Riddles

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I went with firemeboy because he stated it as an actual answer, while you seemed to be holding back on proposing that one.

[The Jade Knight]

True.

[Legion]

This is likey a 'chestnut', but a good one if you haven't heard it before.

You are in the basement of an old home.  There are three switches on the wall, and one of them turns on a lightbulb up in the attic.  How many trips would you need to take before you can state for sure which switch turns on the light (assuming that at least one of them will).

1

[Firemeboy]

yep

[Chimera]

What?   Why is it only one if there are three switches? Is that because you can have one person in the attic on a cell phone with the person in the basement, and they tell which switch it is? But maybe that would be no trips, I don't know...

I need to stop reading this thread. It just frustrates me.  

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

HOw does that work? What if you flip one of the two that doesn't turn it on?

[Legion]

The reason I guessed one, and it was a guess, is assuming that there are 3 floors (basement ground floor, and attic) I person can flip 2 of the three switchs.  If the basement light comes on you now know what one that is.  If not then you know that the two switches are for the ground floor and the attic, so you switch one of the two (that is not the basement switch) to the opposite of the other and then walk up.

this should be easy....
a group of strangers were in a room with 6 chairs, a table, and 53 bicycles  why did one guy shoot the other, and why did everyone else let him?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I'm not satisfied with that, there's nothing in the riddle that says each switch controls a different floor's lights. ie, why would one turn on the ground floor and the other the basement? That material you have to bring to the riddle, and may or may not be true.

the bicycles are Bicycle playing cards, and the dead guy was cheating by bringing an extra card.

[Legion]

Like I said I guessed the answer and I just wrote why I guessed what I did, also you are right you're up.

[Firemeboy]

That is NOT the correct answer...  But a good guess.    There is only one light up in the atic.

Do you want me to answer my own?  Or do people want a second shot at it?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

ah, see, he thought your "yep" meant yes, 1 was right.

if not, then I guess 2, max. turn one switch, run up. if it's not on, then it's one of the other two, so flip another switch, run up, if it's on, than it's the one you just switched. If it's not on, then it's the one you didn't switch.

[Firemeboy]

Sorry, I'm still not being clear.  1 is correct, but the reasoning behind how it was proposed was incorrect.

So, you know that one is the answer, but how would you do it?

You know, the fact that it is an attic might be throwing some people off because it can take a while to get from one to the other.  This is a well laid out home where you can get from the basement to the attic in roughly 5 seconds.

[The Jade Knight]

I can see how it could be "minimum =  1", but not "maximum = 1"

Unless the switches are labeled, or you can see the attic light from the basement, in which cases you wouldn't need any trips to determine.

Ah!  I think I've got it.

1 of the switches is the basement light switch.  So you really just have to find out which out of 2 it is (thus requiring 1 trip).

Or, alternatively, 1 of the 3 switches is a general "power" (circuit breaker) sort of switch for the whole house.

[Firemeboy]

Nope, two of the switches do absolutely nothing.  The third one turns on the light but you cannot see it from where you are.  You must go up to the attic to veryify that it is on.

However, there is a method to use that ensures you get it right every time in only one trip.

[The Jade Knight]

I don't see how it's possible to isolate the switch which turns on the attic light by yourself with only one trip.

You're going to have to spill the beans, eh?