Four perfect logicians, who all knew each other from being members of the Perfect Logician's Club, sat around a table
that had a dish with 11 apples in it. The chat was intense, and they ended up eating all of the apples. Everybody had at
least one apple, and everyone knew that fact, and each
logician knew the number of apples that he ate. They didn't know how many apples each of the other ate, though.
They agreed to ask only questions that they didn't know the answers to.
Alonso: Did you eat more apples that I did, Bertrand?
Bertrand: I don't know. Did you, George, eat more apples than I did?
George: I don't know.
Kurt: Aha!!
Kurt figured out how many apples each person ate. Can you do the same?
Alphonse would not ask the question if he had eaten 1, for he would know the answer would be No. Therefore, he must have eaten at least 2. Betrand must have eaten two or else he would answer Alphonse's question with a No. George would realize that Bertrand must have eaten at leaset 2, based on his answer, which means that George must have eaten at least 3. Kurt, who hears all the answers, knows that he ate 5, and therefore surmises that Alphonse ate 1, Bertrand 2, and George 3.
Is this the answer?
