I present to you a deck of 4 cards. Each card has on one side a letter of the alphabet, and on the other side a single digit from 0-9.

I propose a hypothesis that may apply to this deck:
If the letter is 'E', then the number on the other side is '4'.

I then drop the 4 cards on the table, and you see: 'B', '7', 'E', '4' (on the respective cards).

Which of the 4 cards must you turn over to verify or disprove my hypothesis?

(In reply to Layman's Logic by Juggler)

I would like to see questions like "Formal Reasoning" made a part of every voting registration process. Only those who passed could vote. I might be disenfranchising myself, since I originally said you have to turn over the 4, but it's worth it to ensure an intelligent election.

I was once arguing with a political opponent, and I jokingly quoted John Stuart Mill's remark that all stupid people are conservative. He "refuted" that quote by mentioning that the brilliant William F. Buckley Jr. is a conservative. That is the equivalent of thinking that turning over the B and finding a 4 proves anything. 

Posted by Penny on 2004-12-15 16:09:03