Ant_222 Posted 18 years ago
Jokes, Puzzles & Riddles
The wise men riddle
A long time ago, in one eastern country, ruled by a cruel and freakish eastern tyran, took place this curious accident.
It came in on the governor to examine the skills of his courtier wise men (he had a lot of them, of course). So, he called them all before him and spake thus:
«I has come in on me to examine the skills of my wise men, so I have contrieved the following trial for you. Tomorrow in the morning you'll be stood in a circle, facing inside, in so a manner that you'll see each other, and you'll have to keep silent for those who will open their mouth without order will be decapitated. Upon that, my servants will cover your bald heads will a cap, either green or red, and so it will be accomploshed that none of you will see the colour of your cap. Inside the circe will be my best executioner that will do thus: he'll approach one of you, at his will, and ask what colour is his cap. And that'll be the only time you're allowed to utter a single word: either "green" or "red", and If the answer is digusting to the Truth, that wise man will be immediately deprived of his status and decapitated. And so will be questioned each of you. Now it is late and I'll go to sleep, so you have this night to confer about the forthcoming trial and prepare therefor, however you decide.»
And by the morning the wise men had elaborated a way to keep the heads of most of them on the shoulders. What did they do?
It came in on the governor to examine the skills of his courtier wise men (he had a lot of them, of course). So, he called them all before him and spake thus:
«I has come in on me to examine the skills of my wise men, so I have contrieved the following trial for you. Tomorrow in the morning you'll be stood in a circle, facing inside, in so a manner that you'll see each other, and you'll have to keep silent for those who will open their mouth without order will be decapitated. Upon that, my servants will cover your bald heads will a cap, either green or red, and so it will be accomploshed that none of you will see the colour of your cap. Inside the circe will be my best executioner that will do thus: he'll approach one of you, at his will, and ask what colour is his cap. And that'll be the only time you're allowed to utter a single word: either "green" or "red", and If the answer is digusting to the Truth, that wise man will be immediately deprived of his status and decapitated. And so will be questioned each of you. Now it is late and I'll go to sleep, so you have this night to confer about the forthcoming trial and prepare therefor, however you decide.»
And by the morning the wise men had elaborated a way to keep the heads of most of them on the shoulders. What did they do?
Top answer
Ant_222 Inside the circe will be my best executioner that will do thus: he'll approach one of you, at his will, and ask what colour is his cap. Since the executioner was inside the circle, they could see the color of his cap.
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Ant_222 Inside the circe will be my best executioner that will do thus: he'll approach one of you, at his will, and ask what colour is his cap.Since the executioner was inside the circle, they could see the color of his cap.
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Ooops... I put it wrong: the executioner asks every wise man about the colour of the the wise man's cap!
It's a pity I can't edit the original post...
It's a pity I can't edit the original post...
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This makes more sense! I have no idea what the solution is now, though.
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Gotcha!
That's a relly good riddle, and it's is a pleasure when you realize what a simple and beautiful solution it has...
That's a relly good riddle, and it's is a pleasure when you realize what a simple and beautiful solution it has...
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Maybe they could see a reflection of their caps in the executioner's eyes?
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No, no tricks like that. They see only each other's caps and hear the answers pronounced in response to the executioner.
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AkavallMaybe they could see a reflection of their caps in the executioner's eyes?The executioner is of the hard-core variety: The only reflection they can see in his eyes is that of death!
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How about, the first wise man who is approached by the executioner makes an eye contact with everybody who wears a green cap and says, "Green". This way all the wise men will know who has green, and obviously the ones who don't have green have red. The first wise man has a 50 - 50 chance, but even if he misses, most of the wise men will survive.
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Nice try, but the circle is too big (for there're many a wise man standing there) and most of the wise men are very old... They don't see that good.
To make it clear:
1. Every wide men clearly sees the colors of the others's caps.
2. Every wise man can hear the replies of any other men in the circle (if he says it loud enough, which is neither forbidden, not looking suspicious (l
To make it clear:
1. Every wide men clearly sees the colors of the others's caps.
2. Every wise man can hear the replies of any other men in the circle (if he says it loud enough, which is neither forbidden, not looking suspicious (l
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How about, the first wise man who the executioner calls on counts all the green caps, and if the number is even he says, "Green", and if the number of green caps is odd he says, "Red". If for example, the first wise man said, "Green", then the wise men who see an even number of green caps (not counting the first wise man) know that they have a red cap because not seeing their cap doesn't affect t
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