52 replies to this topic

[rookie1ja]

Flowers - Back to the River Crossing Puzzles
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?

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Spoiler for Solution

Flowers - solution
There are 2 solutions:
Three flowers: rose, tulip, daisy.
Two flowers: carnation, geranium.

[Tap_521]

couldnt there be six
see with smilies:



all are happy except 2 all are mean except 2 and all are embarrsed except 2
see!

[Baikin]

no, in the smile example two are happy, but four are not, so you would say all are happy except four

[Tap_521]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... I see i was alittle confused but i understand now! Thanks! I'll put a new example(see below!)



is this what u mean?

[larryhl]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... I see i was alittle confused but i understand now! Thanks! I'll put a new example(see below!)



is this what u mean?

that would be right. i didn't think of the 2 flower solution though. clever.

[FRANKLYA]

UMMM... YOU CAN'T HAVE ONLY TWO FLOWERS.
one has to be a rose...
one has to be a tulip...
and one has to be a dasie...

1+1+1= 3

[larryhl]

UMMM... YOU CAN'T HAVE ONLY TWO FLOWERS.
one has to be a rose...
one has to be a tulip...
and one has to be a dasie...

1+1+1= 3

actually, you don't need a rose, tulip, or daisy. think about it, the riddle says they are all roses EXCEPT TWO, all tulips EXCEPT TWO, and all daisies EXCEPT TWO. therefore, if you only have two flowers, those two can be any flower except a rose, tulip, or daisy.

[=Cadet Zemm=]

UMMM... YOU CAN'T HAVE ONLY TWO FLOWERS.
one has to be a rose...
one has to be a tulip...
and one has to be a dasie...

1+1+1= 3

actually, you don't need a rose, tulip, or daisy. think about it, the riddle says they are all roses EXCEPT TWO, all tulips EXCEPT TWO, and all daisies EXCEPT TWO. therefore, if you only have two flowers, those two can be any flower except a rose, tulip, or daisy.

I'd say you DO need one of each. The question is worded so that the amount of flowers is greater than 2, not greater than or equal to 2. Saying "They are all roses except 2" suggests that at least one is a rose.

In order for the "2 random flowers" answer to work the question would need to be worded more along the lines of "2 of them aren't roses, 2 of them aren't tulips, and 2 of them aren't daisies"... like that "One of them is not a nickel" riddle.

[rhornby]

Agreed - there has to be 3 flowers, not 2.

The riddle says, for example, "they are all roses ....." and if you only have "non-roses" then this statement is false.

There is no rose if there are 2.

[blueboybob]

The debate comes down to wheter the null element counts as an element and in mathematics it does. You can have an empty set and a set with the null element (which are 2 different things)