Here is a list of words:
(i) Each of the three logicians was told one letter of a certain word, so that each logician knew only one of the letters and so that no two logicians knew the same letter.
(ii) The logicians were then told their three letters could be arranged to spell one of the words in the list above.
(iii) When each logician was asked in turn, “Do you know which word the letters spell?,” the first logician answered, “Yes,” then the second logician answered, “Yes,” and then the third logician answered, “Yes”.
Which word did the letters spell?
(In reply to
re: different answer by Cory Taylor)
No, it can't be pad.
If the first two logicians had v & t resp., then the first knows that the word is vat because it is the only word containing v. The second is initially undecided between vat and toe, however once he knows that the first knows the word then he can eliminate toe (since all the letters appear in other words).
Unfortunately the third person (with the a) then has the choice of pad and vat.
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Posted by fwaff
on 2003-01-22 03:53:53 |
re(2): different answer
