You are in a room.

logic/mirror.and.table New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

You are in a room.  Size, location, how you live etc. is not important.
Your only desire is to get out.  All that is in the room is a table and a
mirror.  Try to get out.  (Hint: you start with the mirror, then
remember your fractions.)

Show solution

Look at the end of the room opposite the mirror.
Now look in the mirror and see what you saw.
Take the saw and cut the table in half.
You now have two halves.
Two halves make a whole, so crawl through the hole to...

Another room, with a mirror but no table.  Damn.
Without looking at the wall opposite the mirror, look in the mirror and see
what you would.
Now turn around, look at the wall, and follow as above.
Crawl through the hole to...

Yet another room, with a piano and a locked door.  Grr.
Play the piano until you find the right key.
Take the key and unlock the door,
Open the door and walk through to...

Yet still another room, this time completely empty.  Aargh!
Well, there just isn't anything for you to do, so you sit in the middle of
the room and think, and think, and think until you are tired out.

Hooray!

-- Scott Purdy <spurdy@pomona.claremont.edu>

I heard this situation puzzle about 10 years ago and remember it as
being a ridiculous puzzle because there is really no way of figuring it
out.  My memory being not so great, here is what I remember of the
answer ...

Look into the mirror and see the table
Look away
Remember that you saw the table
Saw the table into two halves
Put the two halves together to make a hole
Crawl out the hole to escape!

-- Ian Stevens <istevens@minerva.cis.yale.edu>, October 1994

The way it was relayed to me (in the school playground ~ 10-15 years
ago) was as follows:

(the room contained only a table, no mirror)

The man rubs his hands together until they are sore.
He then takes the saw and saws the table in half.
The two halves of the table make a whole.
The man climbs through the hole.
He then shouts until he is hoarse.
Finally, he gets on the horse and rides away.

-- Mark Ransom <mar5@ion.le.ac.uk>