Riddles!

DreadDread Join Date: 2002-07-24 Member: 993Members
edited May 2003 in Off-Topic
So I thought we could start a thread for all sorts of riddles, mysteries and paradoxies so we can all comfortly spend our nights thinking about them <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Ones that have a certain answer and ones that really can't be answered will do just fine. Discuss on riddles and post some of your owns, but remember to give decent spoiler warnings before you tell everyone if you know the right answer.

Akhilleus and turtle

Akhilleus(ancient runner hero) and a turtle have a running competition. Akhilleus gives turtle ten meters of advance and then starts running. When Akhilleus gets to the position where turtle was when the race started, turtle has moved a little bit forward. When Akhilleus gets to this position, turtle has again moved forward just an inch. So Akhilleus can't ever catch the turtle.

I couldn't explain that very well but I think you got it or have at least heard it before <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
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Comments

  • UntitledUntitled Join Date: 2003-02-09 Member: 13348Members
    I dont get it. But here my riddle:

    Tere was this guy, He owned a 4 story house, and his neighbor owned dog. So, he went to his neighbor as said: " I bet your dog 50 bucks that can't jump higher than my house!". Caurse his neighbor accepted and the guy with the dog won. How is this possible?
  • DreadDread Join Date: 2002-07-24 Member: 993Members
    edited May 2003
    Let me explain it better:

    Akhilleus starts from point A and turtle starts from point B. When Akhilleus gets to point B turtle is already in point C, when Akhilleus gets to point C, turtle has gain advanced to point D etc.

    So Akhilleus can never pass the turtle because it's always 0,00000000000000000000000000000001 mm further, got it? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Dirty_Harry_PotterDirty_Harry_Potter Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9500Members
    edited May 2003
    <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Tere was this guy, He owned a 4 story house, and his neighbor owned dog. So, he went to his neighbor as said: " I bet your dog 50 bucks that can't jump higher than my house!". Caurse his neighbor accepted and the guy with the dog won. How is this possible?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> the house can't jump...

    you break it even if you name it.
  • Cereal_KillRCereal_KillR Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1837Members
    yes I've heard that one. It's not a riddle really, it's just a error-based reasoning.


    Untitled: I dunno, the dog was jumping on the roof?
  • ArcadiusArcadius Join Date: 2003-04-14 Member: 15491Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Dread+May 5 2003, 11:35 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Dread @ May 5 2003, 11:35 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Let me explain it better:

    Akhilleus starts from point A and turtle starts from point B. When Akhilleus gets to point B turtle is already in point C, when Akhilleus gets to point C, turtle has gain advanced to point D etc.

    So Akhilleus can never pass the turtle because it's always 0,00000000000000000000000000000001 mm further, got it? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    This sounds a lot like a mathematical paradox I heard once. Here goes:

    In order to get from point A to point B, you must first travel half way between the two. To get from this point to B, you must again move halfway between the two. Repeat this endlessly because there's always a midway point between any two points. So mathematically, if we set A to be at x=0 and B at x=1, the first midway point would be at x=0.5 then halfway between that and B would be x=0.75, etc etc. Well, according to this it would always be impossible to get to B from A because you'd always be moving halfway there. This can be generalized to state that you can never actually get anywhere because you must always go halfway first, and there's always another halfway point. Well, we know this isn't true, because we can go from point A to B in real life easily. So the paradox is that mathematically you can never get anywhere, while in reality you can.

    I hope that made sense to someone besides me. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • InfinitumInfinitum Anime Encyclopedia Join Date: 2002-08-08 Member: 1111Members, Constellation
    It's the same thing as a black hole

    You cross the void into the hole instantly, but from outside you take infinity to do so.

    I could explain this principle a little easier if it wasn't 3:30am...
  • BurrBurr Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
    The curvature of a circle's circumference decreases as the size of the circle increases. For example, the curvature of the earth's surface is so negligible that it appears flat. The limit of decrease in curvature is a straight line.

    An infinite circle is therefore... a straight line!
  • DreadDread Join Date: 2002-07-24 Member: 993Members
    Burr, that was actually pretty cool <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • aeckaeck Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13600Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Dread+May 5 2003, 04:47 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Dread @ May 5 2003, 04:47 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> So Akhilleus can't ever catch the turtle. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    ... if Achilles stopped and took a pause everytime he caught up with the turtle, yes, but Achilles wouldn't do that, would he? I feel a strong urge to tell you how weak that riddle was, but I won't. I refuse!
  • FeydToBlackFeydToBlack Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13079Members
    edited May 2003
    [QUOTE=Dirty Harry Potter,May 5 2003, 09:15 AM] [QUOTE]
    you break it even if you name it. [/QUOTE]
    Could also be said "Once Spoken, it is broken" And that is a secret.

    Here are a few more (Reap day cometh):
    (please dont answer these, keeps others thinking)

    What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and not once in a hundred thousand years?

    We are very little creatures; all of us with different features. One of us in glass is set; one of us you'll find in a jet. Another you may see in tin, and the fourth is boxed within. If the fifth you should pursue, in can never fly from you. What are we?

    Where may you find roads witout cars, forests without trees, and cities without buildings?

    I have a hundred legs but i cannot stand, a long neck but no head; I eat the maid's life. What am I?

    Cannot be seen, cannot be smelt, cannot be heard, cannot be felt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills. Ends life and kill laughter. What is it?

    This thing runs but cannot walk, sometime sings but never talks. Laks arms, has hands; lacks a head but has a face. What is it?

    What builds up castles, tears down mountains, makes some blind and helps others see?

    Man walks over, man walks under; in time of war he burns asunder.

    What lives in winter, dies in summer, and grows with roots upward?

    In a tunnel of darkness lies a beast of iron. It can only attack when pulled back.

    Walk on living, they don't mumble. Walk on the dead, they mutter and grumble.

    I am emeralds and diamonds, lost by the moon. I am found by the sun and picked up soon.

    Why do people go to bed?

    What is the difference between a cat and a compound sentence?

    What has eyes but cannot see?

    A big moron and a little moron are standing on a bridge. The big moron fell off. Why didnt the little moron fall?

    More to come later
  • NumbersNotFoundNumbersNotFound Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7556Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--FeydToBlack+May 5 2003, 02:09 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (FeydToBlack @ May 5 2003, 02:09 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> [QUOTE=Dirty Harry Potter,May 5 2003, 09:15 AM] [QUOTE]
    you break it even if you name it. [/QUOTE]
    Could also be said "Once Spoken, it is broken" And that is a secret.

    Here are a few more:

    What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and not once in a hundred thousand years?



    More to come later <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    the letter M... duh...
  • MrMojoMrMojo Join Date: 2002-11-25 Member: 9882Members, Constellation
    This is easy to figure out and doesnt make sense, but here goes ;d <!--emo&::gorge::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/pudgy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='pudgy.gif'><!--endemo-->

    There's a master key. A master key opens every door in the school.
    Every lock has only one key that it can be opened with.
    So, to open one door, the key for the door and the master key would have to match.
    So, if you have any key to anything in the school, it can open everything.

    <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Cereal_KillRCereal_KillR Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1837Members
    *scratches head*

    I'll try saying that in a clearer way:

    The master key opens every door in the school.
    Every door in the school has only one key able to open it, that key being the master key.
    If you have a key that can open a door in the school, it's the master key. Therefore, you can open anything in the school.


    Correct me if I'm wrong.
  • ArcadiusArcadius Join Date: 2003-04-14 Member: 15491Members
    Cereal_Kllr, MrMojo,.... no offense but I still don't understand what you two just posted. Is it a riddle or what?
  • MrMojoMrMojo Join Date: 2002-11-25 Member: 9882Members, Constellation
    Sort of. Just saying that if a faculty issues you a key to the elevator, you gotta have the master key <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->. Although, it doesnt really work in practise, and yet doesnt make sense.
  • DocterJDocterJ Join Date: 2003-04-09 Member: 15357Members
    A man, completely dressed in black, with black clothes covering his whole body, walks down a completely black street, with all the streetlights off. A Completely black coloured car comes straight at him, but turns before hitting him. How could the car see the man?
  • ScinetScinet Join Date: 2003-01-19 Member: 12489Members, Constellation
    You guys have probably played Betrayal at Krondor, right? I loved the moredhel wordlock chests in that game. It was a brilliant idea from the designers to hide all valuable items in chests that the player had to solve a riddle to open. Some of that stuff is classic, like the examples below:

    "Although my cow is dead I continue to beat her. What a racket she makes!"

    "He caught it in the woods and brought it home because he couldn't find it. He searched for it for a long time and when he finally found it, he threw it away."
  • Cereal_KillRCereal_KillR Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1837Members
    DocterJ: The car had its lights on. Oh and it's not the car that sees the man, it's the driver <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Scinet: no idea O_o

    Maybe the cow has been gold plated and hitting it makes a lot of noise, so he hits it more o_O

    and for that woods thing, I'm sure it's something like hope. I can't think right now, need to sleep. I'll think about it some other time <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • ComproxComprox *chortle* Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    One of the oldy goldies.

    You are standing in a room with 2 doors. One guard is stationed at each door. One always tells the truth, one always lies, which is which, you do not know. One door will lead you to heaven, and one to hell. With just one question for one guard, how can you figure out which door leads to heaven?

    And this one is just silly:

    They untied the ropes, let the rope slide through their hands, and then retied the rope back up. Who died?
  • Siberian_DingoSiberian_Dingo Join Date: 2003-01-15 Member: 12326Members
    edited May 2003
    easy, ask one of them "Am i a sinner?" the heven door guard will say "yes" the hell gaurd will say "no".
    there are several answers to this riddle.

    after thinking some more you never spicified whitch gaurd tells the trooth and wich one lies. i genraly think the trooth gaurd is at the heaven door and the untroothed guy is at the other.

    (edit)I know i spelled truth wrong
  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    edited May 2003
    peak to one guard ask him wich the other guard would say leads to heaven

    take the other


    or:
    1) ask guard 1 what guard 2 would ans to this Q: "What door leads to heaven"

    2) take the other
  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    job, am 20 years old. Iam in discrete math. This stuff aint exactly either new or hard.
  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    Yes I can't type, or spell. I am both incompetent in that department and tired, and still have a 4 pager to start/finish tonight.

    and yes, it teaches you how to solve simple logic problems like that (I wish it was all fun logic problems but it isn't and thus it aint nearly as fun)

    it is knights and knaves exept esier b/c you can ask things other than yes/no Qs
  • NarfwakNarfwak Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5258Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica PT Lead, NS2 Community Developer
    Zeno's paradox > *
  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    and zeno's paradox would be?
    .....
  • SirusSirus Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8466Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    edited May 2003
    When one reaches the speed of light, time becomes infinity ;p

    <img src='http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/figures/gr_timedial.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
  • FeydToBlackFeydToBlack Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13079Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Sirus+May 5 2003, 07:47 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Sirus @ May 5 2003, 07:47 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> When one reaches the speed of light, time becomes infinity ;p

    <img src='http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/figures/gr_timedial.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    As does one's mass. (no fancy charts here)
  • ZelZel Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12861Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--DocterJ+May 5 2003, 04:04 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DocterJ @ May 5 2003, 04:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> A man, completely dressed in black, with black clothes covering his whole body, walks down a completely black street, with all the streetlights off. A Completely black coloured car comes straight at him, but turns before hitting him. How could the car see the man? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    it was daytime. thats a personal favorite of mine.

    about the mass goin to infinity, thats a common misconception, really only the energy required to accelerate you goes up and up and it is often portrayed for the sake of common sense as your mass, when in reality you will not become a gravitational force.
  • ScinetScinet Join Date: 2003-01-19 Member: 12489Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--Cereal_KillR+May 5 2003, 04:45 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Cereal_KillR @ May 5 2003, 04:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Scinet: no idea O_o

    Maybe the cow has been gold plated and hitting it makes a lot of noise, so he hits it more o_O

    and for that woods thing, I'm sure it's something like hope. I can't think right now, need to sleep. I'll think about it some other time <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The answer to the cow riddle is a simple as "drum".

    As for the woods thing, solving without googling/prior knowledge is appreciated.
  • Cereal_KillRCereal_KillR Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1837Members
    I honestly didn't know it! It's just every single riddle with something that works the opposite way of something material is always something like Hope or something that isn't real.


    Poor people have lots of it
    Rich people don't have it but need iy
    When you eat some you die
    It is better than God and worse than the Devil.

    What is it?
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