The "Impossible" Puzzle
This puzzle is for those who are aware of the "Mock Turtle"
This is the story of a squid called Sebastian, who ran out of ink. He called his friend, Archibald, who was an octopus, and asked him to buy some more Ink from the printers. So along went Archibald. "That will be 67 pence," said the shopkeeper, as he handed over the bottle of sea blue Ink. Archibald got out his wallet, counted out the money, and handed it over.
But at the end of the day, when the printer counted up his change, he found he was short by 12 pence. "I've been robbed," he cried! A Mock Turtle from the local constabulary was called in, but entertained grave doubts as to whether Archibald really was a thief. "I was at school with the old fellow," he said, "and he never could get the hang of different branches of Arithmetic."
As everyone knows, the different branches of Arithmetic are Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision.
But was the Mock Turtle right about Archibald? Or is his information just a red herring?
Editor's note: There are indeed some red herrings
* And yes Archibald is not a thief
OT: if you are interested in Mock Turtle's story follow
This is the story of a squid called Sebastian, who ran out of ink. He called his friend, Archibald, who was an octopus, and asked him to buy some more Ink from the printers. So along went Archibald. "That will be 67 pence," said the shopkeeper, as he handed over the bottle of sea blue Ink. Archibald got out his wallet, counted out the money, and handed it over.
But at the end of the day, when the printer counted up his change, he found he was short by 12 pence. "I've been robbed," he cried! A Mock Turtle from the local constabulary was called in, but entertained grave doubts as to whether Archibald really was a thief. "I was at school with the old fellow," he said, "and he never could get the hang of different branches of Arithmetic."
As everyone knows, the different branches of Arithmetic are Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision.
But was the Mock Turtle right about Archibald? Or is his information just a red herring?
Editor's note: There are indeed some red herrings
* And yes Archibald is not a thief
OT: if you are interested in Mock Turtle's story follow
Labels: friday special, puzzle
posted by Rajesh Lal at
10:05 AM
3 Comments:
Well, one answer (probably not the right answer) could bethat Archibald can't see really well and instead of giving the following coins (50p+10p+5p+2p=67p) he gave the printer these coins (50p+2p+2p+1p=55p). He would have given four coins in either case but he would have just given the wrong coins in error. ?????
ANSWER
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logic behind the confusion is
67 base 8 = 55 base 10
you can do rest of the "maths"
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ANSWER IN DETAILS - 1
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67 (base 8 ~ octopus) = 55 (base 10 ~ squid)
-Ed Murphy
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ANSWER IN DETAILS - 2
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Well this guy Archibald was always weak in Maths. So let me go to the root of the problem. Archibald being an Octopus started counting the coins taking one coin each in his tentacles. Actually he is counting to the base 8. So when he comes back to the same tentacle, he counts 10 while it is only 8 in the decimal system. So he makes a mistake of 2 in 10 coins. This way, he makes a mistake of 12 coins while counting to 67 and actually gives only 55 coins.
Of course, the whole transaction is taking place under water. So their may be few red herrings distracting him.
- R.D.H.Tyagi
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Was it really impossible ?
The shopkeeper's had Alzheimer's. Soon after receiving payment, he gave 12 pence to his daughter for an afternoon snack. She dissapeared, knowing she can take advantage of daddy dearest because his memory is so bad.
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