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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » Riddles (A Game) (Page 1)

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Author Topic: Riddles (A Game)
Eruve Nandiriel
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When the correct answer is confirmed, the winner posts a new riddle.

I'll start:

Who makes it, has no need of it.
Who buys it, has no use for it.
Who uses it can neither see nor feel it.

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rivka
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Coffin.
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Eruve Nandiriel
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yes [Smile]
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rivka
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Someone at a party introduces you to your mother's only sister's husband's sister-in-law. He has no brothers. What do you call this lady?
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Dagonee
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That's not a given in Massachusetts anymore. [Big Grin]

Dagonee
Wow, every thread CAN be a gay marriage thread...

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Erik Slaine
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Someone looking for a free meal?

(Where's the beer?)

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rivka
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CT, yup. Your turn. [Smile]
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Hobbes
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What do you get when the getting's good?

Hobbes [Smile]

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Hobbes
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Not your cheese (nocho-cheese).

Hobbes [Smile]

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Hobbes
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What have I got in my pockets?

Or if that one's too hard...

I don't really have any riddles... I'll give you a brain teaser but that may not really be what's desired.

You have two strings that burn at random velocities (i.e. the time it takes to burn a string will not necessarily be twice the time it takes to burn half of that string), given no other timing device, and only matches, how do you use those two strings to determine when 45 minutes has passed (and now sun-dial like answers [Razz] )

Hobbes [Smile]

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Dagonee
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Um, I think you left out a crucial piece of information on this one, Hobbes.
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Hobbes
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Yes, yes I did. They each take exactly 1 hour to burn, it's the rates that are unpredictable, not the total time.

Hobbes [Smile]

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Dagonee
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Light one string at both ends - it will burn in 30 minutes if you do that.

Light the other string at one end at the same time. When the first string is burnt up, there will be 30 minutes of time left on the second string, no matter how much of it is actually burnt up at that point.

Light the second end of the second string; when the second string is consumed, 15 minutes will have elapsed (half of the remaining 30 minutes).

Dagonee
Edit: Riddle incoming in a couple minutes.

[ July 06, 2004, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]

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Dagonee
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There are three cups of cofee and 22 lumps of sugar. How can you add an odd number of lumps of sugar to each coffee cup if each lump of sugar must be used in a coffee cup?

Dagonee

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fugu13
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The rope riddle's been used by Microsoft as an interview question.
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Dagonee
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I'd heard it before, but I solved it on my own when I heard it so I didn't feel bad about posting the answer.

Had the ropes had 30 minute burn time (which is how I actually heard it), you would just wait to light the second at both ends until the first is out.

Dagonee

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Hobbes
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Can you cut the lumps in half? If so that's the answer, cut two in half and add 8 to each one.

Hobbes [Smile]

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Hobbes
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I certainly would... some people count it as even, some say it's niether but I don't think anyone says it's odd.

Hobbes [Smile]

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fugu13
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I quite enjoyed solving the rope riddle as well, as well as another Microsoft interview question (I was chatting with a MS intern), but its too CS oriented to post.
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Papa Moose
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#1: 1 in cup #1, 1 in cup #2, 20 in cup #3. I sure think 20 is an odd number of sugar lumps for one cup of coffee.

#2: 11 in cup #1, then place cup #2 into cup #3, and place 11 into both cups at once.

#3: 7 in cup #1, 7 in cup #2, take the remaining eight to form a 2x2x2 cube, and place in cup #3.

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kaioshin00
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The sum of any two odd numbers is an even number.

22 - any even number is also an even number.

it's not possible!

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Dagonee
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Sorry, got distracted in the latest theology thread dispelling some Jack Chickish rumours.

Papa's Number 1 is the answer I was looking for. (No, you can't cut them in half.)

Number 2 is cheap, and number 3 would work if I said cubes, not lumps. [Taunt]

Your riddle Papa.

Dagonee
Edit: 0 could be counted as even for this purpose.

[ July 06, 2004, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]

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Papa Moose
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I cede my riddle to whoever wants it. I have to go pick up my car.

--Pop

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Dagonee
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Is this a trick riddle?

Is the answer carrots?

Dagonee

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Hobbes
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Fugu, I'd like to hear it, you don't have to make it an official riddle for this thread.

Dag, you think Papa's number 2 answer was cheap? Your's was $20,000 below sticker price! [Mad] [Razz]

Hobbes [Smile]

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Eruve Nandiriel
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Since Papa Moose forfieted his riddle...

What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?

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Jalapenoman
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someone been reading Oedipus?

It's man

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Jalapenoman
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New riddle:

If you're flying in your canoe and the wheels fall off, how many oranges does it take to build a house?

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Eruve Nandiriel
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Who's Oedipus?
I learned that riddle from my brother. Very few people get it right.

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Hobbes
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Ohh that's easy, as Confucius says -

"The building of a whole house begins with a single orange"

Hobbes [Smile]

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T_Smith
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You can build a house with oranges?
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fugu13
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Heh, k.

Its in two parts.

You have a linked list. First, design a program that discovers if the linked list is/has a loop.

Second, design a program that does the same thing in the same finite amount of memory regardless of list size.

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Eruve Nandiriel
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Confucious confuses us.
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Jalapenoman
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It's a drunk joke. Ask them this one and they will try to "essplain" their answer or say they understand yours.

The answer? Three, because elephants don't lay eggs on Tuesdays when it rains.

I pass on the right of asking the next riddle.

As far as the line "Who's Oedipus?" goes: he was a young man who was challenged by the sphinx to answer the riddle or die. It is from the play Oedipus Rex. In it, an oracle prophecies that a baby will kill his father and marry his mother. The boy's father attempts to have him killed, but the person assigned the duty takes pity and allows the child to live. He grows up and has several adventures, including killing his father and marrying his mother. When he does find out the truth of his parentage, he kills himself. Freud uses this story to name his bogus Oedipus complex, where he says that all men want to sleep with their mothers.

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HollowEarth
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what word is masculine and plural, but when you add an 's' becomes feminine and singular?
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Hobbes
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OK, Fugu, I have two different answers for you depending, if the loop is garunteed to be a full circle (shape of an O) there's answer A, if the circle can start anywhere (like a 'P') then there's answer B.

Both answers in C++, but the language doesn't reall matter.

Answer A:

code:
template <class T>
bool CheckList (T *Start)
{
T *Current = Start;

while (Current != NULL) {
if (Current == Start) return true;
Current = Current->Next;
}

return false;
}

Answer B:

code:
template <class T>
bool CheckList (T *Start)
{
T *Current;
T *Mov;
int StartCount;

Current = Start;

for (int ObjectsTo = 0; true; ObjectsTo++) {
if (Current == NULL) return false;

Move = Start;
for (StartCount = 0; Move != Current; StartCount++) {}
if (StartCount < ObjectsTo) return true;

Current = Current->Next;
}

return false;
}

Hobbes [Smile]
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Hobbes
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By the way, I haven't error checked my code, so if there's a syntax error, I'm A) not surprised, and B) not that interested. [Wink]

Hobbes [Smile]

[ July 06, 2004, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: Hobbes ]

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Mr.Gumby
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*looks at C++ code and curls up into a little ball, quivers and cries softly at flash-backs of programming class* [Angst] [Cry] [Angst] [Cry]
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Eruve Nandiriel
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Jalepenoman- that sounds familiar now. [Smile]
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fugu13
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The loop can be anywhere, and the second answer is incorrect.

Edit to "clarify": the second answer is incorrect for either part of the question, though its logic could be used to answer the first part correctly (of course, there's a much easier if more memory intensive way; but we can use as much memory as we want for the first part). Its nowhere near the right answer for the second part of the question, though its closer to the right method of thinking than the easy answer for the first part of the question.

[ July 06, 2004, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: fugu13 ]

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Hobbes
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Why? It gets the answer and it takes a static amount of memory no matter the size.

Hobbes [Smile]

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fugu13
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No, it doesn't take a static amount of memory regardless of size. It takes a static amount of memory as long as the list's size is less than the largest value of an int. Then it just fails. And once you use a non-bounded substitute it takes an amount of memory proportional to the length of the list, which is unbounded.

[ July 06, 2004, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: fugu13 ]

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kwsni
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::yawns at geekyness::

so here's a REAL riddle.

What can go up a chimney down, but cannot go up a chimney up?

Ni!

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Hobbes
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You realize I could get around that by declaring a "T *Counter", since the pointer is garuneteed to be of adequate size, or the rest of the program would crash first. [Razz]

Am I allowed to change the pointers themselves?

And Becky, just because it's you and for no other reason my guess is: a horse. [Big Grin]

Hobbes [Smile]

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rivka
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I think I know kwsni's. An umbrella?
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Boon
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Poke your fingers in my eyes and I will open wide my jaws. Linen cloth, quills, or paper, my greedy lust devours them all.
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rivka
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Clearly that one is a just-learned-to-crawl baby. [Wink]
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Boon
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guess again [Razz]
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HollowEarth
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scissors
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Annie
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Why is a raven like a writing desk?
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