Logical Puzzle | Imamother

Motek

Sun, Jan 02 2005, 9:19 pm

(from a chess website)

There are logical puzzles that are very difficult, and some that are trivially easy. But there is one that is both. At least in my experience. I have told the following to a substantial number of people. About half look at me in bafflement and do not know what the problem is. The solution is so obvious to them that they have to see someone ponder over it for an hour to believe that anyone could not see it instantaneously. Well, here's the problem, with apologies to those of you who have heard it before.

Recently a friend told me the following story about the death of his grandfather: "My grandparents used to go to church on Sundays. One day during the sermon, which was long and dry, my grandfather fell asleep. That week he had been reading a novel about the French Revolution and began to dream that he was a rich aristocrat living in a beautiful chateau in France. Suddenly there was a commotion outside. A mob of peasants appeared, stormed the house, grabbed him and tied him up, dragged him to the market square, where there was a platform with a guillotine set up. My grandfather was led up the stairs, a priest muttered a few words to him and then his head was placed in the cradle of the guillotine. A hooded executioner approached and reached up for the lever that releases the blade. At that moment my grandfather was snoring quite loudly, so my grandmother reached out and pinched him on the back of his neck to wake him up. This was such a shock to my grandfather that he suffered a heart attack and died on the spot."
My reaction to the story of my friend: "I don't believe a word of that. You made it up." Why did I react in this way, how did I know the story is not true.

If you belong to the 50% of the population who get it immediately, try it on other members of your family, on friends and acquaintances. You will be amazed how thoroughly stumped some of them can be. Like the world-class chess player, whom out of politeness we will not identify. We gave him this puzzle during a Japanese lunch, and he mulled over it all through the Miso and Sushi. We discussed the history of the French Revolution and the mechanics of the guillotine and in particular the height of the lever. At one stage he made us repeat the puzzle in order to cleverly identify minor deviations from the original version ("That way I know that those details are irrelevant!"). As the meal came to an end he was becoming unpleasant and rude, so we had to tell him the solution. The Elo of our Super-GM friend is well above 2700.

Incidentally we will not be publishing the solution to this problem. You will know instantly and with complete certainty that you have the solution when you find it. There is no question or debate.

Ozmom

Mon, Jan 03 2005, 3:38 am

the answer has been taken out so others can have a chance to figure it out first.

sarahd

Mon, Jan 03 2005, 6:13 am

I was always lousy at logic problems, including this one! I plan to repeat it to family and friends and see if they get it.

ForeverYoung
Guest

Mon, Jan 03 2005, 11:59 am

Mootek, this is a really good one!
which web page did this come from?

Ozmom, great!

My 1st thought was that the priest didn't belong in the dream, b/c I don't think they were w/ the mobs - unless my history classes are completely forgotten....

Yael

Mon, Jan 03 2005, 1:12 pm

I didnt get it right away. but when I scrolled down I jumped when I read ozmom's answer.
I wonder if I had had more time to think about it if I would have gotten it.
so I took out the answer to give others a chance to think.
if you really want to know the answer you can pm motek or ozmom since they know.

Motek

Mon, Jan 03 2005, 1:20 pm

it's from chessbase.com

take heart, if the super grandmaster didn't get it, you don't have to feel inferior!

I know the answer though I didn't figure it out. My father, who figured it out, told me.

my mother said she would NEVER have figured it out, but I think that given time, it might have hit me, I'll never know ...