Arthur and Bert each writes down a positive integer on a piece of paper and then shows it to Charles. Charles then writes two numbers on a blackboard, visible to Arthur and Bert: one of them is the sum of Arthur's and Bert's numbers, and the other is a random number.
After this Charles asks Arthur if he knows Bert's number. If Arthur says he doesn't know, then he asks Bert if he knows Arthur's number. If Bert says he doesn't know, Charles continues with Arthur, then if necessary with Bert and so on... until he gets a positive answer.
When will Charles get a positive answer?
(In reply to
How many different answers are there? by Mindrod)
Mindy there is an infinate number of possibilities for the numbers, but the question is WHEN will charles get a positive answer, in other words how many times does he need to ask for an answer. Hope this helps
leigh
re: How many different answers are there?
