The puzzles you’re meant to get wrong
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do some puzzles make us immediately leap to the wrong conclusion?
That’s the subject of Alex Bellos’ new book Think Twice, which has page after page of questions designed to deceive.
Alex sets Tim Harford some of his favourite puzzles.
Presenter: Tim Harford Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison and Janet Staples Sound mix: Donald MacDonald Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to tell you why I love |
| 0:03.7 | podcasting. I'm Natasha Aronson I'm an assistant commissioner for the BBC and I work on |
| 0:09.4 | making podcasts my real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest |
| 0:16.9 | stars who can really bring those stories to life. |
| 0:20.1 | I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit. |
| 0:26.4 | There's nothing like it. What makes BBC Podcast special is that we're working for you. |
| 0:31.0 | So whatever we commission has to reflect the things that you care about and love wherever you are in the UK. |
| 0:37.0 | So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. |
| 0:40.6 | Have a listen on BBC sounds. Hello and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast with me Tim Harford. |
| 0:47.0 | We're a programme that looks at the numbers in the news, in life and today in puzzles. |
| 0:57.0 | Why would you buy a book of puzzles |
| 0:58.9 | when you're told in advance |
| 1:00.7 | that you are going to get them wrong? That's what's on offer in Alex Bellows's new book, Think Twice. |
| 1:07.0 | Alex is, of course, a longtime friend of the program and a real enthusiast for having fun with maths. I sat down with him to talk about |
| 1:15.9 | the strange pleasure of puzzles that fool us and to be set a few puzzles along the way. |
| 1:28.0 | Obviously I'm a journal that's, I'd like to say headlines, you know, everyone will get this wrong, but some of them I do have the data and the one that I have the most data is a puzzle |
| 1:33.6 | I've called Wandering Eyes where I set this in my guardian |
| 1:37.5 | puzzle column 200,000 readers replied. |
| 1:42.0 | I told them they were going to get it wrong and 73% still did. |
| 1:46.4 | Okay, so give us a puzzle. |
| 1:48.4 | So Jack is looking at Anne, Anne is looking at George. Jack is married but George is not and the question is |
| 1:57.6 | is a married person looking at an unmarried person. There are three possible answers. Either yes, a married |
... |
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