These two miners come out from a coal mine at the end of their working day. One of them has his face covered in soot and the other one still has a perfectly clean face. They both glance at each other in the elevator bringing them back to the surface. When they get home, the one with the clean face cleanses himself thoroughly and the other one does not. Why?
This puzzle is from the Martin Gardner's "Aha!" book.
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4 comments:
The man with the dirty face sees the other man's clean face and assumes that his too, is clean. However, the man with the clean face sees his co-workers dirty face and assumes he looks the same and, therefore, needing a thorough cleansing.
She came, she saw and she solved.
Welcome to TheMathMom site and to the Marathon, Heidi!
You receive your first puzzle point. Two more and I'll send you a prize.
This is a great puzzle to discuss with your kids. However, originally I assumed that some mirrors are involved here.
Yup, no mirrors I guess.
They should talk.
Tom (welcome aboard Heidi!)
The rest of the clean-faced man body was covered in soot, but the dirty-faced man only had to wash his face because the rest of the body was clean.
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