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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: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:50AM
He deduced, correctly so, that this dumbass problem is a waste of his time. His deductive skills far exceed yours, clearly.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Tork on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:36AM
He deduced, correctly so...
No, he didn't.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:38AM
Yes, he did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:51AM
Mmm hmm. Captain Correct they'll call him.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @03:07AM
He intelligently deduced that he needn't waste his time solving such useless problems when there are far more interesting, difficult, and useful problems to be solved.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @03:51AM
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @04:04AM
Bitching about the stupidity of this idiotic problem is much more useful than trying to solve it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @04:05AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @05:49AM
No one says you can't have free time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @07:08AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @10:15AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:17PM
There was no self-defeating argument; he obviously decided that riddles such as this are a waste of time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:35PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @07:41PM
Then:
"I intelligently deduced that I do not need a useful skill!!"
Maybe he does not find it useful (as another commenter says, this really only tests a specific skill that will likely almost never come up in the real world outside of some artificial environment), or he already solves far more complex problems and doesn't feel the need to solve poorly-written logic puzzles in his free time, but at the same time, wants to do other things in his free time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @09:13PM
(as another commenter says, this really only tests a specific skill that will likely almost never come up in the real world outside of some artificial environment)
That was refuted.
Maybe he does not find it useful [...] or he already solves far more complex problems and doesn't feel the need to solve poorly-written logic puzzles in his free time, but at the same time, wants to do other things in his free time.
Or he rushed to dismiss it because it's mainstream and now he's trying to save face.