You and your brother have discovered another realm and set off exploring the new wonderful world. Along the way, you see a troll catching creatures in an enormous net. The troll agrees to release the creatures if you can come up with a statement that is both true and false. Can you come up with the correct sentence and force the troll to release them?
A true statement will release the creatures. A false statement will free your brother. And in the troll’s paradox riddle, a TED-Ed by Dan Finkel, directed by Artrake Studio, the troll does not like paradoxes, potentially truthful statements that contradict themselves. Famous examples: “This sentence is a lie” and “Today is opposite day”.
So what true and false statement about this particular predicament can you say that will force the troll to free everyone? Pause at this rules screen to figure it out the troll’s paradox riddle without help:
Find the bonus riddle solution at Brilliant, TED-Ed’s sponsor. Plus, more about paradoxes…
Follow this with more TED-Ed riddle videos and Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, the paradox at the heart of mathematics.
This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.
Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.