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Riddle:
Two friends, from a very cold town in Minnesota, each had unusual life skills which helped them in their adventures together. The first of the friends was a tall, lanky individual who, at times, possessed almost super-human strength, had the ability to remember everything he ever ate, and could accurately forecast the weather by reading a bunion on his foot --- but he wasn't known for being very intelligent. The second of the friends, known for his higher intellect, made a lot of short, solo flights, but he never obtained his pilot's license. He usually wore a pair of aviation goggles on top of his head. Their arch enemies were two Russian-like spies who doggedly pursued them, and these spies were led by a man without fear. Can you name the two friends from this very cold Minnesota town?
Answer: Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, otherwise known as Rocky and Bullwinkle. The two Russian-like spies (Boris and Natasha) were lead by the infamous Fearless Leader.
Riddle:
You have 52 playing cards, 26 red, and 26 black. You draw cards one by one. A red card pays you a dollar. A black one fines you a dollar. You can stop any time you want. Cards are not returned to the deck after being drawn. What is the optimal stopping rule in terms of maximizing your expected payoff? Also, what is the expected payoff following this optimal rule?
Answer: The solution to this problem is, in my opinion the most difficult to understand of all the puzzles. Indeed I was unable to solve it and didn't receive a complete solution until two years after originally posting it. The final solution, in the form of the spreadsheet was sent to me by Han Zheng. For this reason I have left on the page the thoughts i had before I had the final solution as they represent an easier to understand and more simplistic approach. Also the reasoning may help you arrive at the final solution by yourself or help you understand it. I would recommend reading that answer before you dive into the full answer. But an important thing to note are that as the player we can't lose this game as we can gamble till all the cards are drawn and our net position is zero. From our earlier analysis it is clear we need a dynamic quit rule. A singal value is not sufficent. We must, at each stage consider what cards are remaining, and therefor the probability of a positive or negative outcome from drawing again. For the explanation i will ask you first to consider a deck containing only 6 cards, 3 +ve & 3 -ve (note i'm no longer calling the cards black and red, it confuses me.)
Riddle:
Lily's diamond had been stolen from her house. When detectives Ethan and Ethel arrive at the house, they squeezed through the corridor that could only fit one person at a time and asked Lily who did she suspect. Lily told the two that she heard engines, gave a list of three suspects and hurled them out of her house to get investigating. The three suspects are as follows: Ben, who only has 3 huge caravans; Million, the owner of 10 dogs; and Hank, a proud motorbike collector who has over 50 motorbikes in his garage. Who is the thief?
Answer: We know that the corridor leading into Lily's house can only fit one person at a time, so it cannot be Ben whose caravans obviously can't go into the house. We know that Lily heard engines, so it can't be Million, as she's only got dogs. So the only one left is HANK, who can both produce engine noises and get into that narrow corridor at the SAME time using his motorbike.
Riddle:
A sheriff is in hot pursuit of the notorious bank robber Black Bart. The six-shooters of the lawman and the criminal glisten in the sun, as Black Bart speeds his way on foot to the first horse he sees, and quickly mounts it. The sheriff, in hot pursuit, jumps on the back of the closest steed he can find, and continues the heated chase, but he is unable to close the gap between them. After a short time, a man and a woman, who are witnessing the chase, shout out loudly to the lawman and the criminal, "Meet you at the saloon in 30 minutes for something cold!" What is going on in this strange scenario, and who are the man and the woman who shouted out the invitation to the saloon?
Answer: The "sheriff" and "Black Bart" are two children pretending to be a lawman chasing an outlaw, and are riding horses on a merry-go-round at an amusement park or a western tourist town. The man and the woman are their parents who are inviting them to the "saloon" for some cold drinks or ice cream.
Riddle:
Beverly is generally considered to be a very practical and emotionally stable woman, but once each year at the beginning of March, she spends $4,000 of her personal savings on her favorite hobby -- watching dog butts. Over the course of a ten-day period, she closely observes the rear ends of at least 16 different dogs. She is so utterly obsessed with her hobby, that she watches these dog butts day and night, stopping only 26 times during the ten-day period to sleep and eat. During this dog butt-watching marathon, she is compelled to carry the following items with her: a bag, an ax, and a special pair of shoes. What kind of a whacked-out hobby is Beverly involved in which creates such an obsession for her each year?
Answer: Beverly enters the Great Alaskan Iditarod Race each year with her 16 Husky mushing dogs. Each competitor must carry a sleeping bag, an axe, and a pair of snow shoes. Of course, being on her sled at the back of her dog team, she has no choice but to see the rear ends of her dog team.
Riddle:
It was during the autumn season of last year when Ruth began seeing a psychiatrist due to "hallucinations" she said she was experiencing. Ruth had lived her entire life in the city but had moved far out into a very rural suburb near a forest, and close to a small pond. She reported to her psychiatrist she imagined seeing a large letter "V" in the sky one day while walking outside, as well as hearing numerous high-pitched voices she felt were trying to communicate with her. After that day, nearly every time she took a stroll outside, she would see the letter "V" up in the air, accompanied by the voices. Sometimes she reported sighting up to five of these "V" letters with the distant voices calling to her, during her daily outside walks. The psychiatrist thought for a moment, and then told Ruth she wasn't experiencing any hallucinations, but rather, was seeing ....? What did the psychiatrist suggest Ruth had been observing?
Answer: Having spent her whole life in the city, Ruth was not familiar with seeing flocks of geese (traveling in a "V" shape) heading south for the winter during the autumn season.
Riddle:
A thief was in the process of robbing the house of a wealthy widow. As he was rifling through the dresser drawers where her jewelry box was located, he came upon a bunch of diamonds. He knew the diamonds were genuine because he had seen the same type many times before, but he left them untouched in the drawer and continued searching the room. When he heard police sirens approaching, he ran from the home empty-handed, not retrieving the diamonds. Did this thief flunk out of crook college? Why didn't he grab those diamonds when he had the chance?
Answer: The diamonds he spotted in the dresser drawer were a bunch of playing cards with the suit of 13 diamonds facing up where he could see them.
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