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0 pointseinarfd1y ago0 comments

My problem with this puzzle, is how do you know that Alice and her brothers share both parents?

Is it not correct English to call two people who share one parent, sisters, or brothers?

I guess I could be misguided by my native Norwegian where you have to preamble the word with "hell" (full), or "halv" (half), if you want to specify the number of shared parents.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

thfuran1y ago· 2 in thread

It is pretty much the same in English. Unqualified would usually mean sharing both parents but could include half- or step-siblings.

s-macke1y ago

I am not a native English speaker. Can you reformulate the problem for me, so that every alternative interpretation is excluded?

zeroonetwothree1y ago

Alice has N full sisters. She also has M full brothers. How many full sisters does Alice’s brother have?

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zeroonetwothree1y ago

They would usually be called “half-sisters”. You could call them “sisters” colloquially though but given it’s presented as a logic question I think it’s fine to disregard

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