How many flowers do I have if all of them are roses except two, all of them are tulips except two, and all of them are daisies except two?

(In reply to re(3): Already not the latest... another solution by dave domingo)

The fact is, the two-flower solution is a classic case of lateral thinking. We remove all assumptions and find a different solution from the norm. BUT, in this case (as in many other puzzles, unfortunately), in order to come up with 2 as the answer we must operate on the basis that the riddler intentionally set out to deceive. The language and the context imply that there are, in fact roses, tulips, and daisies. And that leads us to the 'common' answer of three. It was fun figuring out that the answer could be 2, but to be honest that was the first thing that came to mind. I had to do the processing to figure out one of each as the solution. Basically, this puzzle comes down to this: Aren't "all" and "none" diametrically opposed? Of course, when it comes to these problems, its all or nothing anyway, right =0)

Posted by Jim C on 2003-06-12 08:06:11