JohnInKansas says, "Since this is a well known "riddle" it is probably appropriate to assume the "standard conditions." If you wish to do "what-ifs" about other ways that the question could be posed, that's allright; but if you do that, then there's no real "answer" because someone else can always "repose" the question."

John, I wasn't trying to pose the Heaven-Hell riddle's question in another way, I was trying to say that Mrrzy's original question did not include all of the conditions of that particular riddle. I was trying to say that just because a riddle is "well known", one shouldn't assume that everyone knows it and that, therefore, one may exclude some of the conditions of the riddle from the original statement without making it impossible for those who do not know (or, in my case, remember) the entire riddle to arrive at the correct answer. You say there's no "real" answer without assuming the "standard conditions"; I say that there's no "real" question if the conditions are not STATED in the question.

In other words, if one poses the problem A + B + C = ? to Herman and gives Herman the value of A and B but not C, how can Herman possibly solve the equation? It does no good to tell Herman "other people already know what C's value is, so I don't have to tell you". There is no reason why Herman should know C's value if no one has ever told him. Even if he was told 30 years ago and has since forgotten, it's still unfair not to remind him!

Sharon