between the only light switch in the room and the bed. I can not touch it in any way from my bed. The switch is of the ordinary type: one “on” and one “off” position. When you switch it on, the light fastened in the ceiling is lit, and when you switch it off, the light is switched off. It is completely out as soon as you turn off the switch. I have absolutely no other light sources in my bedroom. Still, I can stand close to the switch which is 3 metres from my bed, switch off the light, and be totally in bed before the light in my bedroom goes out. How can I do that? (just to make it clear: This is in real life, and I can not break any nature law in any way )

alex: 3121 is right, for 101 it is (101^101)-100

LucidityX1000: you do it at day time ?

Hmm… if the goal is to find out which switch it is, that is a little harder. Buy if you just have to turn on the light: flip all the switches!

About the prisoner and the balls thing, I still am pretty sure that it shouldn’t matter. If you consider the scenario of 1 white ball in one jar and all the other balls in the other jar, then your can say it is a .5 chance (on 0 to 1) that the gaurd will choose either jar. In one jar, he will choose with 1 probabilty a white ball. In the other it is a 49/99 probabilty that it is a white ball. So, we say the total probabilty that it is a white ball is:

(chooses Jar 1 AND chooses white ball) OR (chooses Jar 2 AND chooses white ball)

From pre-calculus or wherever you where taught probability, remember AND means multiply (x) and OR means add (+), so:

(0.5x1)+(0.5*(49/99))= .74 repeating

Wait a second… I thought I was trying to show that it shouldn’t matter… How did I end up here? Oh well… Anyway…

hehe

Anyway, here’s a new one, it’s pretty easy: You have a box with 32 blue socks, and 21 red socks.
If you close your eyes and takes some socks up, how many socks are you going to take to be 100% sure that you have a pair (2 socks of the same color)?

ulrik_tr : three socks, when the only is two colors you will always have two of the same color when you have three.

ok new riddle

on my book shelf i have three books, the first is
“exploring the world of lucid dreaming” is has 250 pages,to the right of that is
“the tibetan yogas of dream and sleep” with 200 pages,and to the right of that is a book called “drømmenes dimensioner” which has 400 pages.
the front and back coveres of all the books is 4 mm thick and each page is 0,5 mm.

inside the front cover of the first book is a worm, now the problem is ,if the worm eats its way from EWLD to just inside the back cover of “drømmenes dimensioner” how far does it trave ? l(it moves in a straigt line)

hmm… 116mm ?

Btw. Are you from Denmark?

I got 441 mm…
(0.5250)+4+4+(2000.5)+4+4+(400*0.5)

but there has to be some trick, I don’t think this is a math probelm…

I say the worm falls asleep while going through EWLD and only DREAMS that he made it to the other end of the books…

Another riddle…
On a gameshow, you are given the choice to pick one of three doors. Behind two are goats and behind one is the car of your choice. Obviously, you want the car. So, you pick a door at random. With this door in mind, the gameshow host reveals to you one of the doors that has goats behind it. You are given an offer to change your door (which you have no idea what is behind it) to the other one that is not yet open.

Do you stay on the door you are on or change to the other one that isn’t open yet?

kmcdonald - There would be a 50-50% chance for that the door of your choice would reveal goats or the car of your dreams, so wouldn’t it really be the same which door you would choose?