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If you are honest...


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Ok, assuming that you're talking about questions with 'yes or no' answers (and nowhere in the question does it specify that), you're still faced with a range of options, here. "Are you a zebra?" for instance. Assuming, again, that to be a really truthful person, one must also be lucid with a predominance of non-psychotic thinking, there are no circumstances under which an honest man could answer yes to that.

(Please keep in mind that I find this question mildly absurd and am intending this answer to be read with only the very deepest, most abiding sense of sarcasm you can muster.)

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If you are an honest person, what is one question you cannot answer with a "Yes" ?

Is the next word you are going to say is "no"?

Edited by Jordanmax
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If you were dead you could not be ASKED anything or be expected to answer much like trying to ask a rock the same question. I would think when you are at sleep the same situation. The lie issue is out because even a honest man could have told a lie without knowing. I have come to believe there is no answer for this question. pphhhhhpp

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I think Melchang wants us to think inside of a logical box.

That would lead to an answer like "Do you tell lies?"

Melchang, does that cover it?

Parable.

A Freshman physics student prized his freedom of approach when he solved problems. So when his final exam asked him to find the height of a building using only a barometer, his answer was to throw the barometer from the roof of the building and time the sound of its hitting the pavement. From the speed of sound and the acceleration due to gravity [ignoring air resistance] he could compute the building's height.

When the prof gave him a failing grade, he appealed. Upon being given a 2nd chance, he said he would tie the barometer to a long string and measure the period of the pendulum that made - again, from the building's roof - and compute the length of the pendulum. Anticipating another failing grade, he gave an additional answer: measuring the length of the barometer, the length of the shadow it cast on the ground and the length of the shadow cast on the ground by the building would give the answer using proportions. He got another failing grade.

He finally appealed to the Dean of the school. In a meeting among the three principals, the Dean gave the student one more shot at giving the "right" answer: measuring the barometric pressure on the sidewalk and on the roof and converting the difference in pressure to inches of air. A really stupid way to use a barometer and one that would require unimaginable precision. Nevertheless that was the answer the prof wanted.

The student would have none of it. He approached the Dean and gave his final solution:

"I would take the barometer to the basement of the building and knock on the superintendent's door. When he answered, I would say to him: 'Sir, I have this beautiful barometer, which I will give to you if you will tell me the height of this building.'"

The Dean gave the student an A.

the problem says, using ONLY a barometer. In the first solution, he needs a stop watch, in second, he needs a measuring tape (to find the length of string) and stop watch, a measuring tape in third as well (to find the length of shadow of building. The fourth one fits the criteria, but is not a reliable one (depends whether the professor accepts the barometer bribe, which is unlikely in this case of professor being constantly bugged by the freshman).

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the problem says, using ONLY a barometer. In the first solution, he needs a stop watch, in second, he needs a measuring tape (to find the length of string) and stop watch, a measuring tape in third as well (to find the length of shadow of building. The fourth one fits the criteria, but is not a reliable one (depends whether the professor accepts the barometer bribe, which is unlikely in this case of professor being constantly bugged by the freshman).

Come on, now. We don't need to nitpick apart a story that probably never actually happened. The point of that story is the moral of 'thinking outside the box', not whether the student actually followed his teacher's instructions or not.

Sorry if i sounded rude, and sorry if you were just kidding, but your post just bugged me a little.

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Come on, now. We don't need to nitpick apart a story that probably never actually happened. The point of that story is the moral of 'thinking outside the box', not whether the student actually followed his teacher's instructions or not.

Sorry if i sounded rude, and sorry if you were just kidding, but your post just bugged me a little.

Are you bonanova?

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I may be wrong on all of this, so don't attack me.

Does true mean the same as honest? If a person was taught using a different system of measuring and thought he was 10 feet tall, he would be being dishonest to say he is not ten feet tall.

If he thought that the word "lie" meant "tell the truth" then answering yes to "do you lie" does not make him dishonest. So the only time he could not answer a question with yes is when he literally cannot answer the question. So death(or anything else making the man unable to talk, or communicate in any way known to another person) would be the correct answear.

I think that's what melchangs19 was looking for.

First post on the site btw :).

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Does true mean the same as honest? If a person was taught using a different system of measuring and thought he was 10 feet tall, he would be being dishonest to say he is not ten feet tall.

If he thought that the word "lie" meant "tell the truth" then answering yes to "do you lie" does not make him dishonest. So the only time he could not answer a question with yes is when he literally cannot answer the question. So death(or anything else making the man unable to talk, or communicate in any way known to another person) would be the correct answear.

emoobia makes a great point. The question does not define "honest person." There is no reason that an honest person cannot sometimes tell a lie or say something that is inaccurate. Or, they could say something inaccurate, but in a manner to show that the answer you are giving isn't true.

The point is that, within the parameters of the question, there aren't a million or an infinite number of questions to which you can't answer yes. In fact, the answer is zero.

Q: Is the sky green?

A: Yes (nothing in the question preventing the honest person from saying something untrue)

Q: Are you an honest person?

A: Yes (true)

Q: Why is the sky blue?

A: Yes (nonsense answer, but not prohibited by the question as posed)

Q: Are you dead? (to a live person)

A: Yes (again, the question does not enjoin lying)

Edited by sunshipballoons
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I like the way you think emoobia. that's a great point. And what if the person was honest when you asked him the question but by the time that he went to answer, he had turned into a liar???

Acquiring mind... :)

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"If you are an honest person, what is one question you cannot answer with a "Yes" ?"

My first thought was "Have you ever lied?"

Then, I thought of one of my favorites, "What is the square root of sixty-nine?"

I'm in agreement with all posts expressing dissatisfaction with the wording of the question. I think it should be posed as:

If you are an honest person, what is a question you cannot honestly answer with a "Yes", although that's the correct answer?

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"If you are an honest person, what is one question you cannot answer with a "Yes" ?"

I am a black honest person, ask me if I am white and I will say "no"...If you are an honest person you can't be dead, it dose not say you were an honest person. Ask me if I am dishonest "no".... :wacko:

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The person who posted the riddle was looking for this answer: Are you a liar?

This was the first thought that came to my head while I read the riddle.

Apparnetly, This is the answer.

This is not a difficult riddle, so I don't get what you guys are all arguing about.

:):huh::)

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