Train Problem
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
Elliot the detective heard the news of a double murder that occurred on a train.
"The driver and the conductor were on the opposite ends of the train, but both were shot at the same time", reported a policeman who was at the center of the train at the time. The policeman had heard both gunshots at the same time. The train was travelling 150 kilometers per hour. Elliot immediately realized that the driver and the conductor were not killed at the same time. How is it so?
Answer
Since the train was going at 150 km/h, the sound of the gunshot in the front of the train would reach the policeman's ears faster than the gunshot from the back of the train. So the conductor was shot first.
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Comments
zonarita   
Mar 23, 2006
|  Stormtrooper enjoyed your Elliot the dumb detective teaser. |
ragnarok23
Mar 23, 2006
| that was pretty easy, nice one though |
lelrod
Mar 23, 2006
| The problem should read that the "driver and conductor were at oppiside ENDS of the train." Oppisite sides means left and right. Much different. |
velreno
Mar 25, 2006
| Why couldn't the policeman be the shooter? He would still hear the shots at the same time, yet wouldn't the speed of the bullets travelling in separate directions yield different death times? And yes, I agree, sides and ends are very different. |
Vigo95
Mar 25, 2006
| okay  |
JohnMorr
Mar 26, 2006
| The problem (and the answer) are plain wrong. The train and the air inside it were travelling at the same speed, so sound would travel at the same rate from front or back. Imagine the same problem in a spaceship - it wouldn't matter what the external speed was. This problem would only work on open carriages where the air speed would make a difference. |
fem81uk 
Mar 30, 2006
| I got it right so i guess if the question was inaccurate as everyone says i must be inaccurate too!!  |
Mellew
Mar 30, 2006
| i have heard this 1 b4 so no surprise here |
Lui312
Apr 02, 2006
| .....coulda been worse i suppose....  |
spazzyjazzy93
Apr 05, 2006
| whoa thats cool! |
kashby
Apr 12, 2006
| nah, i didnt like that 1, srry |
laya
Apr 13, 2006
| it was a good one i actually got it  |
Psychic_Master 
Apr 15, 2006
| That was too easy. And yes, sides and ends are different. I didn't like that one too much, but nice try. |
alis99
Apr 18, 2006
| No offence to the person who wrote this but its true that there were faults in this teaser ope for a better one but good anyways! |
didida
Jun 02, 2006
| hey it was a good riddle but it sounded like theres some geniuses here who didn't like your info |
willymapo
Oct 15, 2006
| The are some point that need clarification, but it is a nice teaser.
The problem I see is that. although it has two murders in it, it is more likely to be a trivia or science teaser, instead of a mystery teaser. 
Good one!
Will |
poison_ivy
Nov 24, 2006
| Like JohnMorr said, the answer is actually wrong. |
Jimbo
Mar 22, 2007
| How long is the train and what is meant by "the same time". Since the speed of sound is 344 m/s and say the train was 60 m long then according to the principle here it would take sound 1/10 sec to reach the centre if stationary. during this time the train has moved forward about 4 metres increasing the time by .01 sec. Can the human ear detect this time difference? I do not think the situation described here is a suitable one for illustrating this principle. |
Xosyaraiha
Aug 04, 2007
| what a detective. he must never have made it through highschool... that's stuff you learn in middleschool lol, still, it's a good teaser all things considered |
IQ_master
Oct 08, 2007
| The 'Train problem' lives to its name... there's problems..  |
precious1026
May 19, 2010
| The last comment gives rise to a simple solution. I think too much effort goes into trying to Corrrect the Teaser creator, instead of us just enjoying the Teaser. But, you guys are correct its hard to Enjoy Errors, especially balant ones. Now, being a failure where most mathematical problems exist, I would never attempt to correct this Teaser, or any other like this teaser. I think the creator of this Teaser put him or herself on the line, just be attempting this Teaser... So, I say hurray for the Teaser creator (s). All Teaser creators must know this is a Hungry crowd, so be prepared... Fairly good teaser, in terms of entertainment. |
BookwormAnG
Aug 29, 2011
| I thinking something along those lines but i thought it was gonna be really complicated |
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