A man is found murdered on a Sunday morning. His wife calls the police, who question the wife and the staff, and are given the following alibis: the wife says she was sleeping, the butler was cleaning the closet, the gardener was picking vegetables, the maid was getting the mail, and the cook was preparing breakfast.
Immediately, the police arrest the murdered. Who did it and how did the police know?
You are killed in a plane crash and find yourself in front of 2 doors: one leads to heaven and one will lead you to hell for eternity. There is an identical troll at each door. You find instructions posted on the wall behind you. You can ask only one question and you can only direct it to only one of the trolls. One troll will always lie to you - regardless of your question - and the other will always tell you the truth. And only the trolls themselves know which one will lie and which one will be truthful. That is all that you are told.... What is the one and only question that will ensure you passage to heaven, and why?
Ask any of the tolls this question. "If I were to ask the other troll which is the door to Heaven, which door would he point to?" Now when the troll answers by pointing to one of the doors you simply take the other door.
You walk up to a mountain that has two paths. One leads to the other side of the mountain, and the other will get you lost forever. Two twins know the path that leads to the other side. You can ask them only one question. Except! One lies and one tells the truth, and you don't know which is which. So, What do you ask?
You ask each twin "What would your brother say?"
This works because.... Well let's say the correct path is on the left side. So say you asked the liar "What would your brother say?" Well, the liar would know his brother was honest and he would say the left side, but since the liar lies, he would say right. If you asked the honest twin the same question, he would say right, because he knows his brother will lie. Therefore, you would know that the correct path was the left.
