The question:
Albert and Bernard just became friends with Cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is. Cheryl gives them a list of 10 possible dates.
May 15, May 16, May 19
June 17, June 18
July 14, July 16
August 14, August 15, August 17
Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.
Albert: I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too.
Bernard: At first I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know now.
Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl’s birthday is.
So when is Cheryl’s birthday?
Admittedly, it is a difficult question to sift out the better students. It was a test of their logical reasoning skill.
How the answer was deduced:
'The problem was posted on Facebook by ‘Hello Singapore’ television presenter Kenneth Kong, and went viral as people posted their various solutions to the problem.
It was set for 14-year-olds in the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiads (SASMO), which were held on April 8.
This year around 28,000 students from countries across the world including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China and the UK took the test.
Henry Ong, executive director of SASMO, told Mothership.sg: 'Being Q24 out of 25 questions, this is a difficult question meant to sift out the better students. SASMO contests target the top 40% of the student population and the standards of most questions are just high enough to stretch the students.'
The maths problem set for Singapore teenagers that has left people across the world stumped
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3037266/The-maths-problem-set-Singapore-teenagers-left-people-world-stumped.html#ixzz3XG2DD600
Albert and Bernard just became friends with Cheryl, and they want to know when her birthday is. Cheryl gives them a list of 10 possible dates.
May 15, May 16, May 19
June 17, June 18
July 14, July 16
August 14, August 15, August 17
Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.
Albert: I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too.
Bernard: At first I don’t know when Cheryl’s birthday is, but I know now.
Albert: Then I also know when Cheryl’s birthday is.
So when is Cheryl’s birthday?
Admittedly, it is a difficult question to sift out the better students. It was a test of their logical reasoning skill.
How the answer was deduced:
'The problem was posted on Facebook by ‘Hello Singapore’ television presenter Kenneth Kong, and went viral as people posted their various solutions to the problem.
It was set for 14-year-olds in the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiads (SASMO), which were held on April 8.
This year around 28,000 students from countries across the world including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China and the UK took the test.
Henry Ong, executive director of SASMO, told Mothership.sg: 'Being Q24 out of 25 questions, this is a difficult question meant to sift out the better students. SASMO contests target the top 40% of the student population and the standards of most questions are just high enough to stretch the students.'
The maths problem set for Singapore teenagers that has left people across the world stumped
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3037266/The-maths-problem-set-Singapore-teenagers-left-people-world-stumped.html#ixzz3XG2DD600
1 comment:
Even after the so-called step by step 'explanation', many are still stumped. Why 18th and 19th are unique dates ? Unique because these two dates do not have 'repeats'? The rest of the so-called logical 'deductions' does not clarify at all....and many are unable to follow and thus the final correct answer given makes no sense.
Post a Comment