Unutterably Silly Quiz

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Three?

Yes, a rose, tulip and daisy.

[Bilbo1967]

A riddle that somebody sent me recently and that stumped me (obviously). I'm guessing that you clever lot will get it quickly.

John is visiting New York for the first time. His old friend Denise lives in a block of flats in Harlem.

He does not remember the exact number of the flat, all he remembers is that the number is from 1 to 50. On arriving there, he finds out that flats 1-20 are on the 1st floor, while flats 21-50 are on the 2nd.

He then decides to ask a neighbour, who replies him indirectly, by specifying the floor on which the appartment is, whether the appartment number is odd or even and whether it is a perfect square or not. Then John, in order to corfirm the number, asks the neighbour whether the appartment number contains the digit 4. After his reply, he rings the bell of the appartment he had deduced that was Denise's but, to his surprise, someone else was living there!

His name was David, who explained to John that the neighbour who gave him all this information was a very well-known liar, utterly incapable of telling the truth! John left David's appartment saying, thank you, now I know Denise's number!!

What is Denise's number and what is David's?

(Please show your working)

Response from neighbor:

2nd floor, is square, does not contain digit 4, is odd.

Square numbers between 21 and 50: 25, 36, 49

Does not contain 4 leaves 25 and 36

Is odd only leaves 25.

Person in flat 25 says that neighbor lies about everything.

So must be 1st floor, not square, contain 4, and is even;

Numbers 1-20 eliminate odd numbers

2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20

Eliminate squares:

2,6,8,10,12,14,20

Only 14 contains digit 4.

Flat # 14 correct

Actually the second part can be simplified. The only information needed for the first floor is that the number is not a square and contains the digit 4. Thought of that later.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

Response from neighbor:

2nd floor, is square, does not contain digit 4, is odd.

Square numbers between 21 and 50: 25, 36, 49

Does not contain 4 leaves 25 and 36

Is odd only leaves 25.

Person in flat 25 says that neighbor lies about everything.

So must be 1st floor, not square, contain 4, and is even;

Numbers 1-20 eliminate odd numbers

2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20

Eliminate squares:

2,6,8,10,12,14,20

Only 14 contains digit 4.

Flat # 14 correct

Very good and very quick - the correct answers

(one slight error - probably just a typo and it makes no difference really - you should have left '18' in the list after 'Eliminate squares').

Over to you

The same rule is used to determine each of the node numbers from the two numbers pointing to that node number. What number should replace the ?

[Bilbo1967]

Hmmm...I can see a rule that seems to work for all bar one set of nodes. So I suspect a trick and will ponder further.

[orlok]

15? ...

[HomeInMyShoes]

Too late. 15.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by orlok

15? ...

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Too late. 15.

Well, that's what I saw, but how does it fit with the '7' at the bottom?

[HomeInMyShoes]

Hmmm...good point.

[WT Sharpe]

15 is correct. The 7 at the bottom is an optical illusion. If you look at it through a few shots of whiskey, it's really an 8.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

15 is correct. The 7 at the bottom is an optical illusion. If you look at it through a few shots of whiskey, it's really an 8.

No 15 is not the correct answer. The solution that would be consistent with 15 does fail for the final 7. I should have stated in the beginning and well now that provide the reasoning as well as the answer.

[issybird]

12. Achieved by adding the digits in the numbers of the two nodes pointing to it.

[WT Sharpe]

I think you have it, issybird.