On a train, Smithe, Robins, and John are the fireman, conductor, and the engineer, but NOT respectively. Also aboard the train are three businessmen who have the same names: a Mr. Smithe, a Mr. Robins, and a Mr. John.

Mr. Robins Lives in New York. The conductor lives exactly halfway between Columbus and New York. Mr. John earns exactly $20,000 per year. The conductor's nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the conductor. Smithe beats the fireman in billiards. The passenger whose name is the same as the conductor's lives in Columbus.

Who is the Engineer?

This puzzle assumes that because the conductor lives halfway between Columbus and New York, it follows that if two people are living in those two cities, neither could be the conductor's nearest neighbor. This is demonstrably false. If one person lived on the west side of New York, and the other on the west side of Columbus, then the New Yorker could be his nearest neighbor. This is an example of a logic error called "leaping from the macro to the micro." E.g. Because China is more populous than France, it follows that there will be more members in a Chinese family than in a French family. But that is an unwarranted leap from the macro to the micro.   

 

 

Edited on May 30, 2004, 12:20 pm

Posted by Penny on 2004-05-30 12:18:50