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A Mysterious Box


Maria Caliban

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for the rhyme man, it was done for rhyme

yea, but it can't be just for the rhyme :) I thought both day and life worked better. :o

Agh, sorry but english is only my third language! I did write, however, that it might have been farfetched..

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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for the rhyme man, it was done for rhyme

yea, but it can't be just for the rhyme :) I thought both day and life worked better. :o

Agh, sorry but english is only my third language! I did write, however, that it might have been farfetched..

Hey, I prolly couldn't do better, just saying I didn't get that part. Actually, I was expecting someone to explain it to me in some way I was missing.

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Pedro ran the jail in Veracruz, Mexico. It was Christmas Eve and he had only three prisoners. Feeling benevolent for the holiday season, Pedro decided to give each prisoner the opportunity to go free

"Boys, I want to give you a chance to go free. As you can see, I have in my hand three white hats and two black hats. I am going to blindfold each of you then put one of these hats on each of your heads. If you can tell me for sure what color hat you have on, you can go free and never return to my jail again."

 

Pedro blindfolded the men, placed one hat on each of their heads, put the two remaining hats out of sight in his office, then returned to the holding cell

 

Pedro entered the cell and removed their blindfolds. Each prisoner could see the other two prisoners and their hats, but they could not see their own hat or its color

 

Pedro then said, "OK, prisoner #1, can you tell me for sure what color is your hat?"

 

The first man looked at hat #2 then hat #3. He thought for a while then said, "No, I can not tell for sure the color of my hat."

 

"Well, unfortunately for you, prisoner #1, you must serve out your sentence in my jail. Now prisoner #2, can you tell me for sure what color is your hat?"

 

Prisoner #2 looked at the hat on Prisoner #1, then looked at the hat on prisoner #3. He thought for a long while then said, "I am sorry. I can not tell for sure the color of my hat"

 

Pedro then said, "This is sad. All three of you must stay in my jail and serve out your sentences."

 

Prisoner #3 interrupted and said, "But, Pedro, you did not ask me if I know the color of my hat."

 

Pedro said, "Because you are totally blind I did not ask you."

 

Prisoner #3 responded, "I may be totally blind, but I know FOR SURE the color of my hat"

 

What color was prisoner #3

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Oh, logical problems is one of my strengths!

 

Let's see. Three white hats and two black hats?

 

Prisoner #1 can see two hats but can't tell the colour of his own, thus BOTH prisoners in front of him can't have black hats. (If they did, then he himself would have a white hat by default: there are only two black hats)

 

Prisoner #2 can also see two hats and still can't tell the colour of his own. But Prisoner #2 also knows that if Prisoner #3 had been wearing a black hat, his own hat would have had to be white, or else Prisoner #1 would have known the colour of his hat (still only two black hats, remember?).

 

Prisoner #3 knows the colour of his hat to be WHITE because otherwise Prisoner #2 would have been able to tell the colour of his own hat.

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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Oh, logical problems is one of my strengths!

 

Let's see. Three white hats and two black hats?

 

Prisoner #1 can see two hats but can't tell the colour of his own, thus BOTH prisoners in front of him can't have black hats. (If they did, then he himself would have a white hat by default: there are only two black hats)

 

Prisoner #2 can also see two hats and still can't tell the colour of his own. But Prisoner #2 also knows that if Prisoner #3 had been wearing a black hat, his own hat would have had to be white, or else Prisoner #1 would have known the colour of his hat (still only two black hats, remember?).

 

Prisoner #3 knows the colour of his hat to be WHITE because otherwise Prisoner #2 would have been able to tell the colour of his own hat.

Now that the 12 hours are up, I'm sorry but you were mistaken.

 

The hat is black.

 

If #1 or #2 had seen the other two black hats or two white hats, they would have known without a doubt the color of their hat. So they each saw one white, and one black. We know that for a fact. If #3 had a white hat like you suggested, it couldn't have worked out.

 

You're suggesting that #1 had black, #2 had black, and #3 had white.

#1 sees #2 having black, and #3 having white. He can't say.

#2 sees #1 having black, and #3 having white. But he also knows that #1 had to see off colors, so #2 would know that he had the other black hat.

 

The only solution is with #1 and #2 both having white hats, and #3 having a black hat.

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