Everything is a puzzle and every puzzle can be solved. The first thing to do is to figure out what type of a puzzle it is. Until you figure out the type of the puzzle, chances are you will be going in circles.
Just like there are only a few types of jokes, there are only a few types of puzzles. Learning different puzzle types and structures, is like getting an upgrade for your brain. It makes you quicker.
A joke for instance, is a story or event that leads you and ends in surprise. This surprise causes laughter and may affect you biologically. The most common types of jokes are, exaggeration, sarcasm, irony, putdowns, non-sequiturs and visual or physical humor. Most jokes will fall into one of these categories.
In a way, puzzles are like jokes, in that you don’t know where it will end.
I have found that a lot of puzzles, can be solved by using simple numbers. When I approach a puzzle I convert it to numbers and it helps me to find the answer. It’s weird.
As an example, I will use one of my favorite puzzles. The one with the fox, the chicken and the corn. Once you work out this puzzle in your mind, your mind will record the format of this construct and usage of this format should manifest itself in your life. This puzzle can open your mind to hidden possibilities. Most puzzles are solved by addition. Most puzzles are linear and are like adding one plus one. This puzzle uses addition and subtraction.
The Problem
A man needs to take a fox, a chicken and a sack of corn across a river. He has a canoe, and can only take over, one at a time. The most common way of attempting to solve this problem, would be taking one at a time until you get them all over.
However, in this case, if you leave the chicken with the corn, the chicken will eat the corn. If you leave the fox with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken. What do you do?.
The Solution
The man first takes the chicken across the river and leaves the fox with the corn. Goes back and takes the fox across the river. He leaves the fox and brings back the chicken. He then leaves the chicken and takes the corn. Now the corn is with the fox on the other side. He comes back and takes the chicken across the river.
In this case, unlike most puzzles that are simple addition, this puzzle is about adding and subtracting. Solving this problem will flex any brain.
If you have a child get him or her a book of variety puzzles, they are inexpensive. These books with math puzzles, word puzzles, word searches, crosswords, matching games and others, are the best books you can give a child. By learning to solve different types of puzzles and learning how to to find answers, a child can be prepared for life.
I thank my Dad for introducing me to books. He had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica and on our spare time he would pull out one of the books, and we would scan the volumes for knowledge. It was our past time. We would play a favorite game, guessing the Capital cities of countries all over the world. It thought me about the planet and of people living in places far away. People just like us.
Thanks.