Critical Thinking Problems

Exercises For Lateral Thinking

Problem No. 9

A young man's car developed a flat tire as he was driving along a deserted street. He pulled over to the curb and did all the usual things: removed the hub cap, unscrewed the lugs and rested them carefully in the hub cap, jacked up the car. As he was putting the spare tire onto the axle he accidentally kicked the hub cap. The lugs rolled out, and all five of them fell down a nearby grate, Peering through the bars of the grate the man thought that he could see the lugs about 6 feet below in a shallow water puddle. He had a problem. How do you think he solved it?

Methods and Solutions

Considering that the young man is driving along a deserted street and the lugs have fallen 6 feet below through a grate I believe that lateral thinking will tell us to forget the lugs that have fallen. We have three other wheels that have five lugs securely screwed to their wheel base. What would be a better suggestion than fishing for lugs is to unscrew one lug from each of the wheels and use them to secure the spare tire. The young man can then proceed to