Divinanza

Two men enter a block of flats. They knock on every second door, wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again (the same doors both times - each door they knocked on, they knocked on twice). Then they get very annoyed! The men are working. All the doors lead to apartments/flats and are inside the apartment building/block of flats. The men are not looking for a particular apartment, but they expect someone to open a door. People do live behind the doors. The doors are standard size for people to walk through. The doors do not all face the same side of the building. Nobody is hiding from the men. The apartments are not more empty than usual. The doors the men knock on do not face the doors they do not knock on. At least one of the doors was opened. It is not correct that if the doors are A, B, C, D, ..., X, Y, Z, one man knocked on A, C, E...and the other also knocked on A, C, E...such that B,D,F...did not get knocked on. Some doors went unknocked. The doors of all of the flats which had people at home at the time opened when the men knocked on that particular door. The men had no weapons on them. There are a finite number of doors. It's probably daytime. The mens' job, which is the same for both of them, is relevant. They are not inspectors. They have something to deliver. They are trying to contact someone in EACH apartment they knock at. They are not looking for one specific person. They are not trying to deliver a physical object to each apartment. They are not trying to help the residents. The residents are not avoiding them. When one man knocks at a door, the other is with him. There is no emergency. The men aren't in any particular rush.

Is all this correct?
Did the men go around a closed loop of doors such that when they get back to the beginning they start knocking on all the doors they missed the first time because there are an odd number of doors?
Are the men trying to deliver a message?
Do the men have uniforms?
Are the mens' salaries paid for by taxes?

Two men enter a block of flats. They knock on every second door, wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again (the same doors both times - each door they knocked on, they knocked on twice). Then they get very annoyed! The men are working. All the doors lead to apartments/flats and are inside the apartment building/block of flats. The men are not looking for a particular apartment, but they expect someone to open a door. People do live behind the doors. The doors are standard size for people to walk through. The doors do not all face the same side of the building. Nobody is hiding from the men. The apartments are not more empty than usual. The doors the men knock on do not face the doors they do not knock on. At least one of the doors was opened. It is not correct that if the doors are A, B, C, D, ..., X, Y, Z, one man knocked on A, C, E...and the other also knocked on A, C, E...such that B,D,F...did not get knocked on. Some doors went unknocked. The doors of all of the flats which had people at home at the time opened when the men knocked on that particular door. The men had no weapons on them. There are a finite number of doors. It's probably daytime. The mens' job, which is the same for both of them, is relevant. They are not inspectors. They have something to deliver. They are trying to contact someone in EACH apartment they knock at. They are not looking for one specific person. They are not trying to deliver a physical object to each apartment. They are not trying to help the residents. The residents are not avoiding them. When one man knocks at a door, the other is with him. There is no emergency. The men aren't in any particular rush.

Is all this correct?

Yes, although "They knock on every second door, wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again " the word "every" needs clarifying
Also "The men are not looking for a particular apartment" - define "looking".
Also "apartments are not more empty than usual." define "usual"
Also note that "It is not correct that if the doors are A, B, C, D, ..., X, Y, Z, one man knocked on A, C, E...and the other also knocked on A, C, E...such that B,D,F...did not get knocked on." has multiple statements in it, any one of which could be incorrect to invalidate the whole.

Did the men go around a closed loop of doors such that when they get back to the beginning they start knocking on all the doors they missed the first time because there are an odd number of doors? NO
Are the men trying to deliver a message? NO
Do the men have uniforms? IRRELEVANT
Are the mens' salaries paid for by taxes? NO

Did the men swear the first time because they realised they'd knocked on the wrong doors?

Did the two men work together, knocking at the doors at the same time?

Or work they working separately?

Are they trying to deliver a message?

In response to:

Yes, although "They knock on every second door, wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again " the word "every" needs clarifying.

The original problem is worded as follows:

Two men enter a block of flats, they knock on every second door, then they swear and knock on every second door again. Then they get very annoyed! What is happening?

It's on page 11. I'm using your exact terminology. Are we supposed to figure out what you meant by "every"?

In response to:

Also "The men are not looking for a particular apartment" - define "looking".

On page 12, you responded to a question as follows:

Are they looking for one apartment in particular? NO

In response to:

Also "apartments are not more empty than usual." define "usual"

On page 12 you responded to a question:

Are most apartments empty? (more than usually) NO

Were your earlier statements and responses incorrect?

Yes, although "They knock on every second door, wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again " the word "every" needs clarifying.

The original problem is worded as follows:

Two men enter a block of flats, y) NO

Were your earlier statements and responses incorrect?[/b]

Do they need to enter the apartments they knock on?
Is their physical presence inside the apartment necessary?
Are they collecting something?
Are they delivering something?
If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site with something more than when they entered?
If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site with something less than when they entered?

If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site?

If they would encounter everyone, would they leave the site?

Do they need to enter the apartments they knock on? CLARIFY
Is their physical presence inside the apartment necessary? WHICH ONE?
Are they collecting something? NO
Are they delivering something? YES
If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site with something more than when they entered? NO
If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site with something less than when they entered? MAYBE
If they would encounter anyone, would they leave the site? MAYBE
If they would encounter everyone, would they leave the site? YES

Is it necessary for them to encounter at least one person in each apartment that they visit?

Is it a necessary part of their job to enter the apartments they visit (that is, a UPS man delivering an envelope need not, but a television repair man would need to )?

Two men enter a block of flats. They knock on every* second door (though the word 'every' needs clarifying - see the bottom), wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again (the same doors both times - each door they knocked on, they knocked on twice). Then they get very annoyed!

The men are working. The men are not looking for a particular apartment (though 'looking' should be clearly defined - this sentence could be taken the wrong way), but they expect someone to open a door. The men had no weapons on them. The mens' job, which is the same for both of them, is relevant. They are not inspectors. They are trying to contact someone in EACH apartment they knock at. They are not looking for one specific person. They are not trying to help the residents. When one man knocks at a door, the other is with him. The men aren't in any particular rush. Their salaries are not paid for by taxes. They are not collecting something. If the men encounter everyone, they would leave the site. The men would never encounter a person and then leave the site with something more than when they entered. If they encountered a person, they might leave the site with something less than when they entered. If they encountered a person, they might leave the site.

The men have something to deliver, and it is not a message, nor are they trying to deliver a physical object to each apartment.

All the doors lead to apartments/flats and are inside the apartment building/block of flats. People do live behind the doors. The doors are standard size for people to walk through. The doors do not all face the same side of the building. The doors the men knock on do not face the doors they do not knock on. At least one of the doors was opened. It is not correct that if the doors are A, B, C, D, ..., X, Y, Z, one man knocked on A, C, E...and the other also knocked on A, C, E...such that B,D,F...did not get knocked on (it should be noted that this sentence has multiple statements in it, any one of which could be incorrect and invalidate the whole). The flats are not more empty than usual** (though 'usual' should be clearly defined - see bottom). Some doors went unknocked. The doors of all of the flats which had people at home at the time opened when the men knocked on that particular door. There are a finite number of doors. It is not true that the men went around a closed loop of doors such that when they got back to the beginning they started knocking on all the doors they missed the first time because there were an odd number of doors.

Nobody is hiding from the men. The residents are not avoiding them.

It's probably daytime. There is no emergency.

The following are irrelevant: whether the man have uniforms;

*Some people might be misled by "every" - to clarify: If I have a bath every second tuesday, then I haven't had a bath on all tuesdays, it's just that I have a bath each time a second tuesday comes up. So it's not "every" in the sense of "all".

**It was clear in the original question that the questioner was assuming that "most apartments not empty" was what he meant by "usual". In this editted version the statement no longer implicitely defines usual.

Is this all correct?

Are the men trying to deliver a physical object?
Are the men trying to deliver whatever they are trying to deliver to a specific person?
Are the men trying to deliever whatever they are trying to deliver to a specific flat?
Are the men trying to hurt anyone?
Are they looking for a specific person?
Do the men talk to the person who opens the door when the door gets opened?

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Two men enter a block of flats. They knock on every* second door (though the word 'every' needs clarifying - see the bottom), wait for someone to answer at each one, and then they swear and knock on every second door again (the same doors both times - each door they knocked on, they knocked on twice). Then they get very annoyed!

The men are work ...[text shortened]... s editted version the statement no longer implicitely defines usual.

Is this all correct?[/b]

Are the men trying to deliver a physical object? YES
Are the men trying to deliver whatever they are trying to deliver to a specific person? YES
Are the men trying to deliever whatever they are trying to deliver to a specific flat? YES
Are the men trying to hurt anyone? NO
Are they looking for a specific person? NO
Do the men talk to the person who opens the door when the door gets opened? YES

Is the person to whom they are trying to make the delivery deaf?

Or have some physical disability?

Originally posted by PawnCurry
Is the person to whom they are trying to make the delivery deaf?

Or have some physical disability?