Brain Teasers
Can I Get A Lift?
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
A man approaches a woman who is about to fly a jet out of Washington D.C. He asks if she could give him a lift somewhere. She says she'd be happy to. He asks if she'd like to know where he's going first, to make sure he won't make her go too far out of her way. She says no, no matter where he's going it won't change her flight time significantly.
Why not?
Ignore the extra time it takes to drop the man off and then take off again.
Why not?
Ignore the extra time it takes to drop the man off and then take off again.
Hint
Think of the Earth as a sphere...Answer
She is making a nonstop flight to the exact opposite side of the world. It doesn't matter which way she flies out, since it's (about) the same distance around a sphere (the earth) in any direction.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
That was really good one!
so what is she going from the spot where the guy is staying
Don't pilots have to file flight plans?
What if he was going to Antarctica? Then she would have to go out of her way.
As a matter of triva here, due to the spinning of the Earth, it is shaped geodular (literaly meaning shaped like earth. It's a sphere that buldges near the equator) rather than sphereical, but I still think this is a good teaser.
kinda obvious
Good idea, but not quite correct. Perth, Australia, is close enough to being antipodal to Washington for the purposes of the teaser.
Pilots do file flight plans, but can change them en route, especially for small-time operations (such as 2-person flights).
However, there are routes which a reasonable pilot will not take. For instance, if the man were going to Buenos Aires, the route from Washington would be along well-travelled and watched air lanes. The route from BA to Perth would be almost directly over the South Pole, with little tracking or services in case of trouble. A private pilot in a small craft would not readily plan such a route.
It's still a cute idea, though. Maybe she was willing to go a couple of hours out of her way to have dinner with him in Argentina?
Pilots do file flight plans, but can change them en route, especially for small-time operations (such as 2-person flights).
However, there are routes which a reasonable pilot will not take. For instance, if the man were going to Buenos Aires, the route from Washington would be along well-travelled and watched air lanes. The route from BA to Perth would be almost directly over the South Pole, with little tracking or services in case of trouble. A private pilot in a small craft would not readily plan such a route.
It's still a cute idea, though. Maybe she was willing to go a couple of hours out of her way to have dinner with him in Argentina?
good teaser just one thing the earth is a sphere.
I know I'm 2+ years behind everybody else here, but I just read this one and have an alternative answer. She was the ELEVATOR OPERATOR at the airport - or a passenger in the elevator - and they were on the base floor. So any "lift" would probably help, and not hurt his time! It's just an elevator.
I was kinda close - said she was going to fly around the world...
The idea of the great-circle route is ingenious.
He must be persuasive if he can just hitch-hike a jet flight with a custom stop anywhere, though.
I wondered if it wouldn't change her flight time because she wasn't going to make a special stop for him! That would be the Trick category answer.
He must be persuasive if he can just hitch-hike a jet flight with a custom stop anywhere, though.
I wondered if it wouldn't change her flight time because she wasn't going to make a special stop for him! That would be the Trick category answer.
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