A Simple Logic Question That Most Harvard Students Get Wrong

Business Insider ^ | 12/12/2012 | Gus Lubin

[SeekAndFind]

Havard students get near-perfect SAT scores. These are smart, smart kids. So they shouldn't have trouble with a simple logic question, right?

Try the following puzzle:

A bat and ball cost $1.10.

The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.

How much does the ball cost?

Scroll down for the answer ...

[DoctorBulldog]

Bat + Ball = $1.10 = a
Bat - Ball = $1.00 = b

Therefore, setting up the equation, we have:

(Bat + Ball) + (Bat - Ball) = a+b = $2.10

Reducing down, the + and - Ball cancels itself. And, since we’ve already solved for a+b, we can just use the resultant value of $2.10.

Therefore:

2*Bat = $2.10

Further Reducing:

(2*Bat)/2 = $2.10/2 = $1.05

—> A Bat = $1.05 <—

Therefore:

(Using total “a” from the first equation)

a - Bat = Ball | $1.10 - $1.05 = Ball

Therefore, the answer is:

Ball = $0.05

---

Anyhow, that’s my fuzzy math and I’ve learned to stick to my answers, even though they may be counter-intuitive!

Cheers!

[Flycatcher]

Lol.

Impeccable logic.

[count-your-change]

Remember these were Harvard people trying to figure it out and tough questions don’t often come their way.

[DoctorBulldog]

ROFLMAO! Too funny!

Cheers!

[Hot Tabasco]

Even with the answer AND the explanation I couldn't grasp the concept.

Guess that's why I never went to college.....

[servo1969]

What did the students at Berkley say?

“That’s racist!”

(”And possibly homophobic.”)

[Kalam]

I liked your thinking. But there is a first element to the equation that will help others see how you arrived at the answer. Specifically, the use of the word ‘more’ implies that one should first remove that one dollar to ascertain the price of the price of the ball in the remainder. After doing that your equal difference result gives you the price of the ball.

[Oberon]

It's not hard. Two objects together cost $1.10. One costs a dollar more than the other.

The one thing is the bat, which at $1.05 costs a dollar more than the ball... which costs $.05. The two prices are exactly a dollar apart, and when added together they add up to $1.10.

Like I said, it's not hard.

[ro_dreaming]

I was trying to figure in the 8.25% tax, so got my number completely off.

[nikos1121]

A farmer has 21 sheep and all but seven die. How many sheep does he have left?

[SeekAndFind]

This isn’t a math problem but a comprehension problem. Should be part of SAT Reading comprehension I guess.

If a farmer had 21 sheep in total, and all but seven died, then the answer to this riddle would be seven, since it states that all but seven have perished. It does not state that “All seven died,” it has that little key word “but” in it that will often throw the riddlee (is there such a word ) off if he or she is not listening to the riddler.

[Hulka]

Okay then. . riddle me this, Batman: If a donkey is an ass and a sheep a ram. . .why is a ram in the ass a goose?

There, smarty-pants, answer that one.

;-)

[VRWC For Truth]

With derivatives 90 cents is one dollar using complex aka imaginary numbers. Social justice and all that ya know.

[newfreep]

The most important part of the article....

"Many thousands of university students have answered the bat-and-ball puzzle, and the results are shocking. More than 50% of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the intuitive—incorrect—answer. At less selective universities, the rate of demonstrable failure to check was in excess of 80%."

Higher education? I don't think so!

[Enough is ENOUGH]

A Simple Logic Question That Most Harvard Students Get Wrong:

Do you students really believe Keynesian economics is sustainable???

[Aunt Polgara]

If a farmer had 21 sheep in total, and all but seven died, then the answer to this riddle would be seven, since it states that all but seven have perished. It does not state that “All seven died,” it has that little key word “but” in it that will often throw the riddlee (is there such a word ) off if he or she is not listening to the riddler.

Wrong.. he still has 21 sheep, 14 dead ones and 7 live ones. :-)

[adorno]

This is a trick question.

Both, the bat and the ball, would cost nothing to those who can get them for free (which is about 50% of the population),
through government handouts.

Handouts cost nothing, according to the liberals and the communist in the White House.

[boop]

How did you make the cents sign? My keyboard doesn’t have one.

[Aunt Polgara]

This reminds me of my favorite “Frazz” cartoon:

Caulfield (smart black kid): So, if Farmer Festus has 28 delicious apples and sells half of them, how many does he have left:

Frazz (school janitor and renaisance man): Hard to say... If he sells them on the futures market and times it right, he could end up with more than he started with.

Caulfield: Or he could be bucking for a subsidy. 28 apples is a pretty weak crop.

Frazz: Suspiciously so... as if I'd trust anybody who markets the mealiest variety of apples as “delicious.”

Caulfield: So.. it depends.

Frazz: Yes, it depends

Caulfield: That's what I put on my test, and Mrs. Olsen gave me an “E.”

Frazz: Really?? That's what my friend Jim put in his dissertation, and they gave him a doctorate.

[pogo101]

To make a cents symbol, at least on my computer, I hold down the ALT key, type 155, then release the ALT key. ¢