I am enclosing a copy of a recent column in Parade magazine by Marilyn vos Savant, who supposedly is listed in the “Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame” for “highest IQ.” A writer asks Marilyn for an answer to the following riddle:
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“My father loved this one too, but I didn’t get it then, and I don’t get it now. What’s the problem? Is “one hen’ too obvious? If a hen and a half can lay an egg and a half, etc., that means a hen can lay an egg in a day. And if just one hen lays one egg a day for six days, we’d have six eggs right there, wouldn’t we?”
I’m quite sure this is incorrect and that the answer is one and a half hens. What do you think? I’ve enclosed a copy of my solution. –Margo Carraher-Sommer, Chester, Virginia
3/2 hens x 3/2 days x rate per hen per day = 3/2 eggs
1 hen x 3/2 days x rate per hen per day = 1 egg
I was amused to read your comments and reader reaction concerning slugs in More of the Straight Dope. If you thought these terrestrial pulmonate gastropods were disgusting before, get a load of the following, from Cascade Olympic Natural History by Daniel Mathews:
