Let’s say we have a photograph/picture (Brit-speak for conceptualized image) of 3 men, grandfather on the left, father center, and grandson on the right.
The father, explaining the relationship to a third party, points to the son and says “this man’s father (himself) is my father’s (grandfather) son.
I value the community we have here to discuss POV’s as we do.
Make it into a math problem. Here it is:
Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my father’s son. Who is the man?
This man’s father = my father’s son
If my father had no other children than me, then the following must be true:
This man’s father = my father’s son = me
So, then this man’s father = me
So then, this man = son of me
Just to lighten the load as the previously debated riddle always causes arguments. here are a couple of short ones.
A) Two fathers and two sons go to the lake. They each catch a fish. They bring them home and put the three fish on the table. Why are there only three fish?
B) I have a basket with four apples in it. I give an apple each to my four children but there remains one apple in the basket. How can this be?
A) There are three men, just as in the “previously debated riddle”. One is the father of another, who is the father of another. So, one is both a father and a son.
B) I’m just guessing, but I think maybe you started out with an apple in your hand (not in the basket)?
Dead right on (A). It was the first riddle that reminded me of that one.
But keep working on (B)…………… :bigsmile:
Could it be that the fourth child is an infant, and currently in the basket? Yes, that could happen.
I think I’ve got it. You gave the basket with one apple in it to one of your four children!?
Yep, that’s it. David. :bigsmile:
This one is a pure lateral thinking problem.
Grandpa was sitting in his chair out front of the house and his two grandsons were just in front of him cleaning their bicycles. He decided to have some fun. Boys, he said, see that tree over yonder. I’ve a dollar here for the winner of a race. You have to ride to that tree, circle round it at and then back here. The winner gets the dollar. But its a special kind of race. The winner is the one who’s bicycle gets here last He sat back and expected it to take all afternoon. But suddenly the two boys whispered to each other then got on the bicycles and rode as fast as they could. The race was over in less than two minutes. Grandpa paid up the dollar. He laughed.because they had outfoxed him.
How did they outfox him?
They switched bikes!
Yep. That was quick David well done.
Sorry, that’s not the correct answer.
My daughter is 11 years old. She has lots of Tagalog riddles but does not sound good once translated :zipper_mouth_face:
Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughter’s name?
Mary
Sure you guys would know this one but I’ll change it around a bit 
This fat guy bumps into this circus clown. There’s 3 walnut shells on a table and he shows a bead under one. He tells the guy if he can pick the one with the bead after the shuffle he gets $100. The kicker is he shuffles them behind a cardboard box so the fat guy can’t see. After the shuffle the clown knows where the bead is. The fat guy then picks one of the 3 shells.
The clown, knowing which of the 3 has the bead under it, takes one of the empty shells off the table and offers the fat guy to switch his choice between the 2 that are left, or stay with what he’s already picked.
Should he switch or does it matter? :bigsmile:
According to MythBusters, he should switch. ;)
Depends on how well he trusts the clown. I think the clown has the bead elsewhere. J)
Heheh maybe he wants the bead as a consolation prize. Yeah raccoon I didn’t even see that on Mythbusters. When first heard of it I couldn’t believe it myself, but that lady with the high iq explained it well.
He picks, and his chances are 33.3. But if you were to make it 100 shells, his chances are 1. She went on to say 100 or 3 shells it’s still the same idea. If he takes away 98 empty shells your better off switching, just as if he takes away 1 out of 3. 
Really interesting stuff cause you wouldn’t believe it unless they ran a computer simulation to prove it’s true.
edit
Aye… I got thinking about it though. That’s right the only way to get true 50/50 odds is to switch. The odds become 50/50 after the shell is taken away, but not for you until you switch shells… Man I always thought it was one of those things that is what it is lol
All running late too… catch you guys later
Easier way to understand it is to have 100 shells and the person picks one shell ...1 out of 100
then the clown takes away 94 shells and offers you another pick ..should you take it ?
easy answer is yes
which do you like better your 1 out of a hundred chance or one out of 5 ?
don't trust clowns
The clown and shell riddle reminded me of another classic.
A clever man in ancient times was due to be tried for murder. He was given the opportunity to be tried by ‘Chance’. There would be 50 black beads and 50 white beads placed in a bowl. He would then be blindfolded and asked to pick. If the bead was white he would live. If it was black he would die.
He asked the court if he could distribute the beads into two bowls. He would then be blindfolded and the bowls shuffled around. He would then have to pick a bowl, without touching it, reach in and take a bead from it. There would still be 50 black beads and 50 white beads in total and he would still be blindfolded. The court decided they would grant his wish as they could not see how it would make any difference.
This clever man was delighted. He managed to increase his chances of survival to almost 75%. How did he do it?
BTW this is supposed to be a true story from ancient texts and in the original this guy was still very unlucky because despite shifting the odds very heavily in his favor he still ended up picking a black bead.