Making Up Your Own Mind: Thinking Effectively through Creative Puzzle-Solving by Edward B. Burger

Author:Edward B. Burger [Burger, Edward B.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

.1. Three Switches, Two Rooms, and One Bulb.

Often an optimal solution can be uncovered only by first finding any—even a ridiculous—solution and then refining your thinking. So don’t stare at a blank screen. Instead, produce something and then use it as a starting point from which to respond—refining your thinking refines your final product.

In this case, it is easy to see that at most three hall trips would suffice: Turn one switch on, walk down the hallway to see if the light is on, and if it is off, walk down the hallway a second time to return to the switches, turn that first switch off and the second switch on, and walk down the hallway a third time. No matter if the desk lamp is on or off, you know which switch controls it. Now you could create questions to provoke a further refined thought: Can I come to a definitive conclusion requiring fewer trips? Isn’t the only way to determine if a switch controls a light to look and see if the light is on when the switch is on? This last question can lead to new insights as well as a bizarre, alternative question: Could one determine the correct switch if one were blindfolded? Now you have moved from thinking about minimizing the number of trips down the winding hallway to a related but different challenge. Even if there were a way to determine the correct switch while blindfolded, it would require more than a few trips; so you are assured of failure. But, perhaps by intentionally failing, you will have an illuminating “Ah-ha!” moment. Use these mindsets not only to enlighten the way you look at these puzzles, but also to enlighten the pathways to the challenges to come.

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