Test your Lateral Thinking

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 9:54 am

1. There is a man who lives on the top floor of
a very tall building. Everyday he gets the elevator
down to the ground floor to leave the building to go to
work. Upon returning from work though, he can onlytravel
half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of
the way unless it\'s raining! Why?

This is probably the best known and most
celebrated of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true
classic.Although there are many possible solutions which
fit the initial conditions, only the canonical
answer is truly satisfying.
..You may get the answer in my next post..
......Have fun

by **sharon** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 10:07 am

the guy is a kid or a midget..

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:18 pm

U can try again

by **Raj Vamsi** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:22 pm

good one sharon... but that \'raining\' sequence is still unclear.
well guys try this out... What are the TOTAL number of squares in a chess board?

by **Srinu** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:49 pm

well.. he has to be a midget... cant reach for the top floor button ... so gets down halfway (if no one else is there to help him out, of course).. as for the rainy day sequence.... he can use his umbrella he would be carrying in case of a rainy day to reach for the top floor button .. (think he would look extremely stupid carrying an umbrella on a very pleasant day

).

by **Srinu** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:59 pm

that would be 204..

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:02 pm

SRINU, your answer is correct... RAJ VAMSI, it\'s catchy but NOT 64... it\'s 204! Have fun guys!

by **Raj Vamsi** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:06 pm

Well done... now another one. What\'s the word which has all the vowels in order (a, e, i, o, u... need not be consecutive).

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:17 pm

Now can u find how many RECTANGLES does a chess board contain? (Remember... here squares are not any special form of rectangles - you may discard squares). Have fun!

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:20 pm

HUH! There are 10s of fifties of such words... eg: education, dialogue, etc. Now try to find out a word which has these vowels letters in order (a, e, i, o, u). Have fun!

by **Srinu** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 2:10 pm

first .. i think he wants the vowels in ORDER.. find something which ends with -ious..... all u need to do is add a prefix which has \'a\' and \'e\' .. SIMPLE

) (well.. i give up, cant think of any)
second.. for the rectangles in a chess board.. find all possiblities of joining squares .. subtract 204 from that... THINK that should give the answer... answer coming up shortly...

by **Srinu** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 2:26 pm

total of 1296 rectangles (including squares).. if u exclude squares that would be 1296 - 204 = 1092. and i better get back to work or i will have to make a living solving puzzles for the rest of my life..

by **Raj Vamsi** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:45 pm

Hello... that was the question I asked... words with vowels in the order a,e,i,o,u. Those words you mentioned are known to everyone. Anyway, you must be knowing the word now... ABSTEMIOUS. Now... number of zeros in 100!

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 5:58 pm

Sorry yaar..mistook it

by **Raj Vamsi** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:11 pm

that\'s ok... try and find the number of zeros in 100!

by **Srinu** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:42 am

sorry.. was away for the weekend. anyways.. the answer would be 2 if u mean the number of zeroes in the number 100. 22 if u mean the number of zeros in all numbers from 0 - 100 (0 & 100 inclusive). and if its a trickier question than i gave it credit for... i give up..

by Me » Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:54 pm

so is the midget answer correct ?

by **yesh** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 11:27 pm

I agree \"Me\"... good going but u guys have like, kind of diverted from the main question... whats the correct answer... creator of board???

by La » Mon Mar 31, 2003 11:42 pm

Srinu, you are right. The man is very very short and so can only reach half way up the lift buttons! However, if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him and so can press the higher buttons with it.

by **Raghu** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 4:50 am

I remember reading in Rosenblum long time back that there are only 3 words that fit the bill. <B>Abstemious, Arsenious </B> and <B>Facetious </B> in alphabetical order.

by **Raghu** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 4:54 am

The answer sounds reasonable. My objection is that, the puzzle was obviously originally phrased in the western world where things are all done in a specific manner. They assume that house numbers alternate on either side of a street there are no non-round manhole covers and that every elevator every where in the world ever made only has floor numbers increasing from bottom to top. Does the answer still hold if in Swaziland, the floor numbers increase from top to bottom?

by **Srinu** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 7:45 am

hmm it still applies... only the other way round.. this time the guy has to get down halfway and walk down the rest of the stairs.. bcos he cant reach \"G\" at the top. unless its a rainy day..

simple... anyways...i am yet to see a lift which has its floors so numbered.

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 2:00 pm

OOPS!!...Thanks for reminding my responsibility..
well..The correct answer..which was already posted by a couple of guys....is:----

The man is very, very short and can only reach
halfway up the elevator buttons. However, if it is
raining then he will have his umbrella with him and
can press the higher buttons with it.
...hope to c u all...have fun

by **Jatinder** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 2:16 pm

hi fun loving guy
yur lateral thinking question was very interesting and so was the answer!
post some more of its kind.

by **fun loving guy (Not a freak !!!!!)** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 3:44 pm

Raghu, it was mentioned in the query that there could be many answers... and orthodoxically the lift buttons would be numbered from bottom to top. But I (probably many) am (are) not aware that in Sw\'z the buttons would be numbered from top to bottom... Have fun!

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