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#1 2009-10-29 23:28:56

samalia
Member
Registered: 2009-10-29
Posts: 7

Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

i realli need some help with this puzzle called RELATIVE PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!

it is driving my mum and I crazy swear

if anybody can help us understand it, even just a lil bit wink then that would be great big_smile

i am new on here, so don't realli know how this works hmm but we'll see

smile xxx smile

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#2 2009-10-29 23:37:29

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#3 2009-10-29 23:56:43

samalia
Member
Registered: 2009-10-29
Posts: 7

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

that doesn't help me to understand the puzzle hmm

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#4 2009-10-30 00:21:12

samalia
Member
Registered: 2009-10-29
Posts: 7

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee help smile

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#5 2009-10-30 03:25:21

goteamusa
Member
Registered: 2009-10-28
Posts: 7

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

Hmmm... seems to me that the picture is of himself. Not positive, but that is the best that I can come up with.  The solution says it is his son. I am not sure about that. However, if the picture was of the man himself, I think that fufills the requirements of the riddle?

Last edited by goteamusa (2009-10-30 03:29:34)


Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate, still achieving still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait.
~Longfellow from "A Psalm of Life"

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#6 2009-10-30 05:20:55

samalia
Member
Registered: 2009-10-29
Posts: 7

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

see i thought that as well but the man says he is looking at his brothers and sisters, so how can that be ????
thanks anyway smile mum and i just didn't understand it hmm

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#7 2009-10-30 06:01:20

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

Hi;

Look at the solution that MathslsFun provided he is looking at a picture of his son.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

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#8 2009-10-30 06:50:29

mathsyperson
Moderator
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 4,900

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

It's probably easier if you read it backwards. Think about who "my father's son" is, and the rest is easy.


Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

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#9 2009-11-01 01:17:51

samalia
Member
Registered: 2009-10-29
Posts: 7

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

i did look at the solution, thats what didn't make sense!!!!!!!!!! mathsyperson thanks smile that does make sense i kinda understand smile

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#10 2011-08-18 13:23:52

LycanMaster
Member
Registered: 2011-08-18
Posts: 2

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

The answer given is incorrect.
Think about it this way:

He is an only child (Brothers and sisters, I have none)
He says that it is his fathers son

With these, it states that the man in the picture is himself.

[Inflammatory comment removed by moderator.]

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#11 2011-08-18 15:14:20

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

Hi LycanMaster;

Welcome to the forum. I have heard those comments too. They provoke me to action, that is why they are said. Retaliation is as pointless as the first insult.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

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#12 2011-08-18 17:32:28

anandbrar
Member
Registered: 2011-07-20
Posts: 70

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

Hi samalia, goteamusa, LycanMaster;

Read the statement of the question slowly and carefully..break it down into simple logical parts.

The man says, "Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father, is my father's son."

1. Brothers and sisters, I have none --- means that he is the only child of his parents.
2. but that man's father --- 'that' refers to the person in the portrait.
3. (but that man's father,) is my father's son --- now my father's son means he himself, since he is an only child right?. So he is 'that man's father'...and so 'that man' is his son!

Reply if you still have any doubt..and well said bobbym.


"widen your gaze... extend beyond the obvious..."

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#13 2011-08-19 10:52:45

LycanMaster
Member
Registered: 2011-08-18
Posts: 2

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

anandbrar wrote:

Hi samalia, goteamusa, LycanMaster;

Read the statement of the question slowly and carefully..break it down into simple logical parts.

The man says, "Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father, is my father's son."

1. Brothers and sisters, I have none --- means that he is the only child of his parents.
2. but that man's father --- 'that' refers to the person in the portrait.
3. (but that man's father,) is my father's son --- now my father's son means he himself, since he is an only child right?. So he is 'that man's father'...and so 'that man' is his son!

Reply if you still have any doubt..and well said bobbym.

Think about this. You would say that [Depending if you are male or female] I am my father's son/daughter. So my father's son would mean he is speaking of himself being the son of his father. See what I was saying?

Last edited by LycanMaster (2011-08-19 11:05:39)

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#14 2011-09-01 04:48:31

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

A man on a park bench is looking at a small portrait. You ask him, "Who is that in the picture?"

The man says, "Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father, is my father's son."

No brother or sisters.
Although the man in the picture's father is my father's son. His father's son is only himself, so the picture man is his child.

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#15 2011-09-01 06:37:38

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

"Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father, is my father's son."

let us consider the part "but that man's father, is my father's son.":

let us reverse the order:

my father's son is that man's father

now my father's son is me so the above statement is the sam as:

'me' is that man's father

or grammatically correct:

i am that man's father

which means that 'that man' is my son.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

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#16 2011-09-01 10:11:32

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

anoni, reversing the phrase makes perfect sense. but how would you know that you have to reverse it?

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#17 2011-09-01 11:54:25

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

hi Shiva

please don't call me anoni.it sounds kinda stupid.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

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#18 2011-09-04 00:19:16

GWMorris
Member
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 4

Re: Grrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help A.s.a.p

Why would anyone think that you have to "know" to reverse it? You don't! He says "That man's father is MY father's son. We already know he has no brothers or sisters (and how the O.P got that the picture WAS of brothers and sisters, I don't know!), so HIS father's son has to be himself. Get it? There's no need to actually reverse it, it still means the same thing. Like "Who is that man's father? I am, and I'm an only child!" Just a bizarre way of saying that. I've encountered dozens of these over the years, some pretty far-fetched sounding and near impossible to figure out due to the confusion, but this one IS pretty straightforward.

Thinking of it in "reverse" just makes it easier to figure out/understand, you don't actually HAVE to, and besides anyone who knows math well can think that out logically anyway, especially if they ever did any computer programming!

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