Logic and Math Puzzles

+rep to people who solve any of these. I'll try some of them later on.

These aren't my writings...
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There are three switches downstairs. Each corresponds to one of the three light bulbs in the attic. You can turn the switches on and off and leave them in any position.
How would you identify which switch corresponds to which light bulb, if you are only allowed one trip upstairs?

A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?
(This is one of the more popular and most celebrated of all lateral thinking logic puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there are many possible solutions that fit the conditions, only the canonical answer is truly satisfying.)

How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.

This logic puzzle was published in Martin Gardner's column in the Scientific American.
You are in a room with no metal objects except for two iron rods. Only one of them is a magnet.
How can you identify which one is a magnet?
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more to come

Actually I hate these ones. I'll try to find less tricky ones that require more just good thinking.

How did I know you'd be the one to make this thread?

Plus the answer to them is Satan. The answer for everything is always Satan.

Hey I didn't put any math puzzles yet. I goddamn would have if you weren't always complaining about it. You realize I very rarely ever talk about these things and with you it only ever comes up as a remark or something.

Stop trolling me let me be a mathematician in peace. It's bad enough I have to put up with all these FUCKING NUMBERS AND SHIT ALL THE TIME!

AND FUCK SATAN!

Ah here's a real puzzle.

There is a truth teller (always tells the truth), a liar (always lies), and one that sometimes answers truthfully and sometimes lies. Each man knows who is who. You may ask three yes or no question to determine who is who. Each time you ask a question, it must only be directed to one of the men (of your choice). You may ask the same question more than once, but of course it will count towards your total.
What are your questions and to whom will you ask them?

VacuousReality wrote:

Ah here's a real puzzle.

There is a truth teller (always tells the truth), a liar (always lies), and one that sometimes answers truthfully and sometimes lies. Each man knows who is who. You may ask three yes or no question to determine who is who. Each time you ask a question, it must only be directed to one of the men (of your choice). You may ask the same question more than once, but of course it will count towards your total.
What are your questions and to whom will you ask them?

This one was on an episode of Yu Gi Oh <_< (minus the limit on the questions)

I do not remember the answer though

That was with two people though.

In other words...a kid's show. You'll also notice in the game of chess between Kaiba and his father they both moved their King pawns one space forward twice in a row. Get the picture?

Edit: Don't ask me how I know that.

I looked them up on google...

I feel dirty.

VacuousReality wrote:

There are three switches downstairs. Each corresponds to one of the three light bulbs in the attic. You can turn the switches on and off and leave them in any position.
How would you identify which switch corresponds to which light bulb, if you are only allowed one trip upstairs?

can I start in the attic with all the lights on? and whats one trip there and back? or just there?

well you start in the attic one light on you go downstairs turn on a light and go back on see which one you've turned on, that seems way to simple as an answer though

Keep the first bulb switched on for a few minutes. It gets warm, right? So all you have to do then is ... switch it off, switch another one on, walk into the room with bulbs, touch them and tell which one was switched on as the first one (the warm one) and the others can be easily identified ...

IB got it. If you can start in the room with a certain amount of lights on you could simply do...
O = On
X = Off

Start:
OOX
End:
OXO

And determine all 3 lights.

Well for number 3, you can simply throw it super hard and have it go across the entire globe, but I know that's probably not the answer

How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.

Throw it Vertically...

Yeah, I went to Google as well

How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn't bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you.

Throw it up in the air ??

That's it Hate. Screw the googlers, unless IB wasn't googling. He might not have I'm not sure.

Axeforhire wrote:

Well for number 3, you can simply throw it super hard and have it go across the entire globe, but I know that's probably not the answer

That's another answer to the question...very possible, and clever.

Quote :

A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?

He works in construction of teh building and they only operate the elevator if there are enough people to make it worthwhile or it's too rainy to walk up the stairs since the roof isn't finished yet. The building is, of course, an apartment complex but he can live there even though it aint finished because he works on it.

I didn't google it, if I got that I'm giving myself a pat on the back.

Actually it's because a man in the elevator puts a gun to his head each time he comes in and says, "I'm going to make you do something silly today."

Stroke the iron bars together, this should magnetise both. Then whack one against the wall repeadedly to de-magnetise it. You now know which is which. This relys on the fact the magnet is weak.

He's too short to reach the buttons.

Dies Irae wrote:

Stroke the iron bars together, this should magnetise both. Then whack one against the wall repeadedly to de-magnetise it. You now know which is which. This relys on the fact the magnet is weak.

Lol I love that answer. +rep. Unless it's the actual answer...still it's hilarious.

I don't get the elevator one are you serious?

where is my rep!...

I desire more logic/math puzzles VR!

This is fun, maybe I'll search the web for some so you can take part.

One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process.

There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off.

How can the man survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire)

Its actually a dream

Cut away the trees and roll them off the cliff until he has some survival space. Not like it'll help much. Or get in Hate's bulldozer and wipe out the whole island.

does the sun rises from the SOUTH NORTH WEST OR EAST?

the man dies in the fire.

Axeforhire wrote:

One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process.

There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off.

How can the man survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire)

If it's lightning there doesn't it also mean it's raining too? And since the the wind is blowing towards the west the rain will be directed there too