Here’s a riddle a friend of mine told me a long time ago. I like it a lot.
You’re driving in your car and you come to a fork in the road. Only one road is the right way for you to go, but you don’t know which is the right one. Two brothers stand at the fork and they both know which way is the right way. All you know is that one brother only tells lies and one only tells the truth, but you don’t know which is which. If you could ask one brother one question, what would you ask?
Comments (12)
Dang. Sour grapes much?
Posted by steve | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
ok, i obviously need to add one more condition to the riddle. you may not, in any form, ask a brother which road he would take, whether it's today, yesterday, or hypothetically. that kind of ruins the riddle.
Posted by p-man | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://stevehouchin.blogspot.com
The first one is correct, as well. "If I asked you yesterday which road to take, what would you have said?" The one who tells the truth would say take the correct road yesterday, so he would truthfully say he'd have told you to take the correct road. The liar would have told you to take the wrong road yesterday, because he's a liar. In order for him to lie about it, he would have to lie about which road he'd tell you to take yesterday, and thus would have to tell you he would have said to take the correct road. Either way, they'd tell you the right way to go.
Posted by Steve | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
Brilliant Stevo. I'm not sure I understand the first one (though I'm sure it's correct), the second one is pure gold.
Posted by Sam | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
everyone, we have a winner. the correct answer is Steve's second response. it doesn't matter which brother lies and which is honest, because whoever you ask, you always go the opposite way.
Posted by p-man | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
"If I asked you yesterday which road to take, which road would you have told me?" OR "If I asked your brother which road to take, what would he say" - then take the opposite road.
Posted by Steve | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
c - to respond to your email, you are more or less right, but you didn't pharse your answer properly. ha! just kidding. you're essentially right. check your email for clarification. s - you may only ask one (1) question, and that question must tell you exactly which way is the right way for you to go. whether or not you know who is the liar and the truthteller is immaterial - we're only looking for the right way to go. if i say any more, i'll be giving away more hints than i already have.
Posted by p-man | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
at the risk of getting re-banned from p-man's comments (i've only been unbanned for like a day), cherz, please tell me. if you're not looking to spoil it for the other kids, email me? thank you.
Posted by swandive00 | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://www.cherz.com
nice - I'd ask my brother this, "Did you ever tell mom you are gay?" ... Then I'd beat the answer out of them both. ... but if you are wanting the answer, I can give it to you. :) After thinking about it for a wee bit, the answer came to me.
Posted by cherz | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
i make everything complicated. okay, just a bit of clarification... if i can only ask 1 brother 1 question, is that question to ascertain which of the two is lying? or is that to ascertain which route to take? if it's the first and you get to ask 1 question to see who the stinkin' liar with flaming pants PLUS one more question asking which road to take, then i'd ask any number of single series questions: -is the other homeslice your brother? -what color is my hair? -what are you wearing? -who is the prime minister of snackistan? (i'd probably ask the first) then i'd ask which route to take. if i can only ask one question to one brother to figure out who the liar is PLUS which road to take, i'd need more time to think about it. this also reminds me of sarah trying to get through the right door (one of which led to the center of the labyrinth and one to -dum dum dum- CERTAIN DEATH).
Posted by swandive00 | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://
hmm. space mummys. i'll remember that next time i tell the riddle. my dad and i used to watch Dr. Who when i was a kid, but i don't remember much of it...
Posted by p-man | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
Have you seen the Tom Baker Dr. Who episode Pyramids of Mars? The same riddle, only with Space Mummys
Posted by Michael | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16