Solution to Riddle of the Week: The Hen and the Egg
This is a solution to How Many Eggs Does This Hen Lay?, part of our Riddle of the Week series.
A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in one day?
Solution
If 1.5 hens lay 1.5 eggs in 1.5 days, it must be that one hen would lay one egg in the same time period: 1.5 days. Now, if one hen lays one egg in 1.5 days, it means that one hen would lay only ⅔ of an egg in one day. So the answer is ⅔ of an egg.
You might argue that hens can’t lay just a portion of an egg. Fair enough. But then, of course, the whole premise of the problem, which involves 1.5 hens and 1.5 eggs, doesn’t make sense from the start. And that invites pondering whether you can answer a problem that isn’t well-posed in the first place. (Is the statement “The king of France is bald” false if there is no king of France?)
Since this is a math puzzle column and not a philosophy column, I’ll stick with the answer of ⅔ of an egg.
Want to talk about brain teasers or try to out-riddle the riddler? Find Laura on Twitter at @LauraFeiveson.
You Might Also Like
