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People are way too quick to call logic puzzles "impossible". Most logic puzzles (maybe all?) have a particular way of thinking about them that will lead you ea
by Cushman 16y ago
People are way too quick to call logic puzzles "impossible".
Most logic puzzles (maybe all?) have a particular way of thinking about them that will lead you easily to the answer. If the puzzle seems hard, that's probably a sign you need to change how you're thinking about it.
Edit: Looking at it again, there's something else: Every logic puzzle is going to try to slip some important fact by you with vague language. In this case, the hint gives it away: the piles can be different sizes. In general, if I tell you to divide this pack of cards into two decks, I mean they should be equal, and you understand that. The puzzle is using that deliberately to trick you.
It's easy to get around, though; you just have to define the puzzle logically. A "deck", in logical terms, is an unordered set of any number of cards. Once you realize that, the answer seems stupidly obvious.
- viraptor 16y agoWell... it depends how do you look at the rules. Saying "You have been asked to reorganize this pack of cards into two decks" is a bit misleading, as "reorganize" typically means moving things around without changing their properties. Sometimes you just assume rules that seem logical to imply. To one person it might be obvious you can turn the cards upside down, to another it's obvious you can't. Then again... you could just get all cards into a deck, split in half and put each half on a side, so that no cards are facing up, or destroy the cards, or bring your own new deck and hide the cards you find, or take the cards out of the room to reorganize, or turn on the light, or bring a torchlight, or ...
- Cushman 16y agoThat's true. In the context of a logic puzzle, we're supposed to assume that a card is a logical entity— having two states, face up and face down, belonging exclusively to one deck, etc. If the puzzle relies on doing things such as tearing a card or turning on the lights that don't really make logical sense, you would usually call it a lateral thinking puzzle instead. Obviously some people take a lateral approach to logic puzzles like this and declare it "solved", which is a perfect segue into a lengthy discussion on what the criteria for solving such a thing actually are, and who judges that.
- Juha 16y agoI agree, if I met similar problem in real life I'd easily call it impossible. Maybe that's arrogance, but it's good to do these every once in a while to remember that even if something seems "impossible" there still might be a solution. And the solution might be simpler than you think if you can just get rid of the tunnel-thinking. Also, in real life problem you usually agree that there might be no solution, which makes you give up even quicker. Here I knew (99% sure) that there is solution, but still I managed to miss it.