49 replies to this topic

[broadacresmike]

I think that the man was standing on the South Pole and the bear (I know there are no bears at the South Pole but they are not at the North Pole either) was any distance from there. When the man turns and runs, he will run north no matter what. Then when he turns to shoot the bear he will shoot south no matter what (the only assumption is that they will run in opposite directions, I would.) and will have to travel south to get his bounty.

Since, I'm not a Rhodes Scholer I feel there must be something else but then if I knew so much Iguess I would have been rich.

"As Usual, Just Thinking"

[comfortablynumb]

There is a serious flaw over here. Since you are talking about spatial rotation you should specify that the trajectory of the bullet curves as per the earth's surface.

gosh people are funny.

[jc611]

Whoa. Very rarely do I encounter people who know that a polar bear's fur is indeed clear and that the properties of the hair reflect and refract light in such a way as to make it appear white, especially when surrounded by snow. However, the question does not ask what color is the bear's fur. It asks, what color is the bear? And generally speaking, despite the clear hair feature, the polar bear does indeed appear to be white in color in most any surroundings (except zoos where fungus turns the fur green - sad

okay well im new to this
but
we've said the fur is in fact clear but only seems white because of the hair reflecting light
so that would be part of the bear
but what i've also heard is that the bear itself is actually black but only seems white cause of the fur
xD
so depends on how u interpret the meaning "what color is the bear?"
:]

[talk24.7]

Here the answer is, I am a genius!


It all happened on the North Pole. When the man shot, he must have been right on the North Pole. Getting it? So it makes sense to assume that the only color the bear could be was WHITE.
So this is it. I've heard another logical solutions (even that there are no bears neither on the North nor on the South Pole), but this one presented makes sense to me. And what about you?

[Tearz]

If this is an Einstein riddle I am sure it was meant to be very simple.

If not there are probably many things that could have been considered before answering, and many have already been pointed out.

The north pole:

When Einstein wrote this riddle, how many men had actually stood at the North Pole.
Was it a clear day at the pole? was it during the six months when there is light on the north pole? could the man actually see the bear?
Why would you take a gun to the North Pole? and if you did would one work?
Polar bear fur is transparent, it has no colour. Polar bears look white because of the way their fur reflects visible light. Of course, looking white helps a polar bear blend right into the ice and snow, so coud the man have actually been able to see the bear.

Polar Bears are found in the Arctic circle and near the north pole.

I am sure there are other questions that could be asked, but I think the riddle was meant to be simple. I do believe there aren't too many colours a bear could be so for this riddle the north pole was where the man stood when he took the shot because the only bear that could have come to be any where near the north pole would have had to have been a polar bear. So the answer to the riddle is of course like many others have answered:

WHITE

[FreudianComplex]

No need to make this such a big deal The bear's fur is white for many reasons, but it's white! The colour is white! I don't expect an abnormal purple polar bear running around the arctic circle westward shouting in bear language "Hey get away you white bears! It's my turn to get shot! Get lost!"

No.

[Flamberge]

Bear - Back to the Einstein's Riddles
The famous physicist made this riddle for his scholars. A fellow encountered a bear in a wasteland. There was nobody else there. Both were frightened and ran away. Fellow to the north, bear to the west. Suddenly the fellow stopped, aimed his gun to the south and shot the bear. What colour was the bear?
If you don't know, this may help you: if the bear ran 3.14 times faster than the fellow (still westwards), the fellow could have shot straight in front of him, however for the booty he would have to go to the south.

Spoiler for Solution

Bear - solution
It all happened on the North Pole. When the man shot, he must have been right on the North Pole. Getting it? So it makes sense to assume that the only color the bear could be was WHITE.
So this is it. I've heard another logical solutions (even that there are no bears neither on the North nor on the South Pole), but this one presented makes sense to me. And what about you?

Won't the bear be red, because the blood of the bear would stain it's fur when the bear got shot.

[c00lDude]

:thumbsup:The Answer Is:

Clear. A polarbear's fur is clear but his skin is white,so you need some nature lessons!

[jagdmc]

Actually, a polar bear's skin is BLACK!!

"The hollow guard hairs of a polar bear coat were once thought to act as fiber-optic tubes to conduct light to its black skin (...)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

"But under their fur, polar bears have black skin—the better to soak in the sun's warming rays."
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/polar-bear/?source=A-to-Z

[lulu79]

Yellow ?? Yellow belly cause they both were frighten ?