Annoying little riddle

Tomsk said:
2.9999(recurring) melons is not enough.
If half are sold that leave 1.49999(recurring)5 melons.
If another half a melon is then sold, that leaves 0.9999(recurring)5 melons left. That's not a whole melon.
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but 2.99999 recurring = 3

and 1.499999 recurring = 1.5
 
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this could be applied to any number of melons (well, melons =>3 if you want to be pedantic)

man has x melons
man cuts x-2 melons in half
man sells 1 whole melon, and half of the cut melons
man sells 1 half melon
man has 1 whole melon remaining, but a lot of half melons remaining (and half of the fraction of a melon you started with for those of you who didnt choose a whole number to start with )

so, you are technichally right with 4.
 
Mason- said:
Basically my friend asked me this riddle and it is not a difficult riddle at all but we are still arguing about it.

Here it goes:

Farmer brown goes to town with X amount of melons, he sells half of his melons, and then sells half of a melon, he is left with one WHOLE melon.

How many melons did he take to town?

Now the answer on the website was 3, I do not dispute this answer, it is correct.
Sell half, 1.5 left
sell half 1 left
and you have 1 WHOLE melon left.

I am arguing that 4 is also correct
Sell half, 2 left
sell half of a melon, 1.5 left
and you have 1 WHOLE melon left...

you have half a melon but you still have 1 whole melon.

if the riddle was phrased ONLY left with a whole melon,

I would agree 4 is incorrect, but I can't see why 4 isn't right.

Please confirm I'm not wrong :P
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You cracked the matrix, soon men in black suits will come and eliminate the "problem" (you)

thats a riddle by the way, go solve it
 
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Tomsk said:
An ambiguous riddle demands absolute precision, so no rounding. :p
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this is not rounding, they are actually the same number:

i'm sure that you will agree that
10A - A = 9A, and therefore that
(10A - A)/9 = 9A/9

so, to pick a random recurring decimal, where 9 is the recurring bit (1.79999999 recurring)


10A = 17.99999999...
A___=_ 1.79999999... -
----------------------
9A__= 16.20000000...

9A/9 = A:
16.2/9 = 1.8
A = 1.8
 
Tomsk said:
2.9999(recurring) melons is not enough.
If half are sold that leave 1.49999(recurring)5 melons.
If another half a melon is then sold, that leaves 0.9999(recurring)5 melons left. That's not a whole melon.
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I agree. Thats why I said 'BETWEEN 2.99999(recurring) melons.

Between is non inclusive.
 
It's 3. If he had one and a half melons left, he wouldn't have one melon... he'd have one and a half.

Then again, I said 6/2(1+2)=1, so what do I know... ;)
 
Nitefly said:
It's 3. If he had one and a half melons left, he wouldn't have one melon... he'd have one and a half.

Then again, I said 6/2(1+2)=1, so what do I know... ;)
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No, read it again.

He said he's left with one WHOLE melon, notice the whole. -.-

if you have one melon and a half melon you have one WHOLE melon.
 
Mason- said:
No, read it again.

He said he's left with one WHOLE melon, notice the whole. -.-

if you have one melon and a half melon you have one WHOLE melon.
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I understand where you are coming from, but that would have just been silently dishonesty on behalf of the question. You could pedantically argue that it was 4, I suppose!

Otherwise it would be like saying 'I have five pounds in my hand', but actually having a twenty pound note.
 
Nitefly said:
I understand where you are coming from, but that would have just been silently dishonesty on behalf of the question. You could pedantically argue that it was 4, I suppose!

Otherwise it would be like saying 'I have five pounds in my hand', but actually having a twenty pound note.
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you not read the op?

that's the whole point of this thread
 
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