Brain Teasers
Two Ropes
Two fifty foot ropes are suspended from a forty foot ceiling, about twenty feet apart. Armed with only a knife, how much of the rope can you steal?
Answer
Almost all of it. Tie the ropes together. Climb up one of them. Tie a loop in it as close as possible to the ceiling. Cut it below the loop. Run the rope through the loop and tie it to your waist. Climb the other rope (this may involve some swinging action). Pull the rope going through the loop tight and cut the other rope as close as possible to the ceiling. You will swing down on the rope through the loop. Lower yourself to the ground by letting out rope. Pull the rope through the loop. You will have nearly all the rope.Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
Oct 29, 2001
Pretty good, but it's dreadfully hard to tie a loop in a rope when your weight is on it. In practice, you'd have to do a little more work to set up a system where your weight is not on the rope that you're tying a loop in.
why would you go through all that trouble for some rope?
If you were really tall, you could cut the rope at the top while standing on the ground.
Am I just being silly?
Am I just being silly?
Failing to remember the acrobatic skills I acquired as an entertainer in Cirque du Soleil, I’d have to skip this little endeavor.
Yea, Yea, Yea, Sound and fury signifying nothing... and all that jazz. I liked the puzzle. It was great food for thought. And the more elaborate the solution, The more I like it. And for the record, you guys are making this sound impossible when all you would have to do is climb the first rope and when you get to the top, just hold on with your teeth. this leaves your hands free to tie the loop. And no weight bogging you down bellow one of the highest points on your body. Come on....think about it.
i think im stuck 15 feet off the ground. was i supposed to hold on to both ends of the rope that runs through the loop? with my arms stretched i still have about a seven foot drop. am i dong this right?
i think im too fat to be climbing ropes
i think im too fat to be climbing ropes
Give a man enough rope and he'll hang himself making a teaser of which the solution is for "you" only if you are a chimpanzee with a human IQ of 160. -----
Give a woman enough rope and she'll hang herself making a teaser of which the solution is for "you" only if you are an orangutan with a human IQ of 160.
Give a woman enough rope and she'll hang herself making a teaser of which the solution is for "you" only if you are an orangutan with a human IQ of 160.
This isn't math.
Maybe it's just me, but do you have to be alive at the end? I thought you should just shimmy up them both, cut 'em of at the top, and plummet 40 feet.
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