Today’s Challenge
There are 3 boxes, exactly one of which has a car. You can keep the car if you pick the correct box!
On each box, there is a statement, exactly one of which is true.
Box 1: The car is in this box.
Box 2: The car is not in this box.
Box 3: The car is not in box 1.Which box has the car?
Give this problem a try before jumping in for the solution!
Solution
Since this only one statement is correct and there are only three statements, we will go through the problem case by case!
Case 1: Box 1 has the car
Statement 1 is true, the car is in the first box.
Statement 2 also has to be true as it says the car is not in that box.
Statement 3 is false since the car is in box 1.
Case 2: Box 2 has the car
Statement 1 is false as the car is in box 2.
Statement 2 is false as the car is in that box. (The box says the car is NOT in that box)
Statement 3 is true as the car is in box 2, not box 1.
This is indeed our answer as only one statement is true. Box 2 has the car!
But for completeness, let’s check the third case!
Case 3: Box 3 has the car
Statement 1 is false since it does not have the car.
Statement 2 is true since it does not have the car.
Statement 3 is true since the car is not in box 1; it’s in box 3.
This is wrong as there is more than one true statement!
Well done!
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Happy reading,
Barry 🍩
i suck :(