Foo - Critical thinking quiz #7

b/c "small" blue wind's is supposed to be #6 but DXchulo beat her to it.

this is a simple one - there are 3 bulbs in a room, each connected to one of 3 switches in the basement. There is no way to see which bulbs are on from the basement. Visiting the basement once and once only, how do you tell which switch goes to which bulb?

Well if it was me i would stand in the basement and get a friend to stand in the room. I just yell out which switch i am flicking and he can see which light comes on :P

Read the breaker switch.
And...how did you get "small" right??????? Hey, man, you're freakin' me out! :eek: (Not too many people know that!) ;)

I'll play nice and assume here that this room isn't in the basement...

1.) Put remote controlled solenoids on the switches. (guess what I was playing with at work today :D )

2.) Line up a series of mirrors enabling you see from the basement to the room.

3.) Achieve the same thing as the mirrors with a video camera.

4.) Run wires from the sockets down to the basement, keeping track of which is which, and take a multimeter with you to test each circuit as you hit the switches.

5.) Look for wiring schematics for the building.

6.) Trace the wires all the way from switches to the bulbs, smashing sheetrock or anything else that gets in the way.

7.) Buy a telephone toner and probe and hook it up to one of the circuits.

8.) Wire one socket to a cat, another to a dog, and the third to Donald Trump. Figure it out based on what sound you hear when you flick each switch.


Actually, this one is a little more realistic: Unscrew one bulb. At the switches, use an ammeter to determine which one is the unscrewed bulb (no current). Leave one of the other switches on and go check which of the remaining two is on. I highly recommend you flip off the circuit breaker before trying this.

Alternately, wire one to a 9V battery and turn one of the others on. Figure out which one is hooked up to the battery with a voltmeter and distinguish the other two by which one is on.

I hope I didn't take all of the fun out of it, but I have a feeling none of my suggestions is the answer you're looking for.

When you go into the basement, replace the traditional switches with dimmer switches. Turn one on at 33%, another at 66% and the last at 100%. Back in the room, match up the intensity of the bulbs.

my answer.... this one is fun.

Open up one bulb without damaging the filameent assy, and put a model rocket starter/engine on in place of hte filament...screw this back into the first socket.

take one bulb out of the socket

now, go downstairs and flip each switch one by one until you hear a noise. That is the rocket bulb.

Now flip one other switch and go upstiars. If no bulbs are lit it's the empty one, and if the still intact bulb is lit, it's that one.


EDIT: OAR OR ORE OWAR!!!!!

Get a 6v lantern battery, and a 12v car battery, and wire them up to outlets 1 and 3, then go downstairs with a multimeter and measure outlets. No voltage is #2, 6v would match whatever it was on, and 12v is the last one.

I've heard this one before so im not gunna answer it.

Assuming you have no tools and no Home Depot nearby... while in the basement, flip on switch A for 5 minutes and then flip off, leave switch B off, flip on switch C.

The warm bulb goes with switch A. The cold bulb, switch B. The lit bulb, switch C.

ding ding ding!!! sunninho wins this one. but i like the way you think catatonic :roflmao: i would've liked if you refilled the bulb with explosive gas :)

siu blue: don't freak, my canto is bad, but good enough to understand my mum and my gf :p

Then, call the electrician who wired the house and ask them why the put the switches in the basement :p

I've heard this one before so im not gunna answer it.
Same here....it was in the same book as the russian roulette one that I bungled. ;)

Cheaters.


so - what's the name of this book - hint hint wink wink.

Cheaters.


so - what's the name of this book - hint hint wink wink.
The book I have it in is called "How To Move Mount Fuji"....its basically a book of puzzle questions that are supposedly asked by Microsoft during interviews. Although...they flew me up for an interview last year and didn't ask me one single puzzle question (though I've had a few in MS phone interviews).

The book I have it in is called "How To Move Mount Fuji"....its basically a book of puzzle questions that are supposedly asked by Microsoft during interviews. Although...they flew me up for an interview last year and didn't ask me one single puzzle question (though I've had a few in MS phone interviews).
Haha. Makes note not to bother applying for a job at Microsoft.

Haha. Makes note not to bother applying for a job at Microsoft.
Good thinking. I wasn't too impressed with them.

I'd heard they were a great company to work for, in terms of how they treat their employees, but I saw and heard things that didn't impress me while there. In fact....their consant stream of security patches and "service packs" now make much more sense.

I guess I can go work for Microsoft, but I think I'd rather work for KingTermite :D

ding ding ding!!! sunninho wins this one. but i like the way you think catatonic :roflmao: i would've liked if you refilled the bulb with explosive gas :)

siu blue: don't freak, my canto is bad, but good enough to understand my mum and my gf :p


Ohhhh.....OK! I didn't know you were from the "East Side".... :D I'm not sure too many of us on BF are from the East Side.