- #1
BernieM
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- 6
I looked for an answer to this question other places but found none. There is a puzzle going around that people are getting the answer wrong to. No surprise there. According to the proofs I found for it on the internet, my assumptions were true and I did arrive at the right answer (38 apparently, but I feel it is actually just one of many possible answers as I had to make assumptions.)
I have a disagreement with another that there is more than one possible right answer to the problem, so there is technically no 'right' answer that can be deduced solely from the puzzle itself and what is contained there. Here it is:
https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2017/03/09/the-bananas-clock-hexagon-viral-logic-puzzle/
Now my assertion is not that 38 is right or wrong, but that there are alternative solutions to the puzzle, which satisfy all information given in the puzzle problem. I assert that without making assumptions, there is no absolute right answer to the problem. What is the proof of this or am I mistaken?
One example would be say that the hexagon has a value of 7, the pentagon 5 and the square 3 which is equal to 15 satisfying the 1st line in the picture. I see nothing anywhere that says that the value should be equal to the sum of the sides in a shape. It's an assumption. (The actual deduction given in the proof was that each line segment has a value of 1) Calculated using one assumption, that each line segment is equal to one, then the bottom shape has a value of 11, and the other way it is 12. Hence there can be no true solution. I'm sure alternatives probably exist for the banana and clock as well.
So, the question is, simply:
Without more information, is it actually possible to prove that there is only one right answer to this problem, using logic, mathematical proofs, etc.
I have a disagreement with another that there is more than one possible right answer to the problem, so there is technically no 'right' answer that can be deduced solely from the puzzle itself and what is contained there. Here it is:
https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2017/03/09/the-bananas-clock-hexagon-viral-logic-puzzle/
Now my assertion is not that 38 is right or wrong, but that there are alternative solutions to the puzzle, which satisfy all information given in the puzzle problem. I assert that without making assumptions, there is no absolute right answer to the problem. What is the proof of this or am I mistaken?
One example would be say that the hexagon has a value of 7, the pentagon 5 and the square 3 which is equal to 15 satisfying the 1st line in the picture. I see nothing anywhere that says that the value should be equal to the sum of the sides in a shape. It's an assumption. (The actual deduction given in the proof was that each line segment has a value of 1) Calculated using one assumption, that each line segment is equal to one, then the bottom shape has a value of 11, and the other way it is 12. Hence there can be no true solution. I'm sure alternatives probably exist for the banana and clock as well.
So, the question is, simply:
Without more information, is it actually possible to prove that there is only one right answer to this problem, using logic, mathematical proofs, etc.
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