Mental Floss 295

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to last week’s challenge is. Q: A dead person’s soul comes to a crossroads: one way leads to heaven, the other to hell. There is no road sign to tell the soul which is which. Guards stand at the beginning of each road. One is always honest and the other is always dishonest. What single question should the soul ask a guard in order to find the way to heaven?

A: Ask one guard “If I ask the other guard which is the road to heaven, what will he say”? If the soul asks the dishonest guard, he’ll turn the response of the truthful one into a falsehood and point to hell. If the soul asks the honest guard, he’ll quote his dishonest counterpart, who would be directing you to hell; he would not change the words of the dishonest guard, since he would be telling the truth. Since both guards pointed to hell, you only need to choose the other direction.

This week’s lateral thinking challenge is.

Q: Three coins are placed side by side in a row, touching each other. The leftmost coin (A), the middle coin (B), and the rightmost (C). How can you move A so that it will be between B and C without touching B or C?

The answer along with a new challenge, next week.

Have a great weekend!

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