Brain Teasers
Uppsala Calling
While on vacation in Sweden, Fred happened to run into "Cut-my-own-throat" Dabney while contemplating a portrait of Anders Celsius, the inventor of the temperature scale that bears his name.
Dabney said, "Fancy meeting you here! Hey, I see you're a fan of good old Anders! Seeing as how we go way back, I thought I'd give you a chance to own a piece of history that I happened to chance upon recently."
So saying, Dabney pulled out a sealed glass tube that was attached to a thin board. The board had some writing on it, and Fred could see that it was the standard centigrade scale, common to most of the world. The whole thing looked very old, and the script of the numbers seemed about 300 years out of date.
Not exactly thrilled to see this mendicant, Fred asked, "Really? Why would I be interested in that?"
"Because, me old chum," replied the slickster, "this mock-up of a Celsius thermometer was done by Anders himself. I'm willing to part with it for a mere five grand, and that's..."
"Yeah, I know, 'cutting your own throat'." Fred finished. "Listen, I don't have time for your rubbish, but I would gladly make the time to turn you in to the authorities for forgery."
How did Fred know it was a fake?
Dabney said, "Fancy meeting you here! Hey, I see you're a fan of good old Anders! Seeing as how we go way back, I thought I'd give you a chance to own a piece of history that I happened to chance upon recently."
So saying, Dabney pulled out a sealed glass tube that was attached to a thin board. The board had some writing on it, and Fred could see that it was the standard centigrade scale, common to most of the world. The whole thing looked very old, and the script of the numbers seemed about 300 years out of date.
Not exactly thrilled to see this mendicant, Fred asked, "Really? Why would I be interested in that?"
"Because, me old chum," replied the slickster, "this mock-up of a Celsius thermometer was done by Anders himself. I'm willing to part with it for a mere five grand, and that's..."
"Yeah, I know, 'cutting your own throat'." Fred finished. "Listen, I don't have time for your rubbish, but I would gladly make the time to turn you in to the authorities for forgery."
How did Fred know it was a fake?
Answer
The standard Celsius scale has 0 at the bottom and 100 at the top, but Anders Celsius designed his scale so that 100 was freezing and 0 was boiling. It wasn't until shortly after Celsius's death that fellow Swede, and father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus reversed the scale to what we know today.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Good Teaser.
Good teaser, I learned something.
I DIDN'T KNOW THAT. THANK YOU.
GOOD JOB!
GOOD JOB!
Love the story. Had no idea however, what the answer was.
It's like who do u thing we are? Einsteins? Was there a clue in there? I sincerely would like to start playing these to learn stuff but is there a secret to solving them, other than looking it up on google?
Sorry to butt in. Sort of a newbit. i do the Logic-grids.
thanks, JOON
Sorry to butt in. Sort of a newbit. i do the Logic-grids.
thanks, JOON
correction sp: newbie
very nice and a lot of fun
A clue would have been nice !!!
I'd like to shake the hand of anyone who gets this correct !!
I'd like to shake the hand of anyone who gets this correct !!
So, I'm guessing that the phrase, "standard centigrade scale," was supposed to let me know where 0 and 100 were. A clue about the number at the top and or bottom would have given me a chance. Thanks for the quiz though. I learned something.
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