Brain Teasers
Tennis balls
There are three boxes of tennis balls in a warehouse. They have all been mislabeled. One box is labeled yellow tennis balls, one is labeled white and yellow tennis balls and one is labeled white tennis balls. Take one can of tennis balls out of one box without looking into the box or into any other box. By just looking at the color of this one can of balls, can you correctly label each of the boxes?
Hint
Every box is mislabeled.Answer
Take a can of tennis balls from the box labeled `White and Yellow Tennis Balls`. Say that the ball is yellow. Take the `Yellow Tennis Balls` label and put it on that box. Remove the `White and Yellow Tennis Balls` label and put it on the box marked `White Tennis Balls`. It couldn't go on the box that had previously had the `Yellow Tennis Balls` label, because that would mean that the `White Tennis Balls` label couldn't be changed, and we have been told that all the boxes are mislabeled. Move the `White Tennis Balls` label to the unlabeled box. (The same logic would prevail if you started with any of the boxes.)Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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