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· Hardware
#Cats and sheep?
9 messages in this thread
Reminds me of the physicist, the mathematician, and the logician who were
travelling through Scotland by train. Looking out the window, they saw a
black sheep. The physicist said "Oh! i didn't realize that all the sheep in
Scotland were black." The mathematician said "But my dear fellow, you have
only seen one sheep, so the only thing you can really deduce is that _some_
sheep in Scotland are black." The logician said "I'm afraid you are both
mistaken. From what we have observed, we can only say that at least one
sheep in Scotland is black… on at least one side."
How did they know for sure it was a sheep?
I'am getting a "UPS" and stopping this thread.
I'am getting a "UPS" and stopping this thread.
How did they know for sure it was a sheep?
Aha, now THAT brings to mind a recent TV show I chuckled over. It was a
college classroom in which the professor presented the old "what color is
the bear" problem:
"A man leaves his home, travels one mile south, one mile east, one mile
north. Having returned to his home, he sees a bear and shoots it. What
color was the bear?"
Now the logical proof he applied was that the only location on earth this
could happen was the North Pole, and therefore the bear was white. That's
chuckle number one: you can say that in ALL PROBABILITY the bear was
white… but it's not a given.
Anyway, at this point a student jumps in and claims there is insufficient
evidence to support the conclusion, and proceeds to prove that there is
ANOTHER location on Earth which fit the conditions: The man's home is at a
distance of 1.16 miles north of the SOUTH pole. He travels one mile south
(.16 miles from the pole), one mile east (making a circle about the pole
with a circumference of one mile), one mile north (returning to his home),
and shoots the bear; therefore, the color of the bear is indeterminant.
The student's logic was remarkable, but wrong. Kudos to whoever realized
that there are two locations on earth which suited the conditions, and had
the question been "Where did the man live", the answer would have been
indeterminant. BUT, since there ARE no bears on the south pole, and even
if there were they would in all probablility be white, the conditions have
not changed: the bear was white (give that the phrase "in all probability"
should be inserted).
At the time I was chuckling over this, I was wondering how many people
caught this… and decided it was probably only a statistically
insignificant portion of the people with warped minds like mine. 8)
Ahh… but the student was even more clever than that. H has proven that
there are an infinite number of places on the earth at which the
direction/distance walked would fit the criteria. Only one of them is in
the northern hemisphere. <chuckle>
Ahh… but the student was even more clever than that. H has proven that
there are an infinite number of places on the earth at which the
direction/distance walked would fit the criteria. Only one of them is in
the northern hemisphere. <chuckle>
Aha, now THAT brings to mind a recent TV show I chuckled over. It was a
college classroom in which the professor presented the old "what color is
the bear" problem:
"A man leaves his home, travels one mile south, one mile east, one mile
north. Having returned to his home, he sees a bear and shoots it. What
color was the bear?"
Now the logical proof he applied was that the only location on earth this
could happen was the North Pole, and therefore the bear was white. That's
chuckle number one: you can say that in ALL PROBABILITY the bear was
white… but it's not a given.
Anyway, at this point a student jumps in and claims there is insufficient
evidence to support the conclusion, and proceeds to prove that there is
ANOTHER location on Earth which fit the conditions: The man's home is at a
distance of 1.16 miles north of the SOUTH pole. He travels one mile south
(.16 miles from the pole), one mile east (making a circle about the pole
with a circumference of one mile), one mile north (returning to his home),
and shoots the bear; therefore, the color of the bear is indeterminant.
The student's logic was remarkable, but wrong. Kudos to whoever realized
that there are two locations on earth which suited the conditions, and had
the question been "Where did the man live", the answer would have been
indeterminant. BUT, since there ARE no bears on the south pole, and even
if there were they would in all probablility be white, the conditions have
not changed: the bear was white (give that the phrase "in all probability"
should be inserted).
At the time I was chuckling over this, I was wondering how many people
caught this… and decided it was probably only a statistically
insignificant portion of the people with warped minds like mine. 8)