Editing Brain teaser

{{short description|Puzzle requiring thought to solve}}
{{refimprove|date=June 2010}}
{{for|the British game show|BrainTeaser}}
{{Puzzles |Topics}}

A '''brain teaser''' is a form of [[puzzle]] that requires thought to solve. It often requires thinking in unconventional ways with given constraints in mind; sometimes it also involves [[lateral thinking]]. [[Logic puzzle]]s and [[riddle]]s are specific types of brain teasers.

One of the earliest known brain teaser enthusiasts was the [[Greece|Greek]] [[mathematician]] [[Archimedes]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Editors of Time-Life books, Inc. |title=The Puzzle Master |year=1989 |publisher=Time-Life Books |location=Alexandria, Virginia, USA |isbn=0-8097-0928-7 |pages=18}}</ref> He devised [[mathematical problem]]s for his contemporaries to solve.

==Example==
:Q: ''If three hens lay three eggs in three days, how many eggs does a (statistical) hen lay in one day?''
:A1: ''One third.'' (Note: 3 hens = 3 eggs / 3 days → 3 hens = (3 / 3) (eggs / days) → 1 hen = (1 / 3) (egg / days))
:A2: ''Zero or one'' (it's hard to lay a third of an egg).

One can argue about the answers of many brain teasers; in the given example with hens, one might claim that all the eggs in the question were laid in the first day, so the answer would be three.

:Q: ''Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?''
:A: ''Mary''. The first four daughters all have names with the first 4 vowels, so if someone does not think about the question, they may say the name with the fifth vowel, Nunu. The answer was given at the beginning of the question (i.e., '''Mary's father''' has five...)

:Q: ''What appears once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?''
:A: The letter "M".

:Q: ''I am the beginning of the end, the beginning of eternity, and the end of all time?''
:A: The letter "E".

==Intuition==
The difficulty of many brain teasers relies on a certain degree of fallacy in human [[Intuition (knowledge)|intuitiveness]]. This is most common<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Learning psychology from riddles: The case of stumpers|url=http://journal.sjdm.org/17/171117/jdm171117.html|access-date=2021-07-09|journal=Judgment and Decision Making|date=2018 |doi=10.1017/S193029750000886X |last1=Bar-Hillel |first1=Maya |last2=Noah |first2=Tom |last3=Frederick |first3=Shane |volume=13 |pages=112–122 |doi-access=free }}</ref> in brain teasers relating to [[conditional probability]], because the causal [[Mind|human mind]] tends to consider absolute probability instead. As a result, controversial discussions emerge from such [[Problem solving|problem]]s. One of the famous brain teasers is the [[Monty Hall problem]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Game Show Problem {{!}} Marilyn vos Savant|url=http://marilynvossavant.com/game-show-problem/|access-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121183432/http://marilynvossavant.com/game-show-problem/|archive-date=2013-01-21|language=en-US}}</ref> Another (simpler) example of such a brain teaser is the [[Boy or Girl paradox]].

== See also ==
* [[Board games]]
* [[Mathematical game]]
* [[Mensa International|Mensa]]
* [[Mind sport]]
* [[Boy or Girl paradox]]

==References==
{{reflist}}




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[[Category:Puzzles]]