Lateral Thinking Questions

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ANSWER: L.T.Q. #56

Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 23:00:35 -0500 (EST)

I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.
What's the name of his other leg? (from Mary Poppins)

Here is this week's question:

Norm bought a door to fit in a door frame. The door was too large, so using his Power Door Trimmer, he cut off a piece. He found it was too small. So he cut off another piece. (Being a Master Craftsman, he cut pieces only off the length of the door. The width and thickness remained the same, and he did not cut the frame.) This time the door fitted perfectly. How come?

ANSWER:

This one is really a "snip"! The "it was too small" refers to the piece Norm had cut off, not the door itself. The piece he cut off was too small, so he cut another piece off to make the door fit.

As Marcelo pointed out, "it's a verbose trick."

Liz agreed, saying "shouldn't it go he cut it too little? When he cut it the first time, he did not cut enough, and then when he cut it again, like baby bear's porridge, it was just right."

As for what these guys can do with their ManToys™, Andrew commented that had Norm "been a real Red Green-type handyman, he would have cut the door four times, and the door would still be too short!"

And taking the visual approach to problem solving, Lee said "if I had a CAD pgm I could etch-a-sketch for you."

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