Annoying Test Question

[Speewave]

My Buddy made this up a few years back... i leave this up for 2 weeks see how many figured it out:

The below Question is True
The Above Question is False

[Brynet-Inc]

You know.. A better place for this post would be here.

[Zacariaz]

this one is older that me, my parents and my grand parent together.

[pcmattman]

Both false, I say.

Because:
The below Question is True
The Above Question is False

If the one below is true, but the one above is false, then obviously the second one is false, meaning the one above is no longer valid, which makes them both false.

[Zacariaz]

Both false, I say.

Because:
The below Question is True
The Above Question is False

If the one below is true, but the one above is false, then obviously the second one is false, meaning the one above is no longer valid, which makes them both false.

so you say:

The below Question is True (false) == false
The Above Question is False (false) == true

How does that make any difference?

[jhawthorn]

Neither of them are questions. I went up and saw that the poll was a question "What are the questions...". It's missing a question mark, which I consider somewhat essential, but i'm still thinking false. The answer, for me, all really depends on how you parse. Whatever Speewave's "correct" answer is I'm sure I'll disagree with it.

[pcmattman]

Both false, I say.

Because:
The below Question is True
The Above Question is False

If the one below is true, but the one above is false, then obviously the second one is false, meaning the one above is no longer valid, which makes them both false.

so you say:

The below Question is True (false) == false
The Above Question is False (false) == true

How does that make any difference?

I was rambling in frustration because a program I was debugging still wasn't working after several hours. I have since found the problem.

[Kevin McGuire]

The below Question is True
The Above Question is False

I think you tried to defer our attention with the ordering, since:
The Above Question is False
The below Question is True

Makes no sense if talking about them, but does make sense when talking about the poll questions.

The Questions are both True == FALSE
The Questions are both False == TRUE
The Above Question is False
The below Question is True

Also the only questions are the poll questions, since the quoted ones are statements and there is no way to figure out which two imaginary questions (if they existed) are true or false.

So it says the (above) question is false, while the (below) question is true.
The Questions are both False

[os64dev]

The result is undefined because there are no questions asked only statements told. So either answer is good.

[jhawthorn]

Code: Select all

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<Annoying Test Question>", line 2, in <General Ramblings>
IndexError: index out of range

[Combuster]

Since there is expected to exist a question over a domain that contains none, the answer is false, independent of what is said about them. (Set theory)

[AJ]

This puts me in mind of a question I was asked before to which there is a very definite correct answer - probably no problem for anyone here (I hope!):

You are in a room with only 2 doors out. One door leads to heaven and one to hell (or your equivalents!). Once you have opened a door, you must proceed through it. There is a guard at each door, who knows what lies behind each door. One always tells the truth and one always lies but you don't know which is which. You have one question to one guard. What do you ask before going through a door?

[Zacariaz]

You are in a room with only 2 doors out. One door leads to heaven and one to hell (or your equivalents!). Once you have opened a door, you must proceed through it. There is a guard at each door, who knows what lies behind each door. One always tells the truth and one always lies but you don't know which is which. You have one question to one guard. What do you ask before going through a door?

I would ask something like: "would the other guard tell me that this door leads to heaven"

If the answer is yes and he tells the truth, then its not the door to heaven
If the answer is yes and he lies, then then it is not the door to heaven
If the answer is no and he tells the truth, then it is the door to heaven
If the answer is no and he lies, then it is the door to heaven

or so i think...

[Combuster]

you make it too difficult:
if you ask the guard that tells the truth, he would say what the other guard would say, and hence lie about this door
if you ask the guard that lies, he would lie about the truth, and hence lie about this door.

The net result is that the door either one of them says leads to hell actually leads to heaven.

Now, what if one of the guards tell you he is the one who always lies?

[Zacariaz]

you make it too difficult:
if you ask the guard that tells the truth, he would say what the other guard would say, and hence lie about this door
if you ask the guard that lies, he would lie about the truth, and hence lie about this door.

The net result is that the door either one of them says leads to hell actually leads to heaven.

Now, what if one of the guards tell you he is the one who always lies?

ya ya, nag nag, you got the point...

about the last question, it will just set us back to square one.