Walking down the street one day, I met a woman strolling with her daughter. “What a lovely child,” I remarked. “In fact, I have a younger child as well,” she replied.
What is the probability that both of her children are girls?
1/2 probability. This has been know to cause raging debates and is known as one of the variations of the Boy or Girl paradox. This variation is more straightforward because knowing the position of the child leaves only two possibilities – the other child is a boy or a girl, each of which have a 1/2 probability.
You have a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. You must cross a river with only one of them at a time. If you leave the fox with the chicken he will eat it; if you leave the chicken with the grain he will eat it. How can you get all three across safely?
Take the chicken over first. Go back and bring the grain next, but instead of leaving the chicken with the grain, come back with the chicken. Leave the chicken on the first side and take the fox with you. Leave it on the other side with the grain. Finally, go back over and get the chicken and bring it over.
The thunder comes before the lightning, And the lightning comes before the cloud, The rain dries all the land it touches, Wrapping the earth in a blood red shroud.
It’s true I bring serenity, And hang around the stars But yet I live in misery; You’ll find me behind bars With thieves and villains I consort In prison I’ll be found But I would never go to court, Unless there’s more than one
