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My Indian friend Jamal recently participated in the well-known TV quiz show Who wants to be a millionaire?. You might have heard or read about Jamal's spectacular success; the media reported on it extensively.

Here is what Jamal told us about the 500.000 Euro question:

For the 500.000 Euro question, I excluded answers A and B right away: A is the smallest of the eight, and does not have any of its own. Furthermore I recalled that B has two in fear and terror. Hence I had to decide myself between C and D. I was really stumped, so that meant I was going to have to use my phone-a-friend lifeline. Fortunately, my friend Albert knows the weirdest things in the strangest sub-areas of science, and so this seemed to be the right question for him.

I read off the question to him, and only told him answers C and D. There were a few seconds of silence, and I was afraid that the phone connection had broken down. Then suddenly Albert's voice came back and told me that D is no good since those are all water deities, whereas the one in the question is "as you like it" and might well belong to C.

"How sure are you?" I probed. "About nine..." and the phone hung up. I was pretty sure he was going to say ninety-something, which was good enough for me. I happily smiled at Prem and said: "In the 250.000 Euro question I chose for answer C, and also this time I will go for C!". Prem gave his usual "Are you sure?", and I moved on to the final question. Good to have Albert as a friend. Gosh, that's much better than good!

What was the 500.000 Euro question?
What were the four possible answers A, B, C, D?

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  • $\begingroup$ it might be about biology...coz some water deities of greek mythology sound like name of cells... :/ $\endgroup$
    – manshu
    Feb 20, 2016 at 15:52
  • $\begingroup$ I am 99% sure that it is about Greek Mythology and its categorizations (water, earth, etc) $\endgroup$
    – Oray
    Feb 20, 2016 at 15:54
  • $\begingroup$ @Oray seems like both of us were totally wrong... :D :p $\endgroup$
    – manshu
    Feb 20, 2016 at 17:37
  • $\begingroup$ @manshu I said 99% :P $\endgroup$
    – Oray
    Feb 20, 2016 at 17:42
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    $\begingroup$ You never finished this series (unless you named the last one differently). $\endgroup$
    – wythagoras
    Jan 1, 2017 at 20:08

2 Answers 2

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The question is:

Which planet has a moon named Rosalind?

A. Mercury
B. Mars
C. Uranus
D. Neptune

Explanation:

Mercury is the smallest of the eight planets and doesn't have any moons. Mars has two moons, named Phobos ("Fear") and Deimos ("Terror"). The moons of Uranus are named after Shakespeare characters, and Neptune's moons are named after water deities. Rosalind is a character from Shakespeare's play, "As You Like It", so it is a moon of Uranus.

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    $\begingroup$ Also the one you give is the only one that's "as you like it", which is how you can be sure the question was specifically that and not some other name. $\endgroup$
    – Steve Jessop
    Feb 21, 2016 at 2:43
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The question is something like:

Which planet has several moons named aftercharacters in Shakespeare's plays including 'As You Like It'

Answer A:

Mercury -- the smallest planet. Has no moons

Answer B:

Mars -- Two moons - Phobos(terror/fright) and Deimos (fear)

Answer C:

Uranus -- The moon Rosalind's name was in the 'As You Like it' and Portia , Juliet, Desdemona...

Answer D:

Neptune -- All its moons named after gods are water gods

Source: http://www.fief.org/kathleen/Moons/Moons.html

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  • $\begingroup$ Darn, f" beat me to the idea, but I feel my answer is more complete (why I took so long), so I'll keave it. $\endgroup$
    – Spencerkatty
    Feb 20, 2016 at 16:28

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