Test Yourself: The Married Problem - 80% Get Wrong?

[Merlin3189]

@Merlin3189
Why don't you think the answer cannot be determined?

Well, I was the first to answer and the question was different when I read it.
However, when I read the edited question, I did not work out the answer and, because I was a bit miffed, I read the spoiler answer of axmls before giving it more thought. Then I metaphorically kicked myself for my stupidity.

So I don't think it cannot be determined.

The only remaining puzzle is why some people still think it cannot be determined! None of their arguments makes any sense at all to me.

 

[collinsmark]

@collinsmark [...]

Why don't you think the answer cannot be determined?

I misread the question. Or maybe something switched in my mind by the time I clicked the vote button.

For some reason, which I'm sure why, by the time a clicked the vote I had thought the question was asking "Is an unmarried person looking at a married person." (Instead of the other way around, as it was actually written.)

I'm pretty sure (maybe) that I read the question right when I first read it, but whatever the case, after thinking about it, the "married" and "unmarried" parts of the question switched in my mind.

Am I alone in this?

For what it's worth, I did not drink any coffee before voting. I was slightly groggy. That might have had something to do with it.

[Note to self: Must drink coffee on the Tuesday, November 8, 2016 before voting. ]

 

[Psinter]

@micromass spilled the beans. He said … I mean she … nevermind (maybe micromass is a cat) Anyway, you can click the number of votes on the poll and it tells who voted what. It’s all public for the world to see.

Spoiler: click if you want the supposed “solution”

The marital status of Anne is the only factor that we have to play with.
View attachment 98802
If Anne is married, then the statement in question (a married person is looking at an unmarried person) holds true because Anne is looking at George, who is not married. However, if Anne is not married, then the statement holds true yet again because Jack (who is married) is looking at Anne. It doesn’t matter whether George is looking at Jack or anything of that sort. Regardless, the answer is yes, a married person is looking at an unmarried person.

**To the question of whether Anne is cat or capybara or nonhuman, no, animals can’t be married in real life so that idea is eliminated. You can argue, “So if Anne is a cat, she is unmarried”. Well, that still makes the answer yes.

I've been enlightened.

 

[Infinitum]

Its less of a debate and more of a question of whether to adhere to anyone defining parameter.

I agree. The definition of any parameter is entirely the choice of the person who interprets the question.

addendum:
If you consider them People and if you do not adhere to a strict legal definition of (separation) the answer would still have to be yes.

Which ever way you look at it being a real people scenario or a unrealistic robot scenario http://www.seiyaku.com/seiyaku/en/discussion/law.html#main is the marriage legal by japans definition? if so it makes them people...lol

As I did not know Japan's legal definition (and lacked the time to look it up, sorry!), just to be sure, I also had added the possibility of an imaginary country which makes its marriage laws for robots, and not necessarily people - which would result in a different answer.

If that is confusing, let me give you a scenario (which I also proposed before), which completely adheres to the original question, but has a specific, yet valid interpretation, and I would like to know what your answer would be:

Jack is a human, Anne is a cat, George is a human. Cats are certainly not persons, nor can they marry.
Among the beings described, Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, Geroge is not.
Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

Yes, I am nitpicking. Yes, it makes the question boring for some, and I agree that it sort of beats the point. But the nitpicking is a result of the openness of interpretation which the question completely allows.

 

[gjonesy]

But the nitpicking is a result of the openness of interpretation which the question completely allows.

Agreed...the question lacks solid indisputable context. And as someone already pointed out option C, can be a valid and correct answer given the lack of information.

Wonder why no hasn't gained a single vote?

If it could be esablished that Anne is a cat then I'd have to say No...but since Annes species can't be established from the information given it would then be "cannot be determined."

It really all boils down to interpretation.

 

[Infinitum]

Agreed...the question lacks solid indisputable context. And as someone already pointed out option C, can be a valid and correct answer given the lack of information.

Ah, but given the infinite possibilities of interpretations, all with possible different answers, only (C) can be considered valid. Assuming one answers "Yes" to the original question, there still exists a scenario when that answer does not hold. So for answering the question, one should preferably consider all possible interpretations because that is a free choice in the question, to lead them to an answer which holds true for all cases. Among the given thee options, only the nature of answer (C) allows the uncertainity or the lack of solid context. And thence, my choice.

EDIT: I realized one could even argue that in the interpretation of the "supposed solution", the answer (C) does not hold, for the answer is then definite. But to prove (C) is valid, there only need to exist two interpretations which have different answers, where as to prove it is "Yes", it needs to be "Yes" for all possible interpretations.

If it could be esablished that Anne is a cat then I'd have to say No...but since Annes species can't be established from the information given it would then be "cannot be determined."

Yes, I had that line of reasoning (of the many) for the original question as well. And hence chose (C).

Wonder why no hasn't gained a single vote?

My speculation was that people who considered multiple interpretations, automatically searched through enough interpretations to notice the answer could possibly be either "Yes" or "No" depending on the interpretation, and hence stick to (C) instead of "No". However, that appears to contradict the reasoning behind some of the people who answered (C) as they mentioned above. So I am somewhat curious about this myself. Probably, it has to do with the nature of assumptions we are likely to make.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

None of their arguments makes any sense at all to me.

Phew! At least you're not one of them pesky constructivists

Wonder why no hasn't gained a single vote?

So I am somewhat curious about this myself. Probably, it has to do with the nature of assumptions we are likely to make.

The YouTuber who posted the video (an awesome mathematician, btw) has a friend who works for the Guardian who posted this puzzle. Out of a poll of over 200,000 people only 4.55% answered no. Really puts that into perspective.
https://www.theguardian.com/science...the-logic-question-almost-everyone-gets-wrong

Jack is a human, Anne is a cat, George is a human. Cats are certainly not persons, nor can they marry.
Among the beings described, Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, Geroge is not.
Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

The only answer I have for that is perhaps, just perhaps, Jack is glancing at George with his peripheral vision

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Am I alone in this?

Don’t worry, you’re not

I had to pause for quite a while to wrap the question around my head when I initially saw the problem. I was like, "Wait, what . . . ?"

 

[Vanadium 50]

Yes, maybe Anne is a cat. And maybe this is in opposite-land where "yes" means "no" and "married means unmarried". But this kind of argument goes out of style about the time we are 10 years old. You don't see letters to mathematical journals saying "This proof is wrong, because when I use the word 'square', I mean a polygon with seven sides!"

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Yes, maybe Anne is a cat. And maybe this is in opposite-land where "yes" means "no" and "married means unmarried". But this kind of argument goes out of style about the time we are 10 years old. You don't see letters to mathematical journals saying "This proof is wrong, because when I use the word 'square', I mean a polygon with seven sides!"

Oh . . . 50% of the people I know live in opposite-land, so that argument is rather legitimate

 

[Infinitum]

The YouTuber who posted the video (an awesome mathematician, btw) has a friend who works for the Guardian who posted this puzzle. Out of a poll of over 200,000 people only 4.55% answered no. Really puts that into perspective
https://www.theguardian.com/science...the-logic-question-almost-everyone-gets-wrong

Those are rather interesting statistics!

The only answer I have for that is perhaps, just perhaps, Jack is glancing at George with his peripheral vision

Yes, you cannot really determine the answer.

Yes, maybe Anne is a cat. And maybe this is in opposite-land where "yes" means "no" and "married means unmarried".

I concur.

You don't see letters to mathematical journals saying "This proof is wrong, because when I use the word 'square', I mean a polygon with seven sides!"

If I understand correctly, mathematical research is built on axioms and definitions that are quite precisely defined, or previous research/context related to the topic is concretely referenced to. In this case, neither the context of the problem, nor its characters, was defined.

We (or I should rather say, I) are/am looking at this as a logical puzzle, and by syllogism, one cannot derive the "supposed answer" from the given premises.

As the post referenced to by @ProfuselyQuarky says,

Why is this question so tricky? It is because it appears to give you insufficient information.

That is partly what I am trying to convey, as it does give (some) people insufficient information which is not the assumption about the marital status of Anne, but something beyond, because the fact that the martial status is immaterial given the "usual assumptions" is fairly obvious (to me), as I already suggested. That is at which point I actually started thinking about possibilities. It was on second thought, that I chose (C).

In any case, I was asked to share my reasoning, and I appear to have made my point, so I don't believe there is any necessity to go on about this further.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

In any case, I was asked to share my reasoning, and I appear to have made my point, so I don't believe there is any necessity to go on about this further.

Ah, yes. This riddle has been beaten to death.

I must now leave, in search for another riddle to entertain myself with. Tally-ho!

 

[Vanadium 50]

I don't believe that the 80% who got this wrong did so because they thought Anne was a cat. I just don't.

This can be solved systematically.

A. Jack, Anne and George are either married or unmarried. This is where the cats and rats and elephants and opposite-land come in, and I don't believe that the 80% who got this wrong disagree with this statement.

B. There are eight possibilities: for Jack, Anne and George, these are the possible states. (M=married, U=unmarried) For each of the 8 possibilities, I write down the answer to the question "Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?"

1. MMM - N
   
2. MMU - Y
   
3. MUM - Y
   
4. MUU - Y
   
5. UMM - N
   
6. UMU - Y
   
7. UUM - N
   
8. UUU - N

D. "Jack is married" excludes possibilities 5,6,7 and 8. "George is not" excludes possibilities 1,3,5 and 7. That leaves 2 and 4 as possibilities, and both of those have the same answer to the given question: "yes".

You can see from the table a number of variations, for example: "Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Not everyone is married, but Jack is. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

 

[Infinitum]

I don't believe that the 80% who got this wrong did so because they thought Anne was a cat. I just don't.

I do not believe that most people considered the possibility of a cat/elephant/whatever, either. As I speculated before, it probably has to do with the nature of assumptions we are likely to make. And we are likely correct in that regard. Logical puzzles are considered tricky because they usually delude us into making seemingly obvious assumptions (or the lack of such assumptions, as in the case of this question).

However, I believe we differ in the opinion whether the "supposed answer" is truly correct given the (very liberal) premises.

This can be solved systematically.

Given your assumptions, that is a neat solution indeed

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

cat/elephant/whatever

I think you forgot to mention my beloved capybara, but nevermind, I’m just trying to give you a hard time

 

[Evo]

Good puzzle ProfuselyQuarky! My doctor said the meds I'm on would cause cognitive problems, boy was she right. Yes one assumption about Anne solves the question.

 

[gjonesy]

The only answer I have for that is perhaps, just perhaps, Jack is glancing at George with his peripheral vision

George maybe blind, and or distracted? If George would just look at jack wed have a solid answer.

My speculation was that people who considered multiple interpretations, automatically searched through enough interpretations to notice the answer could possibly be either "Yes" or "No" depending on the interpretation, and hence stick to (C) instead

I think its the margin of error. If your reasoning is that a solid indisputable fact about Anne can not be established (species, genus, or if she is a robot) then you have to pick C because it affords you a plausible correct answer.

After extensive reading I still must stick to the original answer, YES, a married person is looking at an unmarried person. Simply because of the terms used married and unmarried. Even if Anne's marital status could be established as separated. Which in my state would nullify the marriage contract to a certain extent there would still be "technically" a married person looking at an unmarried person.

Jack married + Anne either married, unmarried or (separated= married and single) + George who is single= YES

Using the term married and unmarried established 2 humans in the mix, I can say with a 50/50 chance that the answer is YES

 

[Pepper Mint]

George is a transgender. His previous name was Anne.
Jack is looking at Anne.
Anne is/was looking at George.
There is no Anne now, so Jack is actually looking at George.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

George is a transgender. His previous name was Anne.
Jack is looking at Anne.
Anne is/was looking at George.
There is no Anne now, so Jack is actually looking at George.

That is . . . brilliant