Lateral Thinking Quizzes - Testes de Pensamento Lateral

Prévia do material em texto

Lateral Thinking Quizzes 
 
01. The subway problem 
 
A large city in the United States had a problem with thefts of light bulbs from 
its subway system. Thieves would unscrew the light bulbs, leading to cost and 
security issues. The engineer who was given this challenge could not alter the 
location of the light bulbs, and he had very little budget to work with, but he 
came up with a very lateral solution. What was it? 
 
The engineer changed the bulbs to have left-hand or anti-clockwise threads instead of the 
conventional right-hand or clockwise threads. This meant that as thieves assumed they were 
trying to unscrew the bulbs they were actually tightening them instead. 
 
 
02. Vandal scandal 
 
The authorities in Athens were very concerned that tourists sometimes 
hacked pieces from the ancient columns of the Parthenon building. The 
practice was illegal but some people were determined to take away 
souvenirs. How did the authorities stop this practice? 
 
The authorities arranged for some chips of marble from the same original quarry source as the 
Parthenon to be distributed around the site each day. Tourists thought they had picked up a 
piece from the original columns and were satisfied. 
 
03. Shoe shop shuffle 
 
In a small town there are four shoe shops of about the same size and each 
carries a similar line of shoes. Yet one shop loses three times as many shoes 
to theft as each of the other shops. Why and how did they fix the problem? 
 
The shoe shops put single shoes as display items outside the shops. One shop put out left 
shoes, the other three shops put out right shoes. Thieves stole the display shoes but had to 
make pairs, so more shoes were taken from the one displaying left shoes. The manager 
changed the display to right shoes and thefts dropped significantly. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
04. The school inspection 
 
A schoolteacher knew that the school superintendent would visit the next 
day. The superintendent would ask questions such as spellings or mental 
arithmetic of the class, and the teacher would choose a pupil to answer. The 
teacher wanted to give the best impression of the school. What instructions 
did she give the children in order to create the best impression and maximize 
the chances that the right answer was given to each question? 
 
Before the inspector arrived the teacher instructed the pupils always to raise their left hands if 
they did not know the answer or were unsure. If they were sure they knew the answer they 
should raise their right hand. The teacher chooses a different pupil every time, but always one 
who had raised his or her right hand. The Superintendent was duly impressed. 
 
 
05. Brush fires 
 
The Los Altos Hills County Fire District commissioners in California had a 
severe problem with brushwood fires on the slopes of the hills around the 
town. If they cleared away the brushwood with tractors they could cause 
sparks which would start fires. What did they do? 
 
They bought or rented herds of goats and grazed them on the mountain slopes. The goats ate 
the vegetation, kept the brush down and reached steep slopes that were otherwise difficult to 
reach. Brushwood fires were significantly reduced. 
 
06. The coconut millionaire 
 
A man buys coconuts at $5 a dozen and sells them at $3 a dozen. Because of 
this he becomes a millionaire. How? 
 
The man is a philanthropist who buys great quantities of coconuts to sell to poor people at 
prices they can afford. He started out as a billionaire but lost so much money in his good works 
that he became a millionaire. If you assumed that the only way to become a millionaire is by 
working your way up to that level of wealth, you made an assumption which prevented you from 
solving the problem! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
07. Wrong number 
 
The marketing department of a major bank prepared a direct mail campaign 
to launch a new product. They printed over 2 million brochures but were 
horrified to find a mistake in the brochure – it had a wrong digit in the 
telephone number. Callers would get a dead line instead of the call center. 
What should they do first – fire the marketing manager or reprint the 
brochures? 
 
The marketing manager called the telephone company that issued numbers and bought the 
wrong number. The line was redirected to the call center and the mailing was sent out. 
 
 
08. Two cities 
 
Which city always contains truth and which city always contains falsehood? 
 
The two cities are veracity and duplicity. Did you assume they werereal cities containing the 
words truth and lie?