Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Paradoxes

I love puzzles, brainteasers, logic riddles, and paradoxes.

Here's an interesting paradox. How many of the following five statements are false?

  1. Three of these five statements are false.
  2. 2 + 2 = 5
  3. 3 +1 = 4
  4. 4 x 2 = 8
  5. 6 - 1 = 4

Statements 2 and 5 are clearly false. But what about statement 1? If it's true, there are three false statements. But where is the 3rd false statement? If it's false, then there are three false statements, which makes it true, which brings the number of false statement back to two. But, if there are only two false statements, then statement 1 is also false...

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/23/2008 11:11 PM

    Weird. That's pretty cool.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Becky4/25/2008 5:32 PM

    Paradoxes are pretty easy to create then, aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dedwarmo5/05/2008 12:36 AM

    You didn't answer the question! How many of those statements are false? Tell me now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bobmo5/06/2008 1:53 PM

    I can imagine someone seriously depleting their aspirin supply trying to answer that question!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dedwarmo5/09/2008 7:39 PM

    So is saying Jesus was 100% man and 100% God a paradox or a contradiction?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bobmo5/10/2008 10:23 AM

    If it appears to contradict, but doesn't, it's a paradox. If it contradicts, it a contradiction. So, in this case, it's a paradox.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Perry5/13/2008 11:49 AM

    All of those statements could be true or false if you change the numbering system.

    For example, in base 4, 3+1 = 10

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bobmo5/13/2008 9:47 PM

    Good point, Perry. Though, according to the law of non-contradiction, two contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time in the same sense.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Perry5/15/2008 7:31 PM

    Well, don't principles of quantum physics violate this Law of Non-Contradiction?

    Light is both a particle and a wave but can't be.

    A table is composed entirely of wood but simultaneously composed mostly of empty space.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bobmo5/17/2008 7:47 PM

    Your statement about light is in the form of {P & Q}, since light exhibits the properties of both a particle and a wave, rather than {P & ~P}.

    If you said, "Light is a particle and it is not the case that light is a particle" {P & ~P}, that would be a contradictory statement if applied at the same time and in the same sense.

    In your table example, the two statements also do not contradict each other, since wood itself is composed mostly of empty space. So, the statement could be, "A is composed entirely of B. And B is composed of C & D," where C is empty space. No contradiction there.

    Also, you can't deny laws of logic without using them to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Crytal Dragon3/30/2016 9:01 AM

    Hãy đến với Lâm phong china, chúng tôi chuyên cung cấp dịch vụ vận chuyển hàng trung quốc về việt nam. Đến với chúng tôi thì đảm bảo yêu cầu dịch vụ mua hộ hàng trung quốc hay order hàng taobao giá rẻ của bạn sẽ được chúng tôi đáp ứng đầy đủ và hoàn hảo tuyệt đối. Bởi vì chúng tôi là công ty chuyên cung cấp dịch vụ vận chuyển hàng Trung Quốc hàng đầu tại Việt Nam hiện nay. Khi bạn sử dụng dịch vụ của chúng tôi bạn sẽ được tận hưởng sự phục vụ tuyệt vời theo quy trình mà chúng tôi đã đưa ra. Nếu bạn là người cần dịch vụ đặt hàng taobao giá rẻ, hay nhận mua hàng trên aliexpress hãy sử dụng dịch vụ order hàng Trung Quốc, Nhập hàng Quảng Châu giá rẻ... Đảm bảo chúng tôi sẽ giúp bạn mua được hàng với giá rẻ hơn nếu bạn tự đi mua. Còn chờ gì nữa mà không liên hệ với chúng tôi nếu như bạn có nhu cầu đặt hàng trung quốc giá rẻ, hay cần giải đáp thắc mắc.

    Có thể bạn quan tâm đến: Gmail là gì

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)