the hawks on the roof

[layne67]

My then 7-yr-old had this mathematics problem that asked A farmer saw three hawks on his roof. He shot one. How many were left? Or something to that effect, I can't remember the exact words. Anyway he answered two and he got that right of course. But I remember laughing at the question and saying that the answer should be zero because no hawk in its right mind would stay on the roof after the shot!

Anyway, I saw the same puzzle in this book by Jeffery Deaver 'The Devil's Teardrop' and there are actually more than 2 possible answers. Do you know all the answers?

The puzzle :

Three hawks have been killing a farmer's chickens. One day he sees all three sitting on the roof of his chicken coop. The farmer has just one bullet in his gun and the hawks are so far apart that he can only hit one. He aims at the hawk on the left and shoots and kills it. The bullet doesn't ricochet. How many hawks are left on the roof?

What say you? :)

ETA Disclaimer : The hawks in this puzzle are fictitious and any resemblance to real hawks, living or dead is purely coincidental. In other words, no hawk has been shot dead in the making of this mental exercise.

ETA 2 The sentence "left on the roof" indicates "how many remain" and not the hawks' positions relative to each other.

Sheesh.

Comments

[honeyandvinegar.livejournal.com]

That is a *fantastic* display of expanded thinking in that there son of yours. I like the way he thinks things through. ;)

And... I'll say none. He goes to the side of the hawk on the left and shoots through every one of them in a straight line like this:

Man with gun shoots ---> O O O ---> all three hawks go teh ded.

Like my fantastic diagram???!!!!:!L

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Sweetie!!! The hawks are up there on the roof, the farmer's on the ground, he can't shoot like that!

Anyway there are more than one answers and you're required to give them all. Clue - this isn't a trick question, it's straightforward with with straightforward answers. Remember, more than one answers ;D

Fantastic diagram!

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm horrible at these kinds of things, but is the second answer 'none' because the other hawks are not on the left?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, don't think of this as a riddle with trick question but a straightforward puzzle with more than 1 answers. And yes, one of the answers is none but not because the other hawks are not on the left! C'mon, think some more!

PS... anudder riddle. ;)

[honeyandvinegar.livejournal.com]

A father is out with his son on a drive when a large truck runs a stop light and hits them on the driver's side. The father is killed on impact, but his son survives just barely. Needing urgent medical attention, the boy is whisked away to the local hospital. Upon being wheeled into the operating room, the doctor takes one look at the boy and says "I can;t operate on him; he's my son."

How is this possible?

Re: PS... anudder riddle. ;)

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

The doc's his mother.

Re: PS... anudder riddle. ;)

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Heh. As the surgeon on trauma call at my hospital tonight, and a woman... ;)

[mochness.livejournal.com]

Um...no clue :P

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Think! This is NOT a trick question, but it has more than one possible answers.

:)

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Darn, I don't know if there's a trick to the answer, but being a country girl, I'd say none, because the other two would've flown away.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

No,no trick at all. And the answer that you gave is correct but this question has more than one possible answers. Read violettefemme's answer. She got it almost right :)

But not quite.

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I would have to object to the question on the grounds that the hawk shouldn't be killed - it was simply behaving in its natural way. I do feel that it's our duty, as the earthly creatures with far and away the most intelligence, to figure out how to outsmart birds and beasts rather than kill them. Figure out some other way to keep the chickens from the hawks. Not that I'm a rancher or farmer who has to deal with this sort of situation.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're stumped!!

*squishes you*

The trick is that there is no trick at all! This is a direct question with direct answers but you have to give more than one.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

hee. I am sometimes very good at these types of puzzles, but my brain isn't working this way today! :D

[layne67.livejournal.com]

This is not a trick question at all! The answers are direct, the only thing is that there are more than one correct answers. So I guess the 'trick' is that most people would stop at one answer. Clue - see violettefemmme's answer.

[violettefemme.livejournal.com]

I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this... (when i should have been working)

1. No birds are left, they all flew away at the shot
2. Two birds left, the one was shot the other two are hard of hearing.
3. one bird left, only one was hard of hearing.
4. No birds left, the bullet goes through sideways and hits all three
5. one bird left, the bullet goes through sideways and hits two.

There are about a BILLION Answers

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Aha. Got you, Mdm Lawyer *g*

The bullet doesn't ricochet.

He aims at the hawk on the left and shoots and kills it.

But you got the idea. There is more than one correct answers but most people would stop at one. I'll post the full answers tomorrow. You can still think it out!

[geniusartist.livejournal.com]

None. The other two hawks flew away.

[geniusartist.livejournal.com]

Ah. I answered this without looking at the others' responses. Yes, violettefemme was most clever.

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

If the one he kills doesn't fall off the roof, at least one's left on the roof. Possibly all three - either the other two weren't scared, or they see an easy meal. So at least one (if the other two were scared off by the shot), but as many as three.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*bounces*

So your answer is one or two or three hawks?

You got that almost correct but there're still a few parameters missing. But yes, yours and <lj user="violettefemme"'s are the most correct so far :D

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on what you mean by left on the roof. Does it indicate how many remain? Or is it asking about their position relative to each other? Because in one sense, unless the bird that was shot was all the way over to the left side, then either one or both of the others would be left, as in on the left side.

If it means how many remain, then either of the answers you cited above would be right, too. ;)

[layne67.livejournal.com]

LOL it indicates how many remains.

My answers above are only part of them, not the complete ones :)

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

I don't even want to try to think about it. :D My head hurts again and I just swallowed a painkiller. But I have this. I hope you understand all the words here.

Ada 12 bebek. Di kali dua. Berapa jumlah bebek semuanya?

[layne67.livejournal.com]

LOL I assume the answer is not 24?

[majblomma2000.livejournal.com]

The answer is 'slash'

[layne67.livejournal.com]

LOL

And that, my dearest, is the best answer of all!!