Four girls were blindfolded and each was given an identical box, containing different colored balls:

One box contained 3 black balls.
One box contained 2 black balls and 1 white ball.
One box contained 1 black ball and 2 white balls.
One box contained 3 white balls.

Each box had a label on it reading "BBB" (Three Black) or "BBW" (Two Black, One White) or "BWW" (One Black, Two White) or "WWW" (Three White). The girls were told that none of the four labels correctly described the contents of the box to which it was attached.

Each girl was told to draw two balls from her box, at which point the blindfold would be removed so that she could see the two balls in her hand and the label on the box assigned to her. She was given the task of trying to guess the color of the ball remaining in her box.

As each girl drew balls from her box, her colors were announced for all the girls to hear, but the girls could not see the labels on any boxes other than their own.

The first girl, having drawn two black balls, looked at her label and announced: "I know the color of the third ball!"

The second girl drew one white and one black ball, looked at her label and similarly stated: "I too know the color of the third ball!"

The third girl drew two white balls, looked at her label, and said: "I can't tell the color of the third ball."

Finally, the fourth girl declared: "I don't need to remove my blindfold or any balls from my box, and yet I know the color of all three of them. What's more, I know the color of the third ball in each of the other boxes, as well as the labels of each of the boxes that you have."

The first three girls were amazed by the fourth girl's assertion and promptly challenged her. She proceeded to identify everything that she said she could.

Can you do the same?

She can easily guess her 3rd ball if she uses a bit of
advanced logic.

She knows her label: must be one of BBB or BBW
As 1st girl answered that she could guess the 3rd ball,
3rd girl will know that the other label will be the label
of 1st girl. Now she could tell BWW is the label of 2nd 
girl. WWW is the label of 4th girl according to this.

so, 3 Whites cannot be in the box of 4th girl, which means
her box has 3 whites and her 3rd ball is white.

Posted by Praneeth on 2008-06-19 22:56:38