Riddle Me This

On the hat thing:

RRR
RRW
RWR
RWW
WRW
WWR
WRR

Since the first guy would, presumably, say red if the other two were white, RWW's gone; same goes for the second guy so WRW's gone too; also, if the middle guy saw that the third guy's hat was white, being a smart guy he could figure out that his hat isn't white, or else the first guy would've got it; that being the case, the third guy can declare that he has a red hat.

 

Read the word "mistaken", I'm not saying that you are HWLFP and that I'm jumping on the band wagon that thinks you are - I'm saying that crass ineffectual posts like that aren't becoming of anyone. If you were trying to insult me don't indirectly frame an insult that could of come from the mouth of a child as an answer to someone else's puzzle and think that it's clever, it's not. If you think I'm singling you out with the HWLFP thing, I'm not; I would have made the comparison to anyone who made such a half-arsed attempt at irritating someone. Try again, Smuel.

Anyway, back on topic. If Gross's gods do answer true, false or random couldn't Random answer always truly or falsely randomly - making the puzzle impossible to solve? Or am I missing something?

 

Okay, I apologize for calling you a bit of a twat. You're actually one of my favourite people here, and I suffered an imagination fail when trying to think of an amusing question that everyone would agree on the answer to, while simultaneously poking fun at someone. I didn't mean to actually offend you.

Seriously though... the way you reacted? Bit of a twat...

 

Here's a sort of non-intuitive one:

A shopkeeper says she has two new baby beagles to show you, but she doesn't know whether they're male, female, or a pair. You tell her that you want only a male, and she telephones the fellow who's giving them a bath. "Is at least one a male?" she asks him. "Yes!" she informs you with a smile. What is the probability that the other one is a male?

 

Fine then I'll concede, I'm a bit of a twat. I guess I left my sense of humour at home today. Given that you can't hear any intonation as you would in real life it's sometimes hard to judge whether someone is joking or not, and given that I have a paranoid bent I misjudged what you were saying. Still that's no excuse, I'm sorry for being a little bitch.

Surely still 50:50? Though subjectively most people would probably say one's a boy and one's a girl if that was the case whereas they probably wouldn't say anything if they were both boys, giving a higher chance that the second one's a boy.

 

Ah Jojobobo, you can be my little bitch any time you like.

Presumably it's something like this:

The possibilities, with equal probabilities, are MM, MF, FM, or FF. Hmm... that reminds me of my YouPorn playlist. Anyway, the specification that "at least one of them is male", removes only FF from the list, so there remains, in equal probabilities, MM, MF, or FM. Therefore, the probablility that "the other one is M", must be one in three.

 

*Bends over obediently*

 

Can someone change Jojobobo's avatar please? As it is, I find it rather disturbing when he flirts with me.

 

Well, that would work if two of the gods contradicting each other would cause them to explode. What would happen is True would answer positively, False negatively, and Random would either go positive or negative - you've not solved anything because you still don't know what their words mean. If you want a god to explode, you can ask "Are you going to say the word that means 'no' in your language?" True would explode because he says yes, false would explode because he says no, and random would explode because he says either yes or no. You now know which is which due to the given responses, and you definitely know the problem is solved because they're all dead. That's only one solution, but you were close to one of the standards before you messed up the most awesome way to do it.

Edit; capitalization, solution correction.

 

This is where your logic breaks down. Middle guy sees #3 has a white hat, but it still doesn't let him know what he has because #1 must have a red hat, otherwise he'd see 2 red hats and have his win condition.

#2 seeing a white hat on #3 doesn't rule out him not having a white or red hat yet.

 

It's not contradicting each other that causes them to explode. It's that Gods don't exist. So if I ask True whether he exists, he has to tell the truth and say "No", thus forcing himself to disappear in a Puff Of Logic (TM). Whereas False has to say "Yes", which, since that's a lie, would also negate his existence. Random is the only one with a way out, since he doesn't have to address the question, just pick a random answer. But hey - what use is a God who gives random meaningless answers? It's kind of similar to... NO GOD AT ALL! Thus, I win.

Your question was more elegant though.

 

You have to suspend your disbelief for the purpose of the puzzle - It's obviously in a reality where at least those three gods exist and speak unintelligibly. Now, unless you're one of those people who watches a movie with CGI special effects and has to constantly remind everyone else in the theater that nothing they're watching is actually happening, I think you can solve the puzzle by hypothetically engaging these gods as if you "know" at least they three exist.

Now, what I'm possibly missing is whether or not you prefaced "Do gods exist" with your previous questions allowing you to determine what their words mean. The way you worded your god-desctruct sequence I guessed you had simply started form the beginning. If you've simply started over, and you don't know what the words mean, then their answers are meaningless until you know what they're saying, during which time they'll explode. They hinge on being infallible deities, mind you. There are even questions they can't answer, save for Random itself.

 

If the first guy didn't answer it, it must be because he didn't see two white hats and therefore couldn't figure out that, all the white ones being taken, his hat must be red. So he doesn't know.

The second guy is someone who isn't you, and knows this; so, if the third guy has a white hat, he'd look and say, 'Well then, if the first guy didn't answer, it must be because we don't both have white hats, 'cause there's only two of those; therefore, there must be at least one red hat between us. If the third guy has a white hat, that means that I have a red hat.' The fact that he doesn't answer means that he doesn't see a white hat on the last guy, so he doesn't know if his is red or white.

The final guy is me and says to himself, 'Wait just one cotton-pickin' minute! If the first guy didn't answer, it must be because at least one of me and the guy who isn't you must be wearing a red hat. If the middle guy didn't answer, it must be because he didn't see a white hat, 'cause that would lead him to the conclusion that his hat must be red, since one (or both) must be. It must then be true that my hat is red, 'cause if it was white, and the second guy knew that there was one red hat involved between the two of us (because, if both were white, the first guy would've answered), he would've known that his hat is red, and my hat being red wouldn't rule out the conclusion that both our hats are red and wouldn't let him know if his was red or white, even though he knows mine is red.'


TL;DR version:

If the first guy doesn't answer, and there's only two white hats, then one of the two guys he can see doesn't have a white hat on. Same goes for the second guy.

If the third guy had a white hat on, the second guy would see this and, because of the foregoing implication, know that he had the red hat on that would fill the conditions of the scenario where the first guy doesn't answer.

Since he doesn't answer either, it means that he doesn't see that the third chap has a white hat on, so that guy has a red hat.

 

I believe wayne-scales has it.

Spoiler

The only way one could know for certain by inspection the color of his hat is if he sees white hats on each of the other two blokes. So this rules out

• R W W
• W R W

leaving

• W W R
• R R R
• W R R
• R W R
• R R W

Based solely on the answer given by the first bloke, the second bloke can deduce that it is not the case that he and the blind fellow are both wearing white hats. If he were to observe a white hat on the blind fellow, he would know that the color of his hat is red (because he and the blind fellow are not both wearing white hats). Observing a red hat on the blind fellow gives him no useful information so he confesses his ignorance as well, guiding the blind man to the fact that his hat can only be red.

How about this: once confessing his ignorance, the first gentleman excuses himself from the room before the second gentleman removes his blindfold, so the second gentleman doesn't even see the first bloke's hat! This doesn't impact the solution.

 

I'm going away for a few days so I thought I'd spoil my riddle and puzzle as I'm sure so many of you are itching to know. For the riddle:

Spoiler

The answer was... a coat!

For the puzzle:

Spoiler

The key thing here is working out how else apart from light can you tell a bulb is/has been on. If you leave a bulb on for a prolonged amount of time it will get hot.

So flip one switch and leave it for ten to fifteen minutes. Then flip that switch off and flip a second switch on. Now enter the room.

If the light is on the second switch turns the light on.

If the light is off and you touch it (I put the chair into the scenario in case anyone was like "but what if my character was a midget") and it's hot the first switch turns on the light.

If you touch the light when it's off and it's cool the last switch turns the light on.

You are now safe from the ravages of the madman.

Also the hat puzzle was very interesting, thanks for sharing TDC.

 

Yeah, I did that, and solved it in three questions (or two depending on how Random answers the first one).

Wayne approved of my answer, so I'm guessing the logic is sound. But there may be a more optimal solution, i.e. a way of solving it with fewer questions.

 

This is lifted straight from somewhere after googling

 

Einstein eh? Isn't he the guy who said we only use 10% of our brains? Pfft... idiot.

 

What can bring back the dead; make us cry, make us laugh, make us young; born in an instant yet lasts a life time?

 

> "Me has IQ 126"
> Unable to realise that answers to copypasted riddles can be googled up in 5 seconds.