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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @08:20AM
This sort of rationale applies to ... poor communication from a customer/client
No it doesn't. In too many cases you cannot use this sort of logic when you get poor communication from a customer/client.
That's because lots of customers and clients do not think clearly and logically. So they might send you some garbage of an email.
Trying to use logic on the garbage they send you often leads to wrong conclusions (GIGO).
So when you detect some ambiguity what you have to do is work out a way to get them to send something hopefully clearer. Sometimes it's simple as just asking, at other times you need some "people sensitive" way of doing it.
Just going "But you said this in your original email and so we'll hold you to that otherwise see our lawyers" might be fine if you only want to do one job with that sort of customer (and they are rather common- after all in many cases the clear thinking ones might not need you as much as those with candy floss for brains).
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday April 16 2015, @03:47PM
No it doesn't. In too many cases you cannot use this sort of logic when you get poor communication from a customer/client.
And how exactly would you determine if you do not have enough information from them? ;)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday April 16 2015, @11:23PM
And how exactly would you determine if you do not have enough information from them? ;)
You determine that by talking to them and figuring out if they understand what they are asking you to do. Plenty of customers have unrealistic expectations. It would be a disaster to start a job only to shock the customer in the end. You always want to ensure that the customer knows how much is he going to pay and what is he going to get - before you even start. The customer may be silly and illogical, but that won't prevent him from suing you. You cannot depend on hints - you always want everything important clearly spelled out and clearly understood by all parties.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday April 16 2015, @11:59PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by tftp on Friday April 17 2015, @12:17AM
I'm saying that most communication is poor, and you try to make at least the essential communication - that can make or break your business - as clear and obvious as possible. It may well be that you will be listening to your contract being read aloud, in court. You want to make sure that you made all the effort that you could to deliver your message, and that it's not your fault that the other guy still managed to misinterpret it.
Obviously, if the contract contains confusing messages that need to be read by three lawyers and five mathematicians from Singapore, this won't fly real well in court even if they are mathematically correct, like this riddle. Can you imagine that the girl would be giving answers like that to two police officers? Or that they will even attempt to figure out the answer?