The Puzzle
Read the following paragraphs once. You are the bus driver and the bus is empty – it has no passengers on it. At the first stop, seven people get on the bus. At the next stop, eight people get on. At the next stop one person gets on, and three people get off. At the next stop, 11 people get on the bus. At the next stop, one person gets on. At the next stop five people get off. At the next stop, three people get on and four people get off.
Without looking at the preceding paragraph, what is the bus driver’s name?
The Answer
If you said your own name, then you got it right. This puzzle probably goes over better orally. When given orally, many people will say that they don’t know the name.
What does it mean?
This puzzle demonstrates how subtle facts can get lost in the details. It is easy to overlook the fact that I said “you are the bus driver” and from that statement you can produce the bus driver’s name. In Einstein’s papers, he makes several statements that are equally easy to overlook. However, doing so will prevent you from seeing the problem in his derivations.
