Riddles

[Khamsin]

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The stream is carrying both subjects, so the speed of the stream itself is irrelevant, and the toy boat is rendered a 'stationary' object, relatively speaking. Thus, since the kayaker is 14 miles away paddling at 7mph, it will take him exactly 2 hours to cover the distance.

That's only assuming the 7mph is in relation to the stream, and not the shore.

[Khamsin]

From riddle.com:

You do not want to have it, But when you do have it, You do not want to lose it? What is it?

A bastard child.

[Norellicus]

Seraph: nope.

Khamsin: It's a pretty clear assumption. If you put a boat in water flowing at 3mph, fix it to a mooring (stationary object now, for all intents and purposes), even if your speedometer was measuring by the flow of the water under the boat, you would say the boat is still, not that it's moving at 3 (or -3) mph, despite your equipment saying otherwise.

Think of it like the "Will an airplane take off from a moving conveyor belt?" theory.

[Seraph]

Seraph: nope.

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Wait a minute... Are you talking about the water level in reference to the edge of the boat, or something else? I'm assuming you are using a neutral reference point, such as the edge of the pool...

Edit: I guess if I wanted to be a prick, I could say there is no answer, because it depends on the surface area of your rowboat and the density of your cannonball...

[Norellicus]

Reference the edge of the pool from when you had the ball in your boat.

[Khamsin]

Seraph: nope.

Khamsin: It's a pretty clear assumption. If you put a boat in water flowing at 3mph, fix it to a mooring (stationary object now, for all intents and purposes), even if your speedometer was measuring by the flow of the water under the boat, you would say the boat is still, not that it's moving at 3 (or -3) mph, despite your equipment saying otherwise.

Think of it like the "Will an airplane take off from a moving conveyor belt?" theory.

But the toy boat wasn't moored, it was moving at 3mph (or 0mph with respect to the stream), whereas the kayak was moving at 7mph (or 10mph with respect to the stream).

[Khamsin]

As for the boat and cannonball,

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the boat itself will lift a little out of the water, meaning less volume of water is being displaced by the boat. However, more volume will now be displaced by the cannonball. So it depends on whether the cannonball, or the portion of the boat that used to be below water that is now above water, is of higher volume.

[Seraph]

Reference the edge of the pool from when you had the ball in your boat.

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Eh, still can't really answer the question because it's a math problem, and you don't list what the variables are equal to. I guess the 'simple' answer is "It goes down!" since one assumes the displacement of the boat with the extra weight is more than the displacement of the ball in the water, but without values you really cant be sure.

The real damn riddle is why are you boating in your damn pool? O_o

[zoobernut]

If the kayak was moving at 7mph with respect to the stream then it would be moving at 4mph with respect to an on shore observer then if you add in the 3mph that the toy boat is moving you get that the two objects are moving towards each other at 7mph which gives you 2 hours. If the kayak is moving at 7mph with respect to the shore you would add in the 3mph of the toy boat for 10mph towards each other gives 1.4 hours.

It is how you interpret the wording of the riddle that changes your answer. When the speed is stated in the riddle it is not explicitly said where the observer is that measured the speed of the kayak therefore you can come to both answers and both would be correct depending on who observed the kayaks speed.

[Khamsin]

A child places a toy photon in a stream of light...

[zoobernut]

Thanks Khamsin I was hoping someone saw those parallels in my post.

[Seraph]

Alright, im sick of math and physics problems pretending to be riddles. Let's see if I can remember an old one I heard about 10 years ago. I heard this on a camping trip, where about 5 people were guessing. After about 5, and 10 minutes respectively, the two hints below were given. Don't look at them until you think about it for a few minutes. I eventually came up with the answer after the second hint.


A man is found dead in the middle of the desert. He is laying face down in the sand, and he is several days away from the nearest town or village. His hands are outstretched, reaching for a package that is just a few feet away in the sand. Had he opened the package, what was inside would have saved his life. What was in the package, and how did he die?





Optional Hint:

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The package does not contain food, water, or any sort of communication device.

Additional Optional Hint:

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How does one get to the center of the desert?

[zoobernut]

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He was kidnapped by the killer from "Saw" and the package had the key in it to open the giant spring loaded helmet that eventually ripped his head in half because he could not reach the bag because he was stuck in some sort of strange contraption and could not cut off his own leg to go get the bag with the key.

[Seraph]

Spoiler: show

He was kidnapped by the killer from "Saw" and the package had the key in it to open the giant spring loaded helmet that eventually ripped his head in half because he could not reach the bag because he was stuck in some sort of strange contraption and could not cut off his own leg to go get the bag with the key.

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Incorrect, but you get points for creativity.

[Norellicus]

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You could get into the nittygritty of specific values of a cannonball, but thinking of your average cannonball it's not hard to tell that displacement by weight is a lot more than displacement by volume. Thus, the water level will fall.

The mooring example was to prove a point and has nothing to do with the puzzle; the fact that both your kayak and toy boat are both moving downstream at the same rate causes that portion of the equation to cancel itself out, effectively making the toy boat stand still. Since you've been able to cancel that factor out, it's simple math from there forward.

[Guitarman]

Originally Posted by Guitarman http://bluegartr.com/forum/images/st...s/viewpost.gif
From riddle.com:

You do not want to have it, But when you do have it, You do not want to lose it? What is it?
A bastard child.

No, but i lol'd.

[Vail]

dead man in desert

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he fell to his death, the bag was his parachute

[zoobernut]

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he fell to his death, the bag was his parachute

Bah that is the boring explanation I think that should be included in the list of things in the first hint...

[Seraph]

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he fell to his death, the bag was his parachute

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Correct. You have no idea how many people kept guessing 'water' when I heard it again, and again, and again...

[Vail]

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Correct. You have no idea how many people kept guessing 'water' when I heard it again, and again, and again...

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I almost typed Diabetus killed him and insulin was in the case, but then I read the hint was thought, how does diabetic put you in the middle of the desert? then I figured it out