Mind bogglers are problems in which solutions are simple and straightforward, but for some reason or other run counter to human intuition.
Today I present to you with two classic mind bogglers. Let’s see what we can learn from them.
The first one is a classic and I’m sure many of you actually know it:
Three travelers go into a hotel and are charged $30 for a room. They each contribute $10. That evening the hotel manager realizes that the men were overcharged. They should have got a group discount and paid $25. So he sends a bellhop up to the room to return $5. The three travelers however cannot equally split the $5, so they give the bellhop $2 as a tip and keep $3 which they split among themselves - $1 each.
Now each traveler has paid $9, for a total of $27. The bellhop has2$. So $29 is accounted for.
Where has the 30th dollar gone?
Instead of telling you the answer, let’s look at the same story, but with different numbers.
Again, the three travelers paid $30. But now they get back say $26) this time it’s a real discount, isn’t it?). Since 26 is not divisible into three, they decide to split $24 among themselves – 8 each and let the bellhop have $2. Now each traveler has paid $2 (10-8), for a total of $6. The bellhop has $2. That makes $8 accounted for… far from the original30 $ they paid.
In other words, now $22 are missing!
Now you can see it. There is simply no reason why the total they paid (be it $27 in the first story or $6 as in the second story) including the bellhop’s tip will come to a total of $30.
In this case, the story (mis)leads our mind to make an unnecessary connection.
In the second story the opposite is true. Here, to solve the problem, our mind should make a connection, but most people don’t make it.
Try to answer the following questions before reading the answer.
Q. How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?
A. Simple: you open the refrigerator, put the giraffe in and close the door.
Q. How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?
A. Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe and put the elephant in. (Don’t forget to close the door).
Q. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
A. The poor elephant. It is freezing in the refrigerator and cannot attend the conference.
Q. There’s a river you must cross, but crocodiles inhabit it. How do you manage to cross the river?
A. You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the animal meeting…
This nice little story shows us the importance of context in problem solving. Indeed, most creative solutions arise when we look at the problem in the correct context, or in other words, make the right connection.
In the first mind boggler we had to break a connection, in the second we had to make one.
Creative thinking, as I see it, is about making and breaking connections. In fact, this is exactly what Systematic Inventive Thinking helps us to achieve.
The Closed World Principle helps us make otherwise unnoticed connections, the Qualitative Change principle helps us break connections.
Visit Roni at the start2think website
This reminds me of the joke “How much adds 2+2? - And the accountant’s answer is: whatever you want me to draw”. Sometimes how a problem is formulated, impacts the prospective solver’s perception and leads the person to a wrong conclusion.
Something could be purposedly not mentioned, as in the first problem.
It is always wise being able to look for connections, when looking at any complex system (in this case, the problem), or eventually break a connection while solving a problem (when designing an intervention). Luckily SIT helps us with both processes with two of its main principles.
ITs really mind boggling ideas and its enhancing to think for the simple solutions.