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

[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.

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

I was just feeling sorry for the hawks. :(

*squishes back*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I've added a disclaimer. See entry *points*

Now you can solve this with peace of mind.

:DD

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

You silly! I knew they weren't real. The example just caught me off a bit; thinking "what are they teaching in schools? couldn't they have said a man has three apples and eats one and how many are left?"

See Lij? He is feeling sad and making puppy dog eyes because he also feels awful about the hawks.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor Lij. Here's Orli to cheer him up ;)

I guess it's not a very politically correct thing for schoolkids and in addition to that what would the teacher say if her students answer that deceptively simple question with one-page answers?

O_o

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

Plus which, one hawk is left. Because the one on the left got killed, so now the one that was in the middle is left.

:P

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, you're just like serai1.

No. Nononono.

See second ETA.

*points*

But that's a clever answer but not the right one. I told you, the answer is not a trick one. So much so that I think you're going to be disappointed with the answers!

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

Well, naturally it's not the right answer - it's the left answer!

After checking out the clever ETA, I have to ask how a dead bird failed to roll off the roof. Was it a midcentury modern house with a flat roof? Because farmers don't tend to live in midcentury moderns.

:P

[layne67.livejournal.com]

*clutches head*

Oh you evil, wicked woman.

I am NOT going to add another ETA to what type of a roof the chicken coop has. See, the birds are on the roof of the chicken coop, not the farmer's house. And no, I don't have any idea whether a chicken coop's roof is flat or not *moans*

[montmorency.livejournal.com]

My bad, it does indeed say the roof of the chicken coop. That settles it, because a chicken coop will always have a slanted roof. That's because they are made cheaply, and it is important that rain run off and not stand on the roof, and therefore a simple slanted roof is always required. :)

I don't think that Richard Neutra ever designed any midcentury modern chicken coops.

*kisses*