Braingle: 'The Colored Bear' Brain Teaser

The Colored Bear

Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.

Puzzle ID:	#103
Fun:	(2.88)
Difficulty:	(1.32)
Category:	Logic
Submitted By:	Jake
Corrected By:	snaps

If a hunter goes out his front door, goes 50 miles south, then goes 50 miles west, shoots a bear, goes 50 miles north and ends up in front of his house, what color was the bear?

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Answer

White.

The hunter is at the north pole, and the bear is a white polar bear.
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Comments

turtle Jan 11, 2001	Since bears do not roam within fifty miles of the pole, the bear is either imaginary or imported, and there is no telling what color it is.
Jake Jan 11, 2001	There is another place (actually a whole set) on earth from which one can go fifty miles south, fifty miles west, and fifty miles north and end up where one started. Consider the parallel of latitude close enough to the South Pole that its length is 50/n miles, for some integer n. Take any point on that parallel of latitude and pick the point fifty miles north of it. Situate the hunter`s front porch there. The hunter goes fifty miles south from his porch and is at a point we`ll call A. He travels fifty miles west, circling the South Pole n times, and is at A again, where he shoots the bear. Fifty miles north from A he is back home.
dgoertz Dec 12, 2001	to comment on the above comments There wouldn't be any bears that near to south pole either.
briarsagemoss13 Dec 28, 2001	you know, this was the first teaser ever entered into the site.
just_moi Nov 25, 2002	shouldn't this teaser be in the logic or trick sections instead of MATH???
canu Jul 19, 2004	Not only is there no bear near the North Pole, which is not on land but on a frozen ocean, there is no house. ----- Santa Claus and his elves live at North Pole, Alaska (64º45'N, 147º21'W), and they are not killers.
Master_Yoda Apr 07, 2005	?
darthforman Apr 20, 2005	(looking at Yoda) I don't have a clue.
kodhrawara May 17, 2005	Darn it. Ain't no commentators realised that from the South Pole, the only direction a critter can head in a straight line would be due NORTH!
triskit Jun 09, 2005	PURPLE!
aznboi1324 Jun 28, 2005	so this is the first teaser ever? on this site
boodler Nov 24, 2005	It's only a game, just like the Raiders and the Chiefs! (i.e not meant to be taken seriously)
medster99 Nov 27, 2005	contrary to pop. belief, this is not the oldest teaser. the oldest teaser is #9327 (as of sunday, nov. 27), called J, 'F, M, A, M, J ....'
medster99 Nov 27, 2005	sorry, its 'J, F, M, A, M, J ....' not J, 'F, M, A, M, J ....'
stephiesd Dec 15, 2005	if this is the oldest teaser, why is it #103 instead of just #1?? anyhow, this was from MindTrap.
Unstumpable Jan 03, 2006	grrrrrrrrrrrrr, i wanted to put something like this, but was rejected because it too close
lukeschett Mar 21, 2006	This puzzle pwnzrs. Don't make fun of it. lolerskater
npf2005 Apr 25, 2006	this is the 1st teaser on the site
npf2005 Apr 25, 2006	i mean, this IS the 1st teaser on the site
willyc37 Apr 25, 2006	fun. don't let the naysayers and the know-it-alls get you down.
spazzyjazzy93 May 13, 2006	thats so cool! great teaser! i had to read the hint before i got it
blagh May 16, 2006	What if the front of his house was 51 miles long? Front door on the east end and front door on the west end, and then he's back at his front door after shooting the bear. Of course to find a house that massive we'd have to be looking at a large expanse of land, which would suggest somewhere like Australia. And there are no bears in Australia, however the koala is often misnamed as a bear. And koala's are grey. So the answer is grey. But of course the important thing to keep in mind is that no matter what colour the bear, both polar bears and koalas are protected species, which means that this hunter is hunting illegally. Of course the way it could have been "legal" is if the bear wasn't a native to the area, and as such was considered a dangerous animal. Which means it could have been any colour. I could go on here, but in short let me just say that it's only a brain teaser. If you get it right, then yay for you, otherwise it's not the fault of the teaser.
fem81uk May 19, 2006	i liked this one
kazuo Jun 10, 2006	ber was ranebuw
tintiniscool Jul 14, 2006	Maybe this hunter had a fifty mile porch?? Then the bear would be Green!!! Why? Do not ask...
SPUTNIK2 Aug 28, 2006	for some dumb reason I was thinking of a brown bear...
siobhan Oct 29, 2006	bears white....thats a great one i like it much.
eamon Nov 01, 2006	How does one determine the westerly direction of travel when near the pole? I understand that when leaving the north pole, convention dictates that all directions are equally south. After the first leg, in order to "turn and go west" one should make a 90 degree turn to the right by pointing ones right arm back to the pole along ones own tracks. This has always been my problem with this classic teaser -- it seems to introduce a 90 degree angle into an equilateral-triangle path which should have only 60 degree turns. After all, if the path is the same 50 miles on all three sides??? Help. What am I missing here? Aside from a sense of humour.
rea14sambo48 Nov 04, 2006	This is the first one on the site i've got even though i looked at the hint!!!!!!!!! :LOL: ;)
rea14sambo48 Nov 04, 2006	Nov 04, 2006 This is the first one on the site i've got even though i looked at the hint!!!!!!!!!
LeafFan4life Mar 06, 2007	first one on the site ya rite
coleisis Mar 16, 2007	hybgpruyyobbbbzsy;ilub
didida Mar 17, 2007	I don't know about you but I said red. If it was shot then it's usually red isn't it? Also I don't believe there would be a hunter that hunts polar bears.
didida Mar 17, 2007	At least not one that lives that far north.
cooltigerr1 Mar 31, 2007	I WAS RIGHT!! yess i like never get these things right! good one =)
AEagle Jun 28, 2007	i love it...i got it right!!
King_of_Smart Aug 03, 2007	Awesome teaser Jake!
Harmony_Girl Aug 05, 2007	Wonderful Teaser! Keep up the good work!
littlestud Sep 18, 2007	i cant beleive this is the first teaser on braingle!! GO JAKE!!!! im your biggest fan!!!!! GO BRAINGLE!!!!!!!!
AndrewWalker Nov 22, 2007	Acually polar bears have clear fur and black skin.
nidhogg Dec 19, 2007	People never seem to be consistent when they post... BTW the skin is black but the fur IS white, and reflects light.
lynnica Dec 21, 2007	You people are crazy! Of course, I'd say the same thing about myself.
Holo Jan 19, 2008	I knew it was a white bear.
lizzard May 16, 2008	#1 answer to scavenger hunt heheh
tangled_brain Jul 10, 2008	actually nidhog, the skin is black and the fur is clear. it just creates the illusion of white by refracting light. Real-life example: look at a roll of saran wrap.
aubaub15 Sep 26, 2008	I have no clue if this is suppose to make sense????
HarryPutter Dec 15, 2008	The bear would be red....since it was now covered in blood after being shot.
saelle138 Dec 31, 2008	Yay I got it right! The hint helped.
saelle138 Dec 31, 2008	Oh and Jake, there aren't any bears in the south pole.
melzerh Jan 10, 2009	Easy, its a polar bear/ white bear. I heard it before so I know it.
javaguru Feb 05, 2009	First, this is an OLD teaser, not original to the site. Second, to answer Earmon's question, what you are missing is that the internal angles of a triangle projected onto a sphere always exceed 180 degrees. There are a separate set of trigonometric identities for spherical triangles.
ethan897 Feb 21, 2009	i put this anwser in the braingle scavenger hunt and it said no
blueyoshi99 Jun 08, 2009	Easy and fun but I had heard this one befire.
Jimmymo Sep 17, 2009	EZ PZ. But fun anyway!!!
quizwizAhn Oct 27, 2009	Actually, I've seen a very similar question before(It was actually in a science test!!!! ) And the answer was white, because the place which this thing can happen AND have bears is the North Pole. Oh, and the other version is that a man was frightend and ran away.(at least that's not cruel or ilegal.)
quizwizAhn Oct 27, 2009	And I agree with tangled brain. Polar bear fur IS clear. Oh, but as a teaser, this one's fun!
witchhat Nov 18, 2010	This was really fun! I am glad that i tried!
ScienceStudent Nov 25, 2010	For my talk-box game: Great job! Next Clue: Send me this message unscrambled in private message: dlemabsrcnu
bikkiecake Apr 24, 2011	With this puzzle, for the average user, it would be a bit difficult to actually pinpoint where you are. I think next time you can give the reader an idea or a hint of where you are. Please do not take this personally but that is just my opinion.............
msufan84 Sep 19, 2011	That was easyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
dawnrising Oct 28, 2011	Awesome teaser by an awesome owner
kamyl_pretty05 Nov 12, 2011	Nice one