perplexus.info :: Tricks : The impossible task...or is it?

The impossible task...or is it? (Posted on 2002-12-03)

There was once a man named Harold. Harold was from England. The king would always get upset with Harold because it seemed like Harold never failed at anything and the king was jealous.

So one day, the king was determined to prove Harold a failure. He drew a line across the floor. He said:
"Harold, make this line shorter. You may not erase it in any way".
Harold said
"No problem your highness".
And he made the line shorter.

How is this possible?

Submitted by Erin

Rating: 2.6250 (16 votes)

Solution: (Hide)

The king did not specify that Harold must actually shorten the line itself. So Harold drew a secong line across the floor, longer than the first. Therefore, the line that the king drew is shorter.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)

Subject	Author	Date
Puzzle Solution	K Sengupta	2007-03-20 12:17:41
Original (Well, I haven't seen the other comments though.)	Jak Dakars	2005-06-20 00:12:52
A Solution	Michael	2004-11-27 05:13:41
re: solution	chucky	2004-06-25 11:20:58
alternate solution	Brian	2004-01-07 19:37:13
watup!@#%^$	dorkdork	2003-08-02 22:19:13
Solution	rajesh	2003-06-30 21:04:10
solution	hemalatha	2003-06-11 02:14:39
more solutions	benard	2003-04-10 15:15:35
ANSWER!!! >.<	...	2003-02-01 17:41:04
The Impossible Task....Or Is It ?	Ravi Raja	2003-01-06 03:14:35
re: It seems	Erin	2002-12-12 16:06:15
It seems	Angela	2002-12-06 09:13:33
re(2): or	Cory Taylor	2002-12-05 03:49:17
re: or	Erin	2002-12-04 15:21:21
Solution II	Paula	2002-12-03 05:32:12
or	Cory Taylor	2002-12-03 03:56:06
Solution	Gautam Joshi	2002-12-02 18:59:52

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