Puzzle of the day · No. 6 · 18 October
A lift without a four
The lift in a new building has no buttons 4 and 13: four is skipped as unlucky in Asia, thirteen in Europe. The floors themselves run in order, with none missing. Lucky pressed button 12. Which floor, counting from the ground, will he arrive at?
Answer: the 11th. The buttons run 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 … 12, 14. Up to and including button 12 there are eleven of them, because there is no four. So Lucky arrives at the eleventh floor.
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