Brain Teasers
Train Problem
Fun: (2.39)
Difficulty: (1.77)
Puzzle ID: #29277
Submitted By: stormtrooper Corrected By: Winner4600
Submitted By: stormtrooper Corrected By: Winner4600
Mystery
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.Mystery
Elliot the detective heard the news of a double murder that occurred on a train.
"The driver and the conductor were on the opposite ends of the train, but both were shot at the same time", reported a policeman who was at the center of the train at the time. The policeman had heard both gunshots at the same time. The train was travelling 150 kilometers per hour. Elliot immediately realized that the driver and the conductor were not killed at the same time. How is it so?
"The driver and the conductor were on the opposite ends of the train, but both were shot at the same time", reported a policeman who was at the center of the train at the time. The policeman had heard both gunshots at the same time. The train was travelling 150 kilometers per hour. Elliot immediately realized that the driver and the conductor were not killed at the same time. How is it so?
Answer
Since the train was going at 150 km/h, the sound of the gunshot in the front of the train would reach the policeman's ears faster than the gunshot from the back of the train. So the conductor was shot first.Hide Answer Show Answer
What Next?
View a Similar Brain Teaser...
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
Solve a Puzzle
Comments
Stormtrooper enjoyed your Elliot the dumb detective teaser.
that was pretty easy, nice one though
The problem should read that the "driver and conductor were at oppiside ENDS of the train." Oppisite sides means left and right. Much different.
Why couldn't the policeman be the shooter? He would still hear the shots at the same time, yet wouldn't the speed of the bullets travelling in separate directions yield different death times? And yes, I agree, sides and ends are very different.
okay
The problem (and the answer) are plain wrong. The train and the air inside it were travelling at the same speed, so sound would travel at the same rate from front or back. Imagine the same problem in a spaceship - it wouldn't matter what the external speed was. This problem would only work on open carriages where the air speed would make a difference.
I got it right so i guess if the question was inaccurate as everyone says i must be inaccurate too!!
i have heard this 1 b4 so no surprise here
.....coulda been worse i suppose....
whoa thats cool!
nah, i didnt like that 1, srry
it was a good one i actually got it
That was too easy. And yes, sides and ends are different. I didn't like that one too much, but nice try.
No offence to the person who wrote this but its true that there were faults in this teaser ope for a better one but good anyways!
hey it was a good riddle but it sounded like theres some geniuses here who didn't like your info
The are some point that need clarification, but it is a nice teaser.
The problem I see is that. although it has two murders in it, it is more likely to be a trivia or science teaser, instead of a mystery teaser.
Good one!
Will
The problem I see is that. although it has two murders in it, it is more likely to be a trivia or science teaser, instead of a mystery teaser.
Good one!
Will
Like JohnMorr said, the answer is actually wrong.
How long is the train and what is meant by "the same time". Since the speed of sound is 344 m/s and say the train was 60 m long then according to the principle here it would take sound 1/10 sec to reach the centre if stationary. during this time the train has moved forward about 4 metres increasing the time by .01 sec. Can the human ear detect this time difference? I do not think the situation described here is a suitable one for illustrating this principle.
what a detective. he must never have made it through highschool... that's stuff you learn in middleschool lol, still, it's a good teaser all things considered
The 'Train problem' lives to its name... there's problems..
The last comment gives rise to a simple solution. I think too much effort goes into trying to Corrrect the Teaser creator, instead of us just enjoying the Teaser. But, you guys are correct its hard to Enjoy Errors, especially balant ones. Now, being a failure where most mathematical problems exist, I would never attempt to correct this Teaser, or any other like this teaser. I think the creator of this Teaser put him or herself on the line, just be attempting this Teaser... So, I say hurray for the Teaser creator (s). All Teaser creators must know this is a Hungry crowd, so be prepared... Fairly good teaser, in terms of entertainment.
I thinking something along those lines but i thought it was gonna be really complicated
JohnMoor is correct, as the train and everything in the train is a single system. However, the possibility for the shots being fired at different times still arises, as the sound might have bounced around a bit from one gunshot but gone straight to the policeman from the other.
My answer was that due to special relativity, it is impossible to know that more than one event happens at the exact same time because the time events happen are relative to the observer, what with light requiring a positive amount of time to travel, time dilation occurring with physical bodies moving relative to each other, and non-Newtonian reference frames.
Sound travels differently! Because of the moving vehicle the gunshot in the back would travel faster! Did I get it!? Ima check the answer
Agghh I checked the answer and I totally meant front first XP either way I got the gist of it
He knows they were not killed at the same time because theoretically it is impossible for two things to happen at the same time. They might've occurred 1 second apart. Or 1 millisecond apart. Or one microsecond apart. No matter how close in time they seem to be, time can be broken down into shorter and shorter time periods until there is a gap in time between them.
To post a comment, please create an account and sign in.
Follow Braingle!