Can You Think Laterally? || Time for Puzzle -- Answer

Few Words on Lateral Thinking

On Friday, one of the most famous puzzles of lateral thinking was shared on our Email Portal i.e. Man in the Elevator. (You can read the puzzle on below email). We would like to thank all those who read it, thought about it and /or tried to answer. 

Answer is being given at the end of this Email, once some light is thrown on the lateral thinking puzzles. (Source: Paul Sloane's list of Classic Lateral Thinking Puzzles)

Lateral thinking puzzles teach to check assumptions about any situation.

Logic puzzles/ questions asked during interview for admission in universities or for any job. In interviews seem to be one of those things that everyone either loves or hates.

We would like to show what an interviewer can find out about a candidate from a logic puzzle via an example, walking through an interviewer asking the question and showing how various candidates respond:

 

Interviewer: Imagine you have eight coins, seven of which weigh the same and one that doesn't (it's heavier). You need to use a pair of scales to find out what's the odd one out.

This is apparently one of the most asked logic puzzles. It's used in interviews by many reputable organization(s) and/or probably hundreds of other firms/ universities/ colleges.

Now for some example responses:

 

Candidate Ali: What's a pair of scales?

Candidate Aslam: How much heavier is the other coin?

Candidate Junaid: Well you could weigh them one-by-one until you find the pair which is uneven, and then….

Now a bad response:

 

Candidate Akbar: I don't know.

If the only purpose of asking logic questions was to catch people who gave this answer, then they'd still be worth asking. This is a candidate you never want in your team.

There are three hypotheses about this candidate,

1. They really can't solve the problem at all

         - This indicates the candidate struggles with problems which intelligent 5 year can solve, not a good sign.

2. They can't be bothered to try

        - Not a good sign of motivation

3. They don't want to answer it
      - If they can't explain why they don't want to answer the question then their communication skills are probably too weak. In most jobs refusing to do something without giving any reason is likely to be un-conductive to a good working environment.

All three are grounds for rejecting a candidate, so interviewers don't have to think too hard about which the candidate falls into. People who are solid on the practical side but can excel on the theoretical side as well are rare indeed and it's well worth identifying them.

So hopefully that's shown you that there's a lot of information that an interviewer can get by asking a logic questions/ puzzles and you have to Never Give Up and keep TRYING.

To think laterally, a person need to be  open-minded, flexible and creative in  questioning. Further while thinking about the solutions for lateral thinking puzzles, a person has to be able to put lots of different clues and pieces of information together.

For a good lateral thinking puzzle, the proper answer will be the best in the sense of the most apt and satisfying.  Here is the answer to Friday's puzzle:

You can read the puzzle / question on below email.

Answer: The man is very short in height i.e. he is a dwarf!
He is unable to reach tenth floor as his hand can't reach the tenth floor button. While on rainy days, he has umbrella, through which he can press the tenth floor button.

There may be other possible answers too. Happy thinking!

There are more outstanding lateral thinking is attached in PDF file.   Solve it!   Enjoy!

Thank You!

Best Regards,

Time for Puzzle – Can You Think Laterally?

THE MAN IN ELEVATOR

A man lives on the tenth (10^th) floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work or to go shopping.

When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor.

Now the question / puzzle:
He hates walking so why does he do it?

A clue: on rainy days he goes up in the elevator to the tenth floor

This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true Lateral thinking puzzles classic.

Although there are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only the canonical answer is truly satisfying. Try to solve the puzzle and you can put your thoughts by making comments.

We will post the Answer on coming week! Till then, you can post your answers!


Thank You!

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