The trick lies in the phrase:
๐ โEach son has a sister.โ
It does not say that each son has a different sister. All 9 sons could share the same sister.
So the family consists of:
๐จ 1 father
๐ฆ 9 sons
๐ง 1 daughter (the sister shared by all the sons)
โ
Total = 11 People
1 + 9 + 1 = 11
Simple, right? Yet thousands of people get it wrong because they focus on the numbers instead of the wording. ๐
๐งฉ Why Our Brains Fall for These Tricks
Brain teasers like this exploit a common habit: we often make assumptions without realizing it.
When people read:
โEach son has a sisterโ
many automatically imagine:
๐ฆโก๏ธ๐ง
๐ฆโก๏ธ๐ง
๐ฆโก๏ธ๐ง
as if every son has his own unique sister.
But language doesnโt say that. It only tells us that every son has a sister, and that sister can be the same person for all of them.
This is a perfect example of how our minds fill in missing details automatically. ๐ง โก
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