Sunday, February 1, 2009

Puzzled!!!





I have a very interesting puzzle for you today.The most salient feature about this puzzle is the simplicity of it.You might be tempted to say that there is no serious or practical answer to it.But i warn you that it is not the case and you will definitely scratch your head once you figure out the answer in complete amazement.So here we go ...

Say one day you get a mail from some self proclaimed finance pundit extolling
his powers of predictions about the mad mad stock market.He gives a "tip" saying that a particular stock A will go up by say 10% in a month's time. You dismiss him as one more analyst,finance guru or nerd who have an opinion on all the matters of finance without having an ounce of knowledge.So a swift shift delete and the mail vanishes from your inbox.Now a month has passed and over a mug of beer a friend of yours tells you how he made 10% by buying stock A following the advice given in an email.A bulb glows somewhere at the back of your head.You wait for this unknown oracle to speak again.Soon another email registers itself in your inbox.It highlights its previous prediction and gives one more tip for this month.Though excited your skeptical self prevails and you dismiss the whole episode as a chance coincidence.Another month passes by and you again hear from this stranger. He emphasizes the corectness of his last two predictions and gives you one more tip for this month.You sure are amazed.A quick search and you verify the results of the last prediction.So you hear yourself saying "Well maybe this fellow really knows something.Lets check him out." You eagerly track the latest stock and soon see his prediction coming true.Voila!!. You have discovered a goldmine dude.You swear to yourself "I am not going to miss out on the next tip.Lets make some money."
Sure as if you are having a telepathy with this oracle and one more mail makes its way to your inbox.Another tip and you are all geared up.Like a smart investor you put a small amount of money on the stock this fellow has recommended and after a month find to your satisfaction that you it was bang on target.God is really happy with you son.But then all of us have heard "There are no free lunches."Are they??.So the next mail summarily says its time to put some serious money on the table to subscribe to his "tips".Afterall you would have made a small fortune by following his tips.So you agre and write him a cheque and wait for the next tip.There it comes.Already your eyes are green with greed.You have hit a jackpot.You are dreaming of that latest cell phone that you saw your boss carrying.You promise your girlfriend a diamond necklace soon.This is your chance,so you go full throttle on this one.Put all your money on this bet.Maybe borrow some from your friends and put it on this stock.
Now neither am i a sadist nor a hindi film script writer,but your good days have come to an end.This tip turns out to be wrong.Ahh,heart broken you feel like banging your head as well as of that fellow who lead you to this misfortune.In a contemplative mood you look up at the sky and ask GOD with disdain "Why me?".You try to reason with yourself, "I had tested this fellow.It was not that i followed his tips blindly.I waited for months and saw the results before i put any serious money." So what went wrong? Yes, that is the puzzle."What went wrong and how?"

Now you might say this was plain luck,maybe chance coincidence.But i warn you against these thoughts.There is a very logical pattern behind this whole scenario.Whack your heads,go get yourself a cup of coffee.Maybe you should light your favourite smoke before you wrestle with this puzzle.Do whaatever that needs to be done to get those creative juices flowing for there is a very logical answer.A simple yet such a powerful model that it fooled you so easily.

Well i will leave you with that.Will post the answer in a few days.Till then good luck to all of you.Keep posting your answers...

1 comment:

Dr. Pranjal Sharma said...

Hi buddy :)

Yup the plan is simple and execution is smooth, I have known the trick with all credits to you :)
so will wait for you to do the honours of unveiling the answer and till then want to see how many cracks it :)

I definitely pulled my hairs when you told me the answer.
All the best to all...... :)