20 Examples of Lateral Thinking

Is named lateral thinking to a reasoning mode for problem solving in an imaginative and creative way.

It is a pattern of thinking that takes advantage of techniques other than those used by the logic reasoning (vertical thinking), giving unusual perspectives in the face of any situation. The term comes from EnglishLateral thinking and was used for the first time in 1967.

This method is based on four main reasoning perspectives:

Examples of lateral thinking

Although it is difficult to find concrete examples of a way of thinking, it is possible to list a series of problems whose resolution requires lateral thinking:

1. The case of the two-seater boat. A man who lives on an island needs to move his belongings to another one opposite. The man has a fox, a rabbit, and a bunch of carrots, but in his pot he can carry only one of the three items at a time. How can she manage to take it all in turns, without the fox noticing the rabbit and the rabbit noticing the carrots?

1. Two chess players. Two excellent chess players played five games in one day, each winning three. How is that possible?

1. The balloon paradox. How can a balloon be punctured without the air leaking and the balloon bursting?

1. The elevator man. A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every day, take the elevator and go down to the ground floor to go to lunch at the restaurant across the street. When returning, he always takes the same elevator, and if there is no one with him, he goes down to the seventh floor and goes up the remaining floors by stairs. Why does she do it like this?

1. The client of the bar. A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water at the bar. The bartender, without hesitation, looks for something under the bar and suddenly points a gun at him. The man thanks and leaves. What just happened?

1. The death of Antony and Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra lie dead on the floor of the room. She's red, him orange. There is broken glass on the ground and a dog as the only witness. There is no mark on the bodies and neither did they die of poisoning. How did they die then?

1. The coal, the carrot and the hat. Five pieces of charcoal, a whole carrot and a fancy hat are lying in the garden. Nobody has lost them and they have the same time on the grass. How did they get there then?

1. The case of Adam and Eve. Anyone who dies and goes to heaven. Among so many strangers, he immediately recognizes a couple: Adam and Eve. How do you recognize them?

1. The man in the car. A man drags his car to a stop in front of a hotel. Then you discover that you are bankrupt. How does he know?

1. The topic of pregnancy. A woman in labor gives birth to two children at the same time on the same day of the same year, but they were not twins. How is that possible?

1. Hangman. They discover in her apartment a hanged man, hanging from a central beam with his feet twelve inches high. They estimate that she has been dead for a couple of days. But there are no chairs, no tables around, no surfaces that he could climb on, just a load of water at his feet. How could he hang himself then?

1. The unexpected animal. There's a animal he has his paws on his head all the time. What is that animal?

1. The riddle of the colander. How can it be done to transport water from one container to another using a strainer?

1. The hole. How much dirt is in a hole one meter long by one meter wide and one meter deep?

1. The ring and the coffee. A woman drops her engagement ring in her cafe. Upon rescuing him, he realizes that not only has he not been stained, but he is not even wet. How is that possible?

1. The Five Travelers in the Rain. Five men advance through a lonely field, when it starts to rain heavily. They all start running except one, who is unperturbed and yet does not get wet. In the end, they all arrive together at their destination. How is it possible?

1. The riddle of the monk. An apprentice monk is commissioned to bring exactly six liters of water from the fountain in the middle of the temple. For this, they give it a four-liter container and another with a seven-liter capacity. He can't get help from anyone. How can you do it?

1. Barbers. It is said that the barbers of a town in Spain prefer to cut the hair of ten fat men rather than a single skinny one. Why do they prefer it that way?

1. The riddle of the journey. In 1930 two men drove in a Ford automobile from New York City to Los Angeles. The 5,375-kilometer journey lasted 18 days and was neither the first, nor the fastest, nor the slowest in history. The roads were normal, so were the cars and drivers, but thanks to the journey these two men have an unbeatable world record. Which?

1. The hasty. A young man runs out of the house to see his girlfriend. He forgets his driver's license on the nightstand, but he doesn't look for it again. Cross a red light and go the other way down one of the busiest avenues in the city. Neither the police arrest him, nor does he have an accident. How is that possible?

Solution to problems