Twisted Math

The Renaissance mathematician Niccolò Tartaglia would use this bewildering riddle to assess neophytes in logic:

If half of 5 were 3, what would a third of 10 be?

What’s the answer?

	Select Click for Answer
The question asks us to discover whatever strange factor could cause 5/2 to give the result 3, and to apply the same factor to 10/3. So: 5/2 : 3 = 10/3 : x Solving for x gives the result 4.