rookie1ja Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 Bear - Back to the Einstein's Riddles The famous physicist allegedly 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 about 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. This old topic is locked since it was answered many times. You can check solution in the Spoiler below. Pls visit New Puzzles section to see always fresh brain teasers. 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? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Too easy and this puzzle has been around for simply ages in other forms. One of those involving windows in a house. Might interest you to know that David Eddings has use this puzzle in yet another format in book 2 (I think) of his Belgariad series of novels.. Here is another poser for you though: A man is discovered dead in a phone box, the phone is hanging off the receiver and there are two holes in the glass to the right and left of him. There is no evidence of foul play. How did the man die? Scroll down for answer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He was explaining to a friend the size of a fish he'd caught, cut his wrists on the glass... nuff said you got it I'm sure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie1ja Posted April 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 I might add a few lateral thinking puzzles like that one in the future. They just need some hints/guidance but some of them are really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 we are not talking bullets here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 I AM CONFUSED ABOUT THE ORIGINAL BRAIN TEASER. IF THE GUY WAS AT THE NORTH POLE AND THE BEAR WAS TOTALLY WEST IT WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THIS. MAN BEAR IF THE MAN SHOT HERE IT WOULD NOT MATTER THE COLOR OF BEAR HE WOULD NOT SHOOT THE BEAR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Since it is a polar bear than wouldn’t the answer be clear not white because a Polar bear’s fur is in fact clear? - You do not have to be faster than the bear, just fast than the slowest guy running from the bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Einstein did not author puzzle. See: http://www.rec-puzzles.org/index.php?Bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I AM CONFUSED ABOUT THE ORIGINAL BRAIN TEASER. IF THE GUY WAS AT THE NORTH POLE AND THE BEAR WAS TOTALLY WEST IT WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THIS. MAN BEAR IF THE MAN SHOT HERE IT WOULD NOT MATTER THE COLOR OF BEAR HE WOULD NOT SHOOT THE BEAR. Don't think of the bear running west of a point where the man was, but where he ended up, the north pole. Then, the bear would be doing circles around him. And, he would aim souh no matter where the bear was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 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 Since it is a polar bear than wouldn’t the answer be clear not white because a Polar bear’s fur is in fact clear? - You do not have to be faster than the bear, just fast than the slowest guy running from the bear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Interesting piece of info that the fur is clear. . . I still wonder why they still look white against rock formations at zoos and whatnot. What color is the skin? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Actually, it doesnt matter what color the bear's skin is. We see the color of something because it absorbs a certain wavelength of light in the visible region and reflects the rest of the light back, therefore causing us to see the color of the reflected light. Simply put, a dandelion would absorb blue light, and reflect back the yellow light. Because the polar bear's fur is clear, it therefore has nothing to absorb light and reflects back all colors of light, which means we see white! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 White? I was thinking green... since it was running in circles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 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 Since it is a polar bear than wouldn’t the answer be clear not white because a Polar bear’s fur is in fact clear? - You do not have to be faster than the bear, just fast than the slowest guy running from the bear You could also make the argument that the bear is black. After all, we don't describe humans' color by out hair color, but rather our skin color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 I thought polar bear's skin is white and their fur is clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 I doubt very much this was made by the great man himself as he would have known that if you were stood at the North Pole then no matter which way you ran it would always be South. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 I don't think it was either. As someone showed, this has been around for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 Was this the true north pole or the magnetic north pole. Pleas don't decline to answer... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Ive read thru the quotes, and "What color is the bear?" could be referring to any depth of the bear's "layers" (white/clear fur, black skin, pink muscle, ect.) so i say the bear's color (as seen with the naked eye) is white. And yes, a polar bear does actually have black skin, though not the same color as crayola black. If the hair was clear, it wouldnt reflect all colors of light, hence producing a "white" color, because clear doesnt reflect anything, it lets visible light pass thru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 I help out at the zoo that polar bears and cubs, I just want to help clarify about the color of the hair. Their hair is clear and hollow but it is translucent more than transparent. You can see through one strand of fur simply, but looking at the entire coat at once, it appears white. Think about a clear fast food straws; hold it so you are not looking through the center, but at the side. You can see the person or an object across the table. Now hold a large handful and they are now overlapping. All you see now is a lot of white fuzz. Also the skin color is black. That helps absorb the sun's energy for warmth along with their 4 inches of blubber. They are amazing mammals that really adapted for their environment. If anyone wants to know more, I will be more than happy to help! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 23, 2007 Report Share Posted November 23, 2007 I agree with the above answer as to what color the bear was. However, considering that the bear was shot I'd say he probably had at least a little bit of red. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 I agree with the above answer as to what color the bear was. However, considering that the bear was shot I'd say he probably had at least a little bit of red. Hehe! very true! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 partly red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 polar bears have black skin....either way its a pretty pointless question as how are we sposed to know they're in the north pole? They could be anywhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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