What are some examples of challenging logical puzzles and questions?

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In summary, Bryanp's first post is a joke about how an expert summarizer would have solved it. Andre's post is about a real life scenario in which two men order drinks from the same bar and one dies as a result.
  • #36
Nice try Jordan,
But the point is that the '' pharmacist prevents the murder, not delays it".

No need to apologize, the questions you raised were inevitable in anybody's mind.

Anybody there?
 
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  • #37
It is getting more and more stupid. It has nothing to do with logic, and the only reason for some assumptions to hold and for others to not is "because I said so".
 
  • #38
Borek said:
It is getting more and more stupid. It has nothing to do with logic, and the only reason for some assumptions to hold and for others to not is "because I said so".

My dear friend Borek,
these questions are situational logic i.e. questions depending on the practicality of a person,
it is how well you react to a situation.
Moreover , if i had to post the so called "logical" questions according to you, then i don't need to do it coz millions of them are available on the internet.
And one more think it is not becoz i said so, it is becoz the "answer said so".
These questions have not been picked up from stray and posted on PF.These are world class questions asked at various competitive tests and interviews.I am no moron.

Hope you understand.This thread tests your thinking and logical reasoning.The points put up by me are perfectly true and just.
 
  • #39
Pharmacist: Buddy, here's your bottle of poison, sorry for the delay. I know you're trying to kill your wife. So I've just mailed a letter, a copy of the receipt and the bill with your prints on it to a secret locker and instructed a friend to open it if anything happens to me. If your wife dies anytime soon, I will talk to the cops and make sure they nail your @$$. If anything happens to me, my friend will pass on the contents of my locker to the police. Have a nice day.
 
  • #40
I don't buy it. Call it test of creative thinking, it'll be OK. But - like in the boomerang case - you need several assumptions for the boomerang answer to be correct. One, she has to have a boomerang (how many people with boomerangs at home do you know?), second she has to be able to throw it correctly and precisely (as it was already pointed by DeaconJohn it is not that easy), third she has to have quite a strong hand so that boomerang kills her on return (and remember, how many people survives blows, hits, crashes and so on). You need three unlikely assumptions for the boomerang answer to be correct.

Let me put it another way. Ask me "How likely it is that the random women died after throwing boomerang through the window". Hmm, I don't know a single person that owns boomerang, so it is doubtfull. But even if, to get killed you need to throw it very strong. Most of the women I know won't be strong enough, so it is doubtfull. And then you need not only a lot a strength, but also a lot of skill. Again, I don't know anyone with that skill, which makes things even more doubtfull. This is logic at work.

In a real life situation heart attack looks much more likely. Heck, it is much more likely that she was throwing her housband sandwitch he forgot to take, she slipped and hit window sill with her head.
 
  • #41
The pharmacist is his wife. She commits suicide.
 
  • #42
Jimmy i have got to say, you are damn intelligent.
Kudos to you for your wonderful presence of mind: 8 points.

Gokul does it in style.Love your response.Amazingly executed answer: 6 points.

As for Borek,I do not wish to argue with such a senior member.If you don't want to test your skills, don't criticize this thread for no reason.

STILL LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT ANSWER.
 
  • #43
pharmacist kills man?
 
  • #44
Hey, I am not a kid eater! And one third of my seniority comes for $15, you can afford it :wink:
 
  • #45
Gear300 said:
pharmacist kills man?

Brilliant try.The experts do not accept this solution as they do not want the pharmacist to become a criminal and save the wife.

But as i have told ,the members of PF are more than smart and these innovative answers , truly force me to believe that innovation has a new dimension.

Gear300 gets 5 points.

STILL LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT ANSWER.

CURRENT STANDINGS:

1.Jimmy-13 points
2.Andre-10 points
3.Moonbear-5 points
4.Gokul-6 points
5.Gear300-5 points
6.DyslexicHobo-10 points
7.Kurdt-5 points
 
  • #46
Borek said:
Hey, I am not a kid eater! And one third of my seniority comes for $15, you can afford it :wink:

Seniority does not come with a price tag and if it does,I spit on it.
 
  • #47
physixguru said:
A man tries to buy poison to kill his wife. The pharmacist figures out what he's up to and finds a way to ensure that he can't kill his wife.How does the pharmacist do it?
Only one answer possible.

jimmysnyder said:
The pharmacist is his wife. She commits suicide.

physixguru said:
8 points.

Why only 8? When you shout that you are looking for a perfect answer, I think you mean 'can we guess what your answer is.'
 
  • #48
RE: the boomerang answer to the last conudrum:

If she throws the boomerang OUT of the window then upon its return it will enter INTO the room. Of course someone can fall in any direction when hit by something it is somewhat unlikely that a woman who was expecting a boomerang to return through the window to get hit by it then fall in the direction from whence it came?

Better solution: she throws the boomerang but it doesn't quite reach her on its return so she stretches to try and catch it and falls to her death.

Anyway, for the current conudrum my first answer is the obvious one:

The pharmacist sabotages the husband's plot by replacing the drug asked for with a some substance that will not harm his wife but cause her to ill health sufficient to goto A & E where it would become apparent to the doctors that something shifty was going on, the police are called and the husband reveals all as he can't take the pressure.
 
  • #49
She was a burglar. She was inside someone's house throwing valuables out the window to her accomplice. A neighbor shot her.
 
  • #50
AHH no! She WAS a burglar, and she was stealing a boomerang. Only things didn't pan out how she'd liked them too.
 
  • #51
physixguru said:
Take this, a perfectly daily life question.

A woman throws something out a window and dies.
What causes her death? (Not more than 2 answers are possible).
In my world, the answers to these kinds of riddles are meant to be teased out 20 questions-style, not simply scattershot guesses. So I'm going to start that. I'll ask 5, otherwise this will take forever.

Would she have died if the thing had not gone out the window?
Did she know that her action would result in her injury or death?
Did she die immediately after the thing went out the window (say, less than 30 seconds)?
Was there anyone else in the room?
Did she die directly by another person's action?
 
  • #52
DaveC426913 said:
Would she have died if the thing had not gone out the window?
Did she know that her action would result in her injury or death?
Did she die immediately after the thing went out the window (say, less than 30 seconds)?
Was there anyone else in the room?
Did she die directly by another person's action?
Dave, physix posted the "answer" in an earlier post (20-ish, I think). You can look it up and answer your own questions! :wink:
 
  • #53
Is the pharmacist question still open?

Immediately after the man leaves the pharmacy, the pharmacist calls the wife and tells her to pass on the message to the husband that the "____" he sold him was the wrong stuff, and he needs to bring it back. The wife is then aware of the situation...
 
  • #54
Ms Music said:
Immediately after the man leaves the pharmacy, the pharmacist calls the wife and tells her to pass on the message to the husband that the "____" he sold him was the wrong stuff, and he needs to bring it back. The wife is then aware of the situation...
That might make it more difficult for him to kill his wife, but it doesn't ensure that he can't as stated in the puzzle.
 
  • #55
Actually, I was rather vague because I thought the question was rather vague. The pharmacist tells the wife that he accidentally filled the prescription with the wrong meds/stuff, and to bring it back because it could kill her by interacting with her current meds. I assumed he picked up a prescription for the wife, instead of rat poison... But if the pharmacist thinks it will interact with her current meds, she will need to talk to her doctor. But I am assuming a lot of things! ;)

Sorry, I didn't want to be TOO specific. But if she is aware that what is being brought home will kill her, she won't take it. (well, unless it was her best friend that just died by being hit by a boomerang...)
 
  • #56
Ms Music said:
Sorry, I didn't want to be TOO specific. But if she is aware that what is being brought home will kill her, she won't take it. (well, unless it was her best friend that just died by being hit by a boomerang...)
The husband could shoot his wife. The puzzle says that the pharmacist finds a way to ensure that he can't kill his wife.
 
  • #57
The pharmacist kills the guys wife.
 
  • #58
jimmysnyder said:
Why only 8? When you shout that you are looking for a perfect answer, I think you mean 'can we guess what your answer is.'

Thanks a lot for misinterpreting me.It seems you have not read my first post and my response to the honorable members.If you again ask me, i stress again, that the answers and these riddles have been collected from various sources with deep hard labor.I do not make up my own answers.I never posted my own answer and said that this is my reply, and it came out to be true.I am not playing this game.I am just getting all of you involved.If i wanted no one to win, i would not have awarded Andre,You,Jimmy,Kurdt , with points.I do not give you 10 points because the answer that the experts regard as the smartest one, is something else.I could have given you 2 points also, but i respect your intelligence friend, never take me otherwise.

Hope you understand.
 
  • #59
Ms Music said:
Actually, I was rather vague because I thought the question was rather vague. The pharmacist tells the wife that he accidentally filled the prescription with the wrong meds/stuff, and to bring it back because it could kill her by interacting with her current meds. I assumed he picked up a prescription for the wife, instead of rat poison... But if the pharmacist thinks it will interact with her current meds, she will need to talk to her doctor. But I am assuming a lot of things! ;)

Sorry, I didn't want to be TOO specific. But if she is aware that what is being brought home will kill her, she won't take it. (well, unless it was her best friend that just died by being hit by a boomerang...)

The pharmacist is no astrologer.He can't just guess the man's wife telephone number.This prediction of fact by the pharmacist is just impossible.Of course you can sense something wrong, But you can't determine facts.Also the wife may not believe the pharmacist at all because she may have complete faith on her husband , not realising what her husband's intentions were.
Nevertheless, nice try, stay along.
 
  • #60
DaveC426913 said:
In my world, the answers to these kinds of riddles are meant to be teased out 20 questions-style, not simply scattershot guesses. So I'm going to start that. I'll ask 5, otherwise this will take forever.

Would she have died if the thing had not gone out the window?
Did she know that her action would result in her injury or death?
Did she die immediately after the thing went out the window (say, less than 30 seconds)?
Was there anyone else in the room?
Did she die directly by another person's action?

Answer me this:

Would be alive had you not be breathing?,who knows , you may be invincible ;p
Did you ever know your future?
Do you ever control things which are in controllable?, same is the case with the boomerang,
finer details make the puzzle unrealistic, my friend.
Would the Presence of any other person have prevented the murder?
Can another man ever fly suddenly to catch a boomerang and throw it back at her, as if he was watching her all day and waiting for her to perform this action.?

Hope you are answered friend.Logic takes no questions.
 
  • #61
neu said:
RE: the boomerang answer to the last conudrum:

If she throws the boomerang OUT of the window then upon its return it will enter INTO the room. Of course someone can fall in any direction when hit by something it is somewhat unlikely that a woman who was expecting a boomerang to return through the window to get hit by it then fall in the direction from whence it came?

Better solution: she throws the boomerang but it doesn't quite reach her on its return so she stretches to try and catch it and falls to her death.

Anyway, for the current conudrum my first answer is the obvious one:

The pharmacist sabotages the husband's plot by replacing the drug asked for with a some substance that will not harm his wife but cause her to ill health sufficient to goto A & E where it would become apparent to the doctors that something shifty was going on, the police are called and the husband reveals all as he can't take the pressure.


Seems you have not read the word ' unexpectedly ' in the question.You missed the trick
friend.Anyways,i posted the answer which is considered the smartest of all.It is no solution of mine.

Anyways your answer ,for the pharmacist question is the most satisfactory of all, and you deserve 8 points for it.
 
  • #62
Kurdt said:
The pharmacist kills the guys wife.

Dear Kurdt
Again ,your answer is regarded as very logical by many, but again the pharmacist never knows the man's address or so,and as the puzzle wants, the pharmacist wants to prevent a murder by the man.I consider it as the most logical, anyways.

Kurdt:6 points.
 
  • #63
Got it. Pharmacist sold bottle covered with super glue. Husband is glued to the bottle and he can't kill his wife nor the pharmacist. They run to Alaska and live long and happy.
 
  • #64
The answer considered the most smart of all because of no assumptions:

The pharmacist gives the man a cup of coffee to drink while he's waiting for the cash memo. After the man has drunk the coffee, the pharmacist says, "There was poison in that coffee. I'll give you the antidote if you write a signed statement that you were planning to kill your wife. I'll keep the confession; if anything happens to your wife, I'll give it to the police."

This answer is not mine.It was asked at IBM interview center,California.Regarded as the smartest because of no assumptions at all.

Question closed.
 
  • #65
Borek said:
Got it. Pharmacist sold bottle covered with super glue. Husband is glued to the bottle and he can't kill his wife nor the pharmacist. They run to Alaska and live long and happy.

Cool, Borek,
Anti-gluing solutions available even in Nigeria.Had the pharmacist followed your advice,the man would have freed his hands and cuts the chemist into pieces for playing a prank.
 
  • #66
CURRENT STANDINGS:

Jimmy-13 points
Kurdt-11 points
Neu-8 points.
Andre-10 points
Moonbear-5 points
Gokul-6 points
Gear300-5 points
DyslexicHobo-10 points
 
  • #67
Here comes the next one for all the people crying for so called "true logic":

Easy one for all,

Two fathers and two sons went fishing. Each caught exactly one fish and yet there were only three fish caught. Why?
 
  • #68
Because there are only one GRANDFATHER, one FATHER and one SON..
FATHER is also son to the GRANDFATHER and GRANDFATHER is also father to the FATHER
 
  • #69
physixguru said:
The answer considered the most smart of all because of no assumptions:

The pharmacist gives the man a cup of coffee to drink while he's waiting for the cash memo. After the man has drunk the coffee, the pharmacist says, "There was poison in that coffee. I'll give you the antidote if you write a signed statement that you were planning to kill your wife. I'll keep the confession; if anything happens to your wife, I'll give it to the police."

This answer is not mine.It was asked at IBM interview center,California.Regarded as the smartest because of no assumptions at all.

Question closed.
This solution is horrible. The man signs the document and then kills his wife. The pharmacist goes to jail for poisoning the man with coffee. The man accuses the pharmacist of poisoning both him and his wife and uses the note and the fact that he signed it under duress as proof.

Or he simply kills his wife and goes to jail for it. The puzzle said that the pharmacist ensures that he can't kill his wife. 0 points.
 
  • #70
A man eats a piece of fruit given to him by his wife and which he should not have eaten. Later another man posts to the Physics Forums.
 

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