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 Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:08 pm
See if you can help me solve this riddle. It is actually a trick question with a logical answer, but neither me nor my mathematically genius Dad can solve it!
"How much does one cost?" asked the customer.
"Twenty cents," replied the clerk.
"How much do 12 cost?"
The reply, "Forty cents."
What is the customer buying?
neutral question
...Got any ideas, anyone?????
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:11 am
It looks like a trick question to me... Somehow, it sounds like food. Reason is the "12". It makes me think a dozen of eggs. Cotton candy? O_O
If it is not food, maybe it is a part of something? I don't know, like mechanical parts or wood sheets that you can cut to different sizes.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:29 pm
The trick here is entirely in the wording, and unfortunately the wording that you gave doesn't quite work given the answer to the riddle.
What he's buying is house numbers. By buying "1" he's buying a piece of metal in the shape of a "1," whereas buying "12" is actually buying a "1" and a "2" and thus costs twice as much.
However, if you actually look at the wording, he asks "how much do 12 cost" which is asking about 12 different objects, or at least multiple objects, when in fact he is asking how much does the composite symbol "12" cost. Note that if he were asking about them as individuals, he would need an "and" in there somewhere.
A better way of wording the question would be "how much for 12" which bypasses the conjugation problem.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:48 pm
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:51 am
another possible solution if the riddle was originally meant to be spelled out, like twelve instead of 12, is letters.
each letter would cost 6.666666... cents
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:37 pm
Lord Sasuken another possible solution if the riddle was originally meant to be spelled out, like twelve instead of 12, is letters. each letter would cost 6.666666... cents yeah like people charge you 6&2/3 cents these days!
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:09 pm
Dewdew Lord Sasuken another possible solution if the riddle was originally meant to be spelled out, like twelve instead of 12, is letters. each letter would cost 6.666666... cents yeah like people charge you 6&2/3 cents these days! If they do, just give them a dollar and ask for change!
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:16 am
since 12 is twice as much as one then both must be of equal value. Thus it must be numbers of some kind for some object.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:28 am
he's buyin house numbers
'one' only uses one number so it cost 20 cents
'twelve' uses two numbers so the price is double 20 cents ie 40 cents
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