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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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Flowers - solution

There are 2 solutions:

Three flowers: rose, tulip, daisy.

Two flowers: carnation, geranium.

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

;):P:D

is this what u mean?

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

;):P:D

is this what u mean?

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

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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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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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.

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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)

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One tulip, one rose and one daisy. You do have to have one of each because the passage states there is. Its only tricky because most try to think of a larger combination due to the wording "all".

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  • 3 weeks later...

he's exactly right because this is a basic riddle, it relies on the bending of words to make it challenging. many riddles are designed just to spark contraversy and debate.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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)

In other words, all you guys who say the 2 flower solution is incorrect - you are wrong according to math.

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  • 3 weeks later...

3 Flowers - Why is this so confusing?

1 of the flowers is a rose - "all of the flowers except 2 are roses"

1 of the flowers is a tulip - "all of the flowers except 2 are tulips"

1 of the flowers is a daisy - "all of the flowers except 2 are daisies"

3 Flowers.

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I believe the two flower answer is legitimate. While it is misleading, it still meets the conditions set by the riddle.

As a programmer, I might be asked to supply a report of all of the people who's last name begins with a 'T'. By the logic stated above, I could not create this report unless there actually were people with who's last names start with 'T'. This is absolutely not true, the report would simply say that there were no people who met the condition.

So, to say that all of the flowers in a group of two are roses except for two of them is valid. It is awkward and unusual, but not incorrect.

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I believe the two flower answer is legitimate. While it is misleading, it still meets the conditions set by the riddle.

As a programmer, I might be asked to supply a report of all of the people who's last name begins with a 'T'. By the logic stated above, I could not create this report unless there actually were people with who's last names start with 'T'. This is absolutely not true, the report would simply say that there were no people who met the condition.

So, to say that all of the flowers in a group of two are roses except for two of them is valid. It is awkward and unusual, but not incorrect.

You are correct, but, as in other riddles, this is only one answer.

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The guy who asks me :"how many flowers do I have..". (and so on and so forth) and then denies the answer 3 is a LIAR. If you don't actually have those flowers don't say that you do.

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The guy who asks me :"how many flowers do I have..". (and so on and so forth) and then denies the answer 3 is a LIAR. If you don't actually have those flowers don't say that you do.

That is not true, though. Providing the man asking the question does have two or three flowers, he is not lying. If he less than two or more than three flowers, then the "except for two" part would be a lie. The obvious answer is three. However, if he has two flowers that are not of the type he mentioned, he is not lying, his statement is just awkward and misleading,

You are correct, but, as in other riddles, this is only one answer.

Not all riddles have just one answer. In fact, the point of some riddles is to solicit different answers.

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sajow4 wrote:

You are correct, but, as in other riddles, this is only one answer.

Not all riddles have just one answer. In fact, the point of some riddles is to solicit different answers.

I had said that your answer was only one answer. There may be more answers to this puzzle.

Yes, that is true, and so it is unknown to how many answers there are to many puzzles, except for those of whom the answers are certain.

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That is not true, though. Providing the man asking the question does have two or three flowers, he is not lying. If he less than two or more than three flowers, then the "except for two" part would be a lie. The obvious answer is three. However, if he has two flowers that are not of the type he mentioned, he is not lying, his statement is just awkward and misleading,

Ok, I try to keep an open mind. I guess I can see your point that there may be only two flowers after all. But I'd be very cautious of a person who has a habbit of "misleading" in this sort of way. Can you imagine him going to a bank to get a loan?!?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am sorry, Sajow. I completely read your comment wrong. As you may have guessed, I thought you were saying that riddles were only suppose to have one answer. After rereading it, I see that it was a very valid point, there are two correct answers to the riddle. I will also agree with Roadent that the "three flowers" answer would be slightly better, at least it is the one I would choose on a multiple choice test.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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?

Flowers - solution

There are 2 solutions:

Three flowers: rose, tulip, daisy.

Two flowers: carnation, geranium.

How come there are carnation and geranium in your solution. The riddle stated only 3 types of flower.

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How come there are carnation and geranium in your solution. The riddle stated only 3 types of flower.

Actually, I think it's a brilliant answer. The two flowers are not roses, so all of them are roses except the two. The same goes for tulips and daisies. Really, why would the "Two Flowers" answer be wrong? In fact they could be anything but roses, tulips and daisies.

But actually, I think this was just a leg-pull, and you offered your leg to be pulled by replying

BoilingOil

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Then by that logic, they could be any type of flower, not just geranium and carnation.

The first solution is the only logical one with the information provided. The second one is a pretty funny one to catch out all you serious people!

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.

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