A fun logic puzzle
Aug 16, 2020
I recently came across the meta logic question below. Take a couple minutes to attempt it and once you have an answer, or give up, click the button below to see the answer and an explanation.
What answer is the correct answer to this question?
- All of the below.
- None of the below.
- All of the above.
- One of the above.
- None of the above.
- None of the above.
Take some time to think about this question and work it out yourself.
Once you're ready to look at the correct answer click "Show answer" below.
Answer: 5
If you're like a lot of people you're initial guess might have been 6. Lets talk about why that isn't the correct answer and then move onto disproving the other options
6 cannot be the answer. If 6 is true, 5 must also also be true. However, this is a contradiction against 6. 6 is not true.
1 cannot be the answer. 2 is an immediate contradiction to 1. If all of the below are true, "None of the below" is a direct contradiction.
3 cannot be the answer. We just ruled out 1 as a possible answer. "3. All the above" would mean 1 is a correct option. This is a contradiction. 3 is incorrect.
Our remaining options: 2, 4, and 5. This is getting a little more difficult to narrow down. Let's assume one of the remaining answers is true and then try to contradict ourselves.
Assume 4 is true and either 1, 2, or 3 are true. We know 1 and 3 are true so we could assume 2 is true. This is a contradiction though. 2 assumes "None of the below" are true, which includes 4. This is a contradiction. 4 cannot be the answer
If 4 is false we also know 2 is false. If 2 was true it would mean 4 is also true. We have already proven this incorrect. 2 cannot be the answer
5 is our only option left and our answer. QED
I'm Wes. I live in Boston and work on Wonderment.