Another puzzle: How many golf tees are there in this pile?

5 ( 1 red, 1 green, 1 blue, and 2 others)

Wrong sorry, try again.

I didn't mention "others" or their colours.

The question is a "complete" question, no more detail is needed.

Regards,

Dr M.

Sir--

You neither mentioned nor excluded "others". Often the best answers to questions come when we look for what has been left out, or what was not previously considered as possible. Many puzzler questions over time are based on this sort of missing logic piece. I prefer to see us accepting answers which were unexpected but not explicitly excluded or forbidden, then suggesting that you were thinking of an answer which only allowed the colors mentioned. If we allow "others", permissible answers are 5 tees as mentioned in the earlier post, and also 4 tees in which none of them are red, green, or blue.

John M.

5 tees where none of them are red, green or blue is utter nonsense.

How do you get that?

'All but 4 are red' indicates that some are red.

Regards,

Dr M.

P.S. Next time i set a puzzzle like this from a t.v. quiz show i'll mention MORE facts than the original question, if it saves on "alternate theories".

Dear Dr M,

Actually he suggested two alternate answers, the first of which there is 5 tees, 1 of each colors and 2 others.

The other answer is 4 where none of them are red, blue or green.

Please try to understand, while his choice of words may have hurt your feelings, I think he is also suggesting that there are other ways to view the situation and come up with an altogether different answer and still be true to the question as is the real world.

Regards,

CLoud

Hi Cloud!! ( 8521 is a lot higher than Cloud9...LOL),

It takes more than that to hurt my feelings.

Is 1st Feb 85 your d.o.b.? 01 /02/ 1985 ?

Just wondering why "8521"?

Best regards,

Dr M.

Helo DR M,

It's good to know that, besides the other answers are also very interestings don't you think? It reminds us that this is a world of infinite possibilities.

Although 1985 is my birth year, I am not born in feb 1st nor 2nd of jan. The 21 at the back is just something I got from hotmail when I registered in 2000 and I guess it kinda stuck there ever since. LOL.... ^_^

Regards,

CLoud

6 total tees. 2 of each color.

TechGrad

Total are 12, 4 each colors.

Regards

Sayed Sabry

Correct the answer given on "Carol Vordermans' brain game" was indeed 6.

Regards,

Dr M.

The question is illogical. You said "all but 4 are red" and "all but 4 are green" and "all but 4 are blue" but, these three statements are mutually exclusive. If "all but 4 are red" then all the tees are red except 4. It cannot then be true that "all but 4 are green" or that "all but 4 are blue" because the only tees whose colors are undefined are the 4 that were excluded from being red.

Perhaps you meant to say "all but 4 aren't...". In that case, "all but 4 aren't red, all but 4 aren't green and all but 4 aren't blue" which is equivalent to saying "4 are red, 4 are green and 4 are blue". That then would mean there are a total of 12, 4 of each color.

The question stated is as it was stated on

"Carol Vordermans' brain game" on the television.

Regards,

Dr M.

I agree with TechGrad, there are 6 tees with 2 red, 2 green and 2 blue.

Therefore

• You have 2 that are read and four that are not. All but four are red.
• You have 2 that are green and four that are not. All but four are green.
• You have 2 that are blue and four that are not. All but four are blue.

Aww, you're right, I was wrong. =P

Correct the answer given on "Carol Vordermans' brain game" was indeed 6.

Regards,

Dr M.

I agree with both 6 and 12. The reasoning would of course be different in both cases.

If the answer is 6, all but 4 are red = 2 blue AND 2 green (4 tees of 2 different colours).

When the answer is 12, all but 4 are red = 4 blue OR 4 green. So we'll get 4 of each colour.

Do you agree Dr. Marten?

Yes 'kind of' agree as it depends on how you interpret the phrase all but , although the answer given on "Carol Vordermans' brain game" was indeed 6.

Regards,

Dr M.

Interesting. We can put everything into an equation form and test it out.

Let X = All, r = red, b = blue, g = green

All but 4 are red / blue / green would translate into

X - 4 = r - (1)

X - 4 = b - (2)

X - 4 = g - (3)

(1) + (2) + (3) :

X - 4 = (a + b + c) / 3

When there are 2 tees for each colour (giving a total of six), the equation proves the answer right.

12 just doesn't fit into the equation.

Correct the answer given on "Carol Vordermans' brain game" was indeed 6.

Regards,

Dr M.

Ok, so we know what the answer is but, since I got it wrong, I figure I should spend a few hours racking my brain to figure out how I should have figured it out. There are three colors in the puzzle and the total number of tees equals the sum of all the colors of tees so, the challenge is to find the number of tees of each color.

The phrase "all but 4 are red" means that a composite subset of the total is a set X of 4 tees that only has blue and green. At this point, set X may contain:

(B, G, G, G), (B, B, G, G) or (B, B, B, G)

The phrase "all but 4 are green" means that another composite subset of the total is a set Y of 4 tees that only has blue and red. At this point, set Y may contain:

(B, R, R, R), (B, B, R, R) or (B, B, B, R)

The only intersections of sets X and Y that match their respective phrases are:

(B, G, G, G, R, R, R), (B, B, G, G, R, R), (B, B, B, G, R)

The last phrase "all but 4 are blue" means that another composite subset of the total is a set Z of 4 tees that has both green and red. The only intersection of sets X, Y and Z that match all the phrases now is of course:

(B, B, G, G, R, R) = 6 tees, two of each color. I'm proud of myself!

thare are 16 tees right

Question has been answered, see above.

Regards,

Dr M.

Wrong!!

Correct answer is given above.

Regards,

Dr M.

There is one golf tee in the pile . . . . also two . . . . also three . . . up to six. How do I know? Walk up to the pile and ask "Is there one golf tee there?". Your answer must be "Yes", and so on.

Ahemmmm . . . . I go back to work now . .

George

....someone here is going to a 'mental ward' sometime soon i think.

Regards,

Dr M.

6 - 2 of each color R, G, B

Correct, but it's already been answered.

See the earlier posts above.

Regards,

Dr M.

Why bother to ask? What a waste of my time.

Why are you here then? What a waste of space.

Hi,

This was a 'thinking exercise' kind of puzzle for everyone.

There are other similiar puzzles in this forum, some answered, some not.

Some questions are 'posed', like in a quiz, when the answer is already known, for your general amusement - education.

Regards,

Dr M.

Assuming there is only color red, blue and green and no other. The answer is 6. Watch carefully,

first statement -> all but 4 are red : that means total= X(red) + 4 other1, Other1 = 4 = Y(green) + Z(blue)

2nd statement -> all but 4 are green : total= Y(Green) + 4 other2, Other2 = 4 = X(red) + Z(blue)

3rd statement -> all but 4 are blue : total= Z(Blue) + 4 other3, Other3 = 4 = X(red) + Y(green)

Doing a simultanious equation; we will get X(Red) = Y (Green) or Y(Green) = Z(Blue) or X(Red) = Z(Blue). In short, X = Y = Z.

From Other1, Y + Z = 4, Y=Z, Y+Y=4, 2Y=4, Y=2.

All but 4 are green, Total - 4 = green, total = 4 + green = 4 + 2 = 6.

Hmm.. the answer seems to be based on the assumption that ALL there is RED, BLUE, and GREEN.

But what if there is another colour, lets say ORANGE (or just THE REST).

Lets represent them algebraically, ALL = A, Red = R, Green = G, Blue = B, The Rest = T.

Logically, A(all) = R(red) + G(green) + B(blue) + T(the rest).

Statement 1: all but 4 are red,

A - 4 = R, or A - R = 4, or G + B + T = 4, ---1

Statement 2: all but 4 are green,

A - 4 = G, or R + B + T = 4 ---2

Statement 3: all but 4 are blue,

A - 4 = B, or R + G + T = 4 ---3

From here, we still get R = G = B.

From here we can get some how that T cannot exist, or T = 0. But I'll leave that for some body else to explain.

See ya.