Re: Brain teaser
Posted by Southern Man on Jun 20, 2002 at 07:29
(209.102.131.187)Re: Brain teaser (I. S.)
Or you could say that 6 was wrong since it relies on P and Q being the ONLY members of G. If there are more than 2 members of G then P and Q could both be the same age without all members of G being the same age. I still like 7 as being the first really offbase statement. It is the first step where we are forced to accept ANY set k as all having the same age. Step 9 is the most blatant error since it is where we firmly plant our foot in illogic by stating that we are not proving set k+1 = k for k=1 but rather for k of at least 2 which has not been proven above.
There are two levels to understanding the logic here. The first is to follow the logic of each step. I find many if not most people fail even this level. The second is to REALLY understand what each step is trying to say in relationship to all the others. And even more importantly, why. If you can manage that then the flaw becomes obvious.