Braingle: 'The Wave' Brain Teaser

The Wave

Trick brain teasers appear difficult at first, but they have a trick that makes them really easy.

Puzzle ID:	#226
Fun:	(2.07)
Difficulty:	(2.32)
Category:	Trick
Submitted By:	trojan5x
Corrected By:	bluvsscoobydoo

A man stands by the ocean and reads a book. He sees a wave begin to form, but no matter how bad the wind gets or how fast a boat goes by, the wave never changes. How?

Answer

The man is looking at a sine wave in his math book.
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Comments

PeaceJo Apr 01, 2002	Perhaps this belongs in the situation or trick section, not math despite the math reference. It doesn't really work though, because the teaser says he sees the wave begin to form - I would have to assume any sine waves in his book would have already have been formed.
bluetwo May 07, 2004	alternate answer, using "wave begin to form": maybe he has a graphics calculator on which is viewing a sine wave.
Sane Mar 20, 2005	Wow...I actually got it...yay for wild guessing!
darthforman May 26, 2005	WRONG SECTION, completely. its a trick, man!
converse_chik Oct 21, 2005	i liked it. i thot it was good.
hidentreasure Dec 11, 2005	Its in the right section. Good teaser.
Brainy_1 Dec 21, 2005	I also got this! Don't know how, but I did! Good teaser!
pinkyjr Dec 21, 2005	i thought someone was waving to him and he was ignoring them
musicmaker21113 Jan 19, 2006	I agree that "wave beginning to form" is not accurate and is misleading. Any graphs in the book are already fully formed. A better wording would be "and sees a wave that doesn't change, no matter how hard the wind blows or what ships go by..." Fun one, though, with that one change!
mik512 Feb 20, 2006	cool math i love it
Methlos Mar 12, 2006	i like maths but whats a sin wave?
soccerstar_1515 Mar 13, 2006	that was a little boring but i kinda liked it
hartest Apr 14, 2006	why can't he be looking at a picture of a real wave in a book,
Unraveled Jun 25, 2006	I thought the same as hartest - he was looking at a picture of waves. The "wave beginning to form" part is misleading, since, if a wave is forming, it's moving, right?
Skullcrusher Jul 02, 2006	easy, i thought there was a wave in a book and he was reading an ocean book but, why read an ocean book near an ocean? then i thought of a sine wave and i got it
banzai Jul 03, 2006	liked it.
hsbanana90 Aug 20, 2006	i thought more along the lines of the imagery in a book.... i see what i read in my head so yeah. but good teaser.
rrn0rrnrrnY Sep 09, 2006	I actually laughed because my answer was so different. I thought maybe he saw a person waving. Good trick!
teasermaster Dec 19, 2006	I also have a problem with, "He was reading by the ocean." I guess you could argue that he was reading by the ocean a math book, but then that is misleading and irrelevant to the teaser, isn't it?
Hrsemn4 Jun 11, 2007	A picture of a Sine wave in a book would already be formed...not "beginning" try harder...
al111 Oct 27, 2007	IT IS IN THE TRICK SECTION btw rubbish absoloutely RUBBISH
chris_tracy76 Jul 14, 2008	I thought it was someone waving at him...
Calehay Nov 04, 2008	How does the wave "begin to form?" It's already there, unless his math book is a flip book.
Waka Jan 08, 2011	I kind of guess it. The answer I gave is that the man was seeing some kind of wave in the book.