It doesn't matter which child it is. Having a child is an independent action. There is no implied questioning like: if a couple is starting from scratch, what will the probability be, etc... As for the link to the HS girl's example, that really wasn't very impressive evidence. I will only believe this being 1/3 if someone can do what bonanova has requested and make a program. My answer is 1/2 unless I see that it is not via some kind of substitution example. Also, text books have been proven wrong plenty of times which is why they have multiple editions, so I'm not going to say: "oh, some random girl's High School Math Textbook says it's 1/3 so that must be the answer."...

A man and a woman have two children each. At least one of the woman's children is a boy, and the man's oldest child is a son.

What is the probability that the woman's child not mentioned is a boy? And the man's? Are they even different?

I don't think I'll ever be sold on that Noct. What's the difference between GB and BG in this particular question?

[Father and Son]

06 and 60, because it's the only one that makes sense, but I have to argue that 6 REVERSED is what? Not 60 in any kind of normal numerical fashion. Also, when writing, depicting or thinking about age, a zero beginning single digits is never used.

Noct..you r using permutation in probability....I think there is some mistake..or misunderstanding..

1. one is boy...so

2. the other is either boy or girl..so the chance is 1/2..

I know according to the theories of probability, u r correct...but in some cases probability theory does not impress me much...from my high school...upto my postgrad..it sometimes seems very fruitless to me...

I understand the posts about probability and 1/3 etc..., but I agree with Storm about the logic involved in this particular situation. It shouldn't change the probability if you know that a certain gender is born first because in both cases we know one of the genders.

[Pole in lake]

Why do people keep answering 12 ft.? If 6 ft are IN the ground, then part of that 6 ft. (the 4 ft., 1/3 of 12 ft. part) can't be COVERED by water without the remaining 2 ft. also being covered.

The answer is 48'

Yeah, I tried that too.

!)%#@

!)*!!!!!*

!)!#@!!@!!&!@@!@@

!)*!!%#@##

Maybe that's right and it's a bunch of bleeped out swears

... too many consecutive 1's [QAZ] for that to work.

j's if you go by the number pad on a laptop where m=0, j=1, etc.

Sorry for being slow on this, but why is the answer y?

Lost in Space's response made me think of this, but it's a long shot.

Is it based on phone keys? My cellphone is close at hand. Each number can represent 1 of 3 letters, but it would take a lot of time to go through the possibilities.

11 is a race horse

12 is 12

1111 race

12112

this does require some manipulation but no character should be moved out of order

Name the famous rock group of which all four members have passed away and one was of them was assassinated.

[Sailing Puzzle]

Well, taking the riddle on its own I definitely thought it was a trick question because you can't sail around the world exactly on the equator. But after reading the responses I realize the intent was for the highest part of the ship, though I do think the sails flapping back and forth is an interesting answer.

Built to last, but made to fall

It is made to fall(on others) , but yet it is does not die.

I will not answer if you call

It is non-living.

You must know how to make me stall

One has to know how to stop it.

Or death will be upon you all

If it is not stopped , it will result in individual death(Or)death in large numbers.

SINS??

duh puck got this one right off the bat, congrats and sorry for the late reply, but I guess it needs a bit of an explanation. grey cells has some great explanations, but just looking in the wrong place. I'll use that answer for my reasoning

a parachute.

Built to last, but made to fall

It is made to fall (for falling purposes), made well (hopefully functional and will last many times).

I will not answer if you call

It is non-living Exactly. if you yell at the parachute, it won't deploy.

You must know how to make me stall

One has to know how to stop it. Not quite right: the object doesn't have to be the one stalling given this line, it just has to stall (in this case, it stalls someone or something)

Or death will be upon you all

If it is not stopped , it will result in individual death(Or)death in large numbers. Good call on seeing that this could mean each individual's death, but again (referring to line 3) if it does not stall (the rapid descent of who or what to which it is attached) then they will die or be destroyed

nice work everyone. I'll have to come up with more difficult riddles from now on I guess. At least it has a nice flow to it

Built to last, but made to fall

I will not answer if you call

You must know how to make me stall

Or death will be upon you all

I just checked out the responses about the resistor color code. I was going for the order of crayons in a box

y for yellow

Wow, I didn't even think of that answer. That works just as well. I was thinking:

the word nine can be spelled with 11 toothpicks NINE

A man had 12 toothpicks in front of him on a table. His friend walked by, picked one of them up and walked away with it. But now the man was left with 9 in front of him. How can that be?

a zebra is white and black all over

off-handedly

[Adam and Eve -If you get this you are really smart!!!]

This entire answer has 4 of them

I think you're stretching that logic. It says 'if you are Harry'. It might as well say 'if you are person B'. It's not really correct to respond with 'I'm not Harry', when the setup for the answer is 'if you are Harry'.

Well...

if everything is divided by 2, then 1 apple (which is identical to itself I guess)

the second room cause the lions totally starved to death

his son