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rookie1ja
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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 2 weeks later...
To find when it's full, you need to know both the size of the saucer and the microorganism. So this teaser is impossible.

No, you do not. You are told in the premise that the dish is full at noon. Assuming that means that noon is the time when the dish was first considered to be full (a fair assumption given the spirit of the riddle), the only possible answer is 11:59. 1 minute ago, and just before the final division that resulted in the dish being considered "full". The size of the cells and that of the dish are completely irrelevant.

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No, you do not. You are told in the premise that the dish is full at noon. Assuming that means that noon is the time when the dish was first considered to be full (a fair assumption given the spirit of the riddle), the only possible answer is 11:59. 1 minute ago, and just before the final division that resulted in the dish being considered "full". The size of the cells and that of the dish are completely irrelevant.

And you didn't read many of the other replies, or you'd understand why you are wrong in your "the only possible answer" assertion.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Biology - Back to the Logic Puzzles

Let's say some primitive organisms divide themselves every minute in two equal parts that are the same size as the original organism, and which also divide the next minute and so on [wording amended]. The saucer in which we started observing this process was full at 12.00.

When was it half full?

I'd like to know what time this division started. I don't see it mentioned. Maybe it doesn't matter and I'm missing the point. That would be just great.

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Clearly, this isn't about Biology... It's about Science Fiction

If the cells would divide themselves in two, the two parts would each have half the mass of the original. If they grew to the size of their parent in only one minute, their would need to be plenty of food for them in the bowl, cup or whatever-it-was. This means, that the bowl must have been completely full all the time, from the start of the experiment right until the end! This wood make the whole riddle irrelevant or, if the bowl was NOT full, SciFi

BoilingOil

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Clearly, this isn't about Biology... It's about Science Fiction

If the cells would divide themselves in two, the two parts would each have half the mass of the original. If they grew to the size of their parent in only one minute, their would need to be plenty of food for them in the bowl, cup or whatever-it-was. This means, that the bowl must have been completely full all the time, from the start of the experiment right until the end! This wood make the whole riddle irrelevant or, if the bowl was NOT full, SciFi

BoilingOil

and again ... sad, how reality and scientific thinking can spoil joy of simple puzzles

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and again ... sad, how reality and scientific thinking can spoil joy of simple puzzles

For some, maybe. For others, a LOGIC puzzle is all about scientific thinking. You wouldn't read fairy tales to help you on your discrete math test, would you

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and again ... sad, how reality and scientific thinking can spoil joy of simple puzzles

For some, maybe. For others, a LOGIC puzzle is all about scientific thinking. You wouldn't read fairy tales to help you on your discrete math test, would you

it's been many years since my last math test ... I like finding solutions and making things as easy as possible ... I thought that this was a puzzle for 10-year-old kids

sooooo, no flame here (I will delete all such posts)

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and again ... sad, how reality and scientific thinking can spoil joy of simple puzzles

For some, maybe. For others, a LOGIC puzzle is all about scientific thinking. You wouldn't read fairy tales to help you on your discrete math test, would you

it's been many years since my last math test ... I like finding solutions and making things as easy as possible ... I thought that this was a puzzle for 10-year-old kids

sooooo, no flame here (I will delete all such posts)

I must apologize. My remark, which obviously started this, was just intended to be humorous, not the start of a flame war. Maybe I could've been more clear about that.

Sorry.

BoilingOil

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The question simply states that the organism/s displaced x amount of volume at 12.00, previously stating that it doubles every minute. I conclude that at 11.00 the organism/s displaced HALF of what was is displaced at 12.00.

It was half at 11.00

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't see why people are decrying logic on this puzzle and no others. I didn't see anybody complaining about other peoples' answers to the ball throwing riddle (ex. Throw the ball around the entire planet, lol).

I would say in this one instance the nay-sayers are RIGHT. This puzzle is ridiculously illogical. My first question when I read it was "what is the size of each organism?" Then I thought; "nevermind that, there's no indication of growth to time ratio."

How is it fair to have a size/biology riddle where the answer never takes into account size or biology? It simply never acknowledges that it takes time for an organism to grow. Because it was written wrong from the get-go on the logic flaw that an object divided would ever get Bigger. I say this one time, it is wrong. The only logical answer is "It is never half full".

Or more simply, if the 2 divided organisms are the same size as the original, when? When are they the same size? Instantly? Then the organism didn't divide, it doubled and split! If they continue this process then the two new organisms will double and split. This isn't even a logic problem its a math problem. Math angers me. arrggh.

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  • 3 weeks later...

the thing is... before a cell divides, it has doubled its DNA as well as its size, so that the daughter cells are equal to each other in volume and in the number of chromosomes (in the cell core). so the plate must be half full at 11:59 (given the fact that it s full at 12:00) before the cells start growing again for the next division, which will take part at 12:00 (from 11:59:00 until 11:59:99 we will have x number of cells, and at 12:00:00 we will have 2x number of cells, but the total volume of the cells at 11:59:99 will be the same as at 12:00:00). after that the new cells must grow again but there will be no more space in the plate (and they will start falling off i guess). and that is if we accept that the cells of the plate grow only in 2 dimensions

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Actually growth precedes division so that one minute earlier the plate whether half the number (right before division) or the same (right after division) would still be half full at 11:59 if it were full at 12:00

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  • 2 weeks later...

It doesn't need to say what the start time is. The answer is 11:59, because in the next minute, they all double and it was half full, so it completely fills up in the next minute, at 12:00. It was soooo obvious. No, I did not read all of everyone else's solutions. I have, indeed, heard this one before.

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Not to be difficult or anything however the answer is 6.00. A nominclature of time would be represented as 12:00, or 12 O'clock.

Your riddle states the plate was half full at 12.00, representing a number carried to 2 decimal points, therefore the answer is 6.00

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A dividing cell cannot create mass greater than its mass prior to division. If the dish has one liter contained in it than it can only have one liter in it at 5:00 10:23 or 11:59; it must be full from the beginning to be full at 12:00.

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