Brain teaser
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A brain teaser is a form of puzzle that requires thought to solve. It often requires thinking in unconventional ways with given constraints in mind; sometimes it also involves lateral thinking. Logic puzzles and riddles are specific types of brain teasers.
One of the earliest known brain teaser enthusiasts was the Greek mathematician Archimedes.[1] He devised mathematical problems for his contemporaries to solve.
Example
[edit]A brain teaser may be a mathematical puzzle:
- Q: If three men can dig three holes in three hours, how many holes can one man dig in one hour?
- A: One third of a hole. (In one hour three men have dug one hole; with a third of that work being done only a third of a hole will be dug.)
It may require some attentive lateral thinking:
- Q: Mary's father has five daughters: the oldest is Nana, followed by Nene, Nini and Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?
- A: Mary. (Not, as the pattern might suggest, Nunu.)
It may be a riddle:
- Q: I have a bed but cannot sleep, and have a bank but no money, what am I?
- A: A river.
Intuition
[edit]The difficulty of many brain teasers relies on a certain degree of fallacy in human intuitiveness. This is most common[2] in brain teasers relating to conditional probability, because the causal human mind tends to consider absolute probability instead. As a result, controversial discussions emerge from such problems. One of the famous brain teasers is the Monty Hall problem.[3] Another (simpler) example of such a brain teaser is the Boy or Girl paradox.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Editors of Time-Life books, Inc. (1989). The Puzzle Master. Alexandria, Virginia, USA: Time-Life Books. p. 18. ISBN 0-8097-0928-7.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ↑ Bar-Hillel, Maya; Noah, Tom; Frederick, Shane (2018). "Learning psychology from riddles: The case of stumpers". Judgment and Decision Making. 13: 112–122. doi:10.1017/S193029750000886X. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ↑ "Game Show Problem | Marilyn vos Savant". Archived from the original on 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
