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Questions tagged [paradox]

A puzzle in which a seemingly impossible situation is presented, or any sort of construction that results in a logical contradiction.

A paradox is any statement that appears to contradict itself, and yet is still presented as true. Many paradoxes require lateral thinking to solve.

For example:

This statement is false.

If the above statement is true, then "this statement is false" is true, and therefore it is false. But if the statement is false, then "this statement is false" is false, and therefore it is true.

Either way, a logical contradiction is reached. Thus, "This statement is false" is a paradoxical statement.

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Unexpected hanging paradox

The unexpected hanging paradox is as follows: A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner. He will not know the day of the…
Neil
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Epimenides paradox

Epimenides (a Cretan) once wrote a poem, in which he stated that all Cretans are liars. Since he is a Cretan, and therefore a liar, Cretans are veracious. But then again he wouldn't be a liar! This paradox can be solved, i.e. it can be shown that…
355durch113
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What is the 'correct' answer?

It is a logic puzzle left by my discrete math professor. We are learning propositional logic now. Here is the puzzle: Among all the students in our class, at most two students give the 'correct' answer. There may be multiple 'correct' answers, even…
pjpj
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A boy and his father

A young boy is taking a ride with his dad when a truck runs them off the road, killing the father and critically injuring the young boy. He's Medivac'd to the nearest hospital as the child is lying on the table ready for operation, the surgeon looks…
Michael Brown
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Is this a solution to the unexpected hanging paradox?

I once wrote an answer to Unexpected hanging paradox that went something like this "In the context of the unexpected hanging paradox, being hung by surprise is defined to mean he couldn't deduce the day before he was hanged that he was going to be…
Timothy
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Is the unexpected hanging paradox really a paradox?

The unexpected hanging is described in the Wikipedia article Unexpected hanging paradox. A hanging is said to be a surprise of on the morning that the prisoner is hanged, he cannot deduce that he will be hanged that day. I don't see the ability to…
Timothy
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Help me with these meta questions

I’ve been thinking about these questions and I wonder what multiple people would write if they can do so in a paragraph or two. Question 1 : What is the answer to this question? Question 2 : Is the answer to this question no?
Zaki
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Death cause Paradox

In the sentence: "Two guys killing themselves by jumping out of a roof" What is the actual death cause? the roof or themselves?
HQSantos
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Mirror Room Puzzle (Thought Experiment)

You are in a room with a barrier in the middle. This is not a physical barrier; it is a dividing line of 2 mirror images. When you look across the room, it appears to be a mirror because you see a mirror image of yourself and other objects in the…
Santiago Benoit
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Omnipotence Paradox

God has limitless power. So can he/she create a stone so heavy the no one lift it ? If yes, then god himself/herself can not lift it, so limited power. If no, then there's a limit to what god can create. What is the way out ?
Mike Karter
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a simple paradox

This is probably the simplest paradox out there and it still confuses me, here it is. The sentence below is true. The sentence above is false. I've known about this one for a few years and it has troubled me ever since. Can someone try and find a…
Parkerdaboss216
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