Make all the statements true

Question

Can you make all the below statements true with a single click? If yes, explain how.

Three + Eleven = Ten
Seven + Five = Six
Two + Four = Eight

NB: 'A Single Click' means, with only a single left mouse button click. Not with a series of steps which includes only one mouse click action in it. Hope it's clear now.

I clicked on the upvote button. Does that count? Are they all true now? — Marius, Oct 14 '16 at 11:01
As many users tend to answer your question by using keyboard instead of clicking to comply with "click only once", consider stating that it is not the way in you question (only click, not "do something, click once, do something"). — oleslaw, Oct 14 '16 at 12:00
I'm so tempted to change the formatting of those bullet points, using * instead of - maybe ;-) — Rand al'Thor, Oct 16 '16 at 02:15

oleslaw · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-31T08:01:26.087

115

I can do this by simply

clicking the "Edit" (or "improve this question" for those who are not logged in) link at the bottom. The equations are written as:
- Three + Eleven = Ten (linebreak) - Seven + Five = Six (linebreak) - Two + Four = Eight
Which is numerically equivalent to:
$- 3 + 11 = 10 - 7 + 5 = 6 - 2 + 4 = 8$
It is 8 between all the "="s

which is true :)

edited Jan 31 '17 at 08:01

answered Oct 14 '16 at 12:13

oleslaw

6,926
1
29
51

Perfect. correct answer :) – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 12:16
Took me a second to understand what you meant :S – dcfyj Oct 14 '16 at 12:16
@dcfyj Hope it looks clearer now – oleslaw Oct 14 '16 at 12:18
@oleslaw you are welcome friend. :) – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 12:18
5

Let me redirect you to this... https://xkcd.com/169/ In no context is a linebreak not understood as a separator. For this to be correct you still need to remove the linebreaks. – Matt Taylor Oct 14 '16 at 15:49
8

@MattTaylor: Well, not really. C / C++ / Java / C# et al do not consider line breaks to be any different from spaces, and you can break a mathematical expression onto multiple lines like this one. I think very long formulae in print are wrapped as well. – KeyboardWielder Oct 14 '16 at 17:54
2

@oleslaw: Minor edit suggestion: For those reading P.SE without logging in, the "edit" button is shown as "improve this question". – KeyboardWielder Oct 14 '16 at 17:56
@KeyboardWielder if anyone in my team at work wrote equations like the above in their code, I would have a serious talk with them about coding style guidelines. Wrapping long formula is also very different from line breaks after only 2 or 3 terms and operands. – Matt Taylor Oct 17 '16 at 08:07
8

@MattTaylo Bad coding style: Yes. Incorrect: No. Good coding style implies that things are obvious. Where's the fun in a riddle that's obvious? – mastov Oct 17 '16 at 08:33
I think we'll have to agree to disagree, as I also like my riddles to be unambiguously correct, as well as non-obvious. Hence the linked comic originally. Riddles that make people go "aargh, I'm annoyed I didn't see that, that's really clever" are what are going to make this site continue to thrive IMO – Matt Taylor Oct 17 '16 at 09:41
3

@MattTaylor Try $- 3 + 11 = 10 EOL - 7 + 5 = 6 EOL - 2 + 4 = 8$ in TeX or LaTeX (I denote EOL the end of line). – yo' Oct 22 '16 at 13:11

score 36 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:37

36

I can do it by

Right-clicking under the question's title, so the menu covers all the statements that are not true. There are no statements below, so all of them are true.

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:37

oleslaw

6,926
1
29
51

1

Good thinking. But it doesn't make any of the statements true. It just hides the statements. – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 11:46
34

By doing that, there are no longer any statements to be seen, so "all" are true, because there are none. – Manuel Hoffmann Oct 14 '16 at 12:04
4

@AeJey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuous_truth – mastov Oct 17 '16 at 08:28
Yes, I agree. :) – AeJey Oct 21 '16 at 11:49

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 14 '16 at 12:02

16

Ohforf, "mathematics lateral-thinking"? The answer is obviously

"No." I leave proof of this fact as an excercise, since it's not required to answer the question (it says " If yes,").

answered Oct 14 '16 at 12:02

mr23ceec

913
4
9

1

The same answer was already given by Marius and he deleted it. You can make all those statements correct with just one click. – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 12:04

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:43

4

I don't have an image editing program available, but:

View the equations in photoshop with a draw line tool set to dashed line. With your click, Draw a dashed line from the top right of the first equal sign to the bottom left of the last equal sign. This turns the equal signs into inequalities, making all statements true.

EDIT: pretty much what @Lafexlos did

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:43

TwoBitOperation

14,953
1
41
95

See @Lafexlos's answer – oleslaw Oct 14 '16 at 11:44

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 17 '17 at 13:58

3

I would

click the edit button and correct the sums by navigating with arrow keys. But not sure if in the answer you intend for us to actually carry this out

edited Apr 17 '17 at 13:58

AeJey

14,506
5
58
117

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:46

gstats

1,110
7
17

Yeah, especially that you could navigate through the page elements via keyboar (do whatever you want without clicking at all) – oleslaw Oct 14 '16 at 11:49
I actually answered this way but I don't think this is a lateral-thinking answer and I deleted my own answer xD – Yandrakus Oct 14 '16 at 11:50
You have to make the statements correct with just one click. Not with a series of steps including single click action. – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 11:56

Numberknot · Answer 6 · 2016-10-14T11:38:48.183

2

I do it with an single click..

Explanation:

I simply hover the correct equation on it.

edited Oct 14 '16 at 11:38

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:28

Numberknot

3,042
2
21
33

Don't lie. We know how many clicks you needed to edit that picture :P – m4n0 Oct 14 '16 at 11:31
Explain how you did it. That's the part of the question. – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 11:35
Why did you use 18 in the 3rd statement? – m4n0 Oct 14 '16 at 11:44

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:48

1

I just clicked here i.e.Your Answer...and below statements are true now...I have used Tab key and Enter key to post my answer..

Three + Eleven = Fourteen Seven + Five = Twelve Two + Four = Six

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:48

MJS

19
2

mr23ceec · Answer 8 · 2016-10-14T11:57:45.960

1

Once click, watch me (in your mind)

One click. watch me. I clicked edit. then Tab. then down down down, end backspace X3, F,O,R,T,E,E,N. down. backspace X3. T.W.E.L.V.E down backspace X5 S.I.X Tab, Tab, Write this text, Tab again and Enter.

Peer re-what? darn.

edited Oct 14 '16 at 11:57

answered Oct 14 '16 at 11:52

mr23ceec

913
4
9

1

You have to make the statements correct with just one click. Not with a series of steps including single click action – AeJey Oct 14 '16 at 11:57

Make all the statements true

8 Answers8