Quote:
Originally Posted by thevil1
You look way to far outside the box... I said "how much cake is left". not pie.
|
So you did, and the answer is probably "the same amount as there was to start with". He has a point though. If you put your question, with irrelevant information removed, you get:
Quote:
Originally Posted by thevil1
...you can eat one piece of pie... If you can eat them all, how many pieces of cake will remain on the plate?
|
I've highlighted the words that falls into the category Jinto identified. It is not clear, in the question's original presentation, to which object "them" refers. If we assume each sentence stands on its own, "them all" is forward referencing and means "all of the pieces of cake on the plate"; we could remove the irrelevant axiom asserting the reader's pie consumption speed, without altering the question's meaning. If it is backward referencing however, the previous sentence becomes significant, in as much as it clarifies that it is "all of the pies that are on the plate" that are being consumed.
In the former case, "no cake remains", regardless of the initial conditions, because
all of the cake is eaten. In the later case, "all of the cake initially present on the plate" remains, as
no cake is eaten, again regardless of the initial conditions. Working on the assumption that the second sentence is included because it is important, I conclude that the later is true.
Ask a silly question... 