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from the it-seemed-like-the-logical-thing-to-do-at-the-time dept.
A couple of months ago, it was a color-changing dress that blew out the neural circuits of the Internet. Now Kenneth Chang reports in the NYT that a problem from a math olympiad test for math-savvy high school-age students in Singapore is making the rounds on the internet that has perplexed puzzle problem solvers as they grapple with the simple question: "So when is Cheryl's birthday?"
Albert and Bernard just met Cheryl. “When’s your birthday?” Albert asked Cheryl.
Cheryl thought a second and said, “I’m not going to tell you, but I’ll give you some clues.” She wrote down a list of 10 dates:
May 15 — May 16 — May 19
June 17 — June 18
July 14 — July 16
August 14 — August 15 — August 17
“My birthday is one of these,” she said.
Then Cheryl whispered in Albert’s ear the month — and only the month — of her birthday. To Bernard, she whispered the day, and only the day.
“Can you figure it out now?” she asked Albert.
Albert: I don’t know when your birthday is, but I know Bernard doesn’t know, either.
Bernard: I didn’t know originally, but now I do.
Albert: Well, now I know, too!
When is Cheryl’s birthday?
Logical puzzles like this are common in Singapore. The Singapore math curriculum, which has a strong focus on logic-based problem solving, has been so successful that it's been adopted around the world. According to Terrance F. Ross, US students have made strides in math proficiency in recent years, but they still lag behind many of their peers internationally, falling at the middle of the pack in global rankings. In the same PISA report the U.S. placed 35th out of 64 countries in math. "And even though the "Cheryl's Birthday" question may be atypical of the average Singaporean classroom, perhaps it's still worth asking: Are you smarter than a (Singaporean) 10th-grader?"
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:43AM
The answer is June 18.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:45AM
No it isn't.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:47AM
No, it is June 18. I'm Cheryl, and it's my birthday. So you can fuck right off.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:05AM
May 19
(Score: 5, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:07AM
No, I'm Cheryl, and so's my wife.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:51AM
Dad? Is that you??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:54AM
Yes it is.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:59AM
Definitely not. Albert's first comment eliminates two months, Bernard's two more days, and then Albert's final comment eliminates two of the three remaining days.