On a hot summer day, n equally bright philosophers, tired from all that philosophising, were napping in an orchard. A prankster came by, and painted all of their faces black with charcoal.

When the philosophers woke up, they started laughing at the others... until they suddenly realised all of their faces must be black!

How did they come to that conclusion?

"On a hot summer day, n equally bright non-philosophers, tired from all that beer drinking, were napping in an orchard. A prankster came by, and painted all of their faces purple with mashed grapes. Whe they awoke, some laughter began. However, they all knew that a non-philosopher is incapable of laughing at himself. Sudddenly they all stopped laughing, when they all realized that everybody's face was purple. How did they come to that conclusion?"

Each thought:

If my face is white, the man to my right sees one white face, and sees that I am still laughing. He will think, "If my face is white, the man to my right sees two white faces, and he will think 'If my face is white, the man to the right of me sees three white faces, and he will think "If my face is white, the man to the right of me sees four white faces, and he will think 'If my face is white, the man to my right sees five white faces, and he will think.....' " ' " As eventually we must come to the end of these cogitations, and since everyone is still laughing, my face must be purple.

So everyone stopped laughing.

Edited on April 13, 2004, 4:20 pm

Posted by Penny on 2004-04-13 14:33:38