Puzzle
X and Y are two different integers, greater than 1, with sum less than 100. S and P are two mathematicians; S knows the sum X+Y, P knows the product X*Y, and both know the information in these two sentences. The following conversation occurs.
- P says "I cannot find these numbers."
- S says "I was sure that you could not find them. I cannot find them either."
- P says "Then, I found these numbers."
- S says "If you could find them, then I also found them."
What are these numbers?
Read more about this topic: Impossible Puzzle
Famous quotes containing the word puzzle:
“My good friend, quoth Ias sure as I am Iand you are you
And who are you? said he.Dont puzzle me; said I.”
—Laurence Sterne (17131768)
“What are you now? If we could touch one another,
if these our separate entities could come to grips,
clenched like a Chinese puzzle . . . yesterday
I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,
and no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.
Everyone silent, moving. . . . Take my hand. Speak to me.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (19131980)
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)