Riddles

[Guest]

This is the best riddle I know - no one I have ever asked has gotten it correct, don't guess and maybe explain your choice of answer.

 

 

 

The three wisest sages in the land were brought before the king to see which of them were worthy to become the king's advisor. After passing many tests of cunning and invention, they were pitted against each other in a final battle of the wits.

 

Led blind-folded into a small room, the sages were seated around a small wooden table as the king described the test for them.

 

"Upon each of your heads I have placed a hat. Now you are either wearing a blue hat or a white hat. All I will tell you is this- at least one of you is wearing a blue hat. There may be only one blue hat and two white hats, there may be two blue hats and one white hat, or there may be three blue hats. But you may be certain that there are not three white hats."

 

"I will shortly remove your blind folds, and the test will begin. The first to correctly announce the colour of his hat shall be my advisor. Be warned however, he who guesses wrongly shall be beheaded. If not one of you answers within the hour, you will be sent home and I will seek elsewhere for wisdom."

 

With that, the king uncovered the sages' eyes and sat in the corner and waited. One sage looked around and saw that his competitors each were wearing blue hats. From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his, "What is the colour of my hat?"

 

For what seemed like hours no one spoke. Finally he stood up and said, "The colour of the hat I am wearing is . . ."

[bust]

That is easy Blue

 

"One sage looked around and saw that his competitors each were wearing blue hats. From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his"

 

That is the givaway. They all were thinking the same thing.

[Mekong]

This is the best riddle I know - no one I have ever asked has gotten it correct, don't guess and maybe explain your choice of answer.

 

 

 

The three wisest sages in the land were brought before the king to see which of them were worthy to become the king's advisor. After passing many tests of cunning and invention, they were pitted against each other in a final battle of the wits.

 

Led blind-folded into a small room, the sages were seated around a small wooden table as the king described the test for them.

 

"Upon each of your heads I have placed a hat. Now you are either wearing a blue hat or a white hat. All I will tell you is this- at least one of you is wearing a blue hat. There may be only one blue hat and two white hats, there may be two blue hats and one white hat, or there may be three blue hats. But you may be certain that there are not three white hats."

 

"I will shortly remove your blind folds, and the test will begin. The first to correctly announce the colour of his hat shall be my advisor. Be warned however, he who guesses wrongly shall be beheaded. If not one of you answers within the hour, you will be sent home and I will seek elsewhere for wisdom."

 

With that, the king uncovered the sages' eyes and sat in the corner and waited. One sage looked around and saw that his competitors each were wearing blue hats. From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his, "What is the colour of my hat?"

 

For what seemed like hours no one spoke. Finally he stood up and said, "The colour of the hat I am wearing is . . ."

 

Does it matter the hour is up and they have all been sent home

[Guest]

Bust :

 

You took this sentence out of context ( From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his,)

 

and that was " what is the colour of my hat"

 

Nothing to do with the answer

[Mekong]

That is easy Blue

 

"One sage looked around and saw that his competitors each were wearing blue hats. From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his"

 

That is the givaway. They all were thinking the same thing.

 

Bust

 

Not as easy as that, if the Hypothetical "Felt Like Hours" was in fact only 59 Minutes, the other two sages could have both seen a Blue hat and a White hat and equally look as confused.

 

 

This is Classic Epistemic Modal Logic, there is no answer, many philosophers have spoken about the properties of knowledge, the sage who saw the two blue hats does not know if he is blue or white, it is impossible to determine.

 

Now if if the opposite had have been true and the sage had have seen two white hats he would have known straight away that (s)he was wearing the blue hat since there are not three white hats whereas the other two sages would still have no Logical solution to the riddle.

 

This has been used since Aristotle's day, how a decision making process could be demonstrated to be transparent but is in fact rigged.

 

 

 

Bangkok Missy ,

 

I fly out of Noi Bai (Hanoi) back to BKK on wednesday for a couple of weeks, where do I pick up my prize?

[Guest]

Mekong:

 

Sorry no prize for you today never mind. This riddle does have a logical answer won't spoil it yet, so back to the drawing board. I did tell you I not easy and most people fail.

[Coss]

Ha sip ha sip

[Guest]

Not 50/50 sorry

[The_Munchmaster]

I would assume they all kept their mouths shut. I mean get it wrong and off with your head but say fuck all and you go home. Simples.

[zzzz]

Let's call the three sages Sage #1, Sage #2, and Sage #3, where Sage #1 is the winner.

 

If Sage #1's hat was white, Sage #2 would see a blue hat on #3 and a white hat on #1. From this, Sage #2 could easily deduce that his hat was blue. Why? Because if his was white and #1's was white, #3 would see two white hats and immediately be sure his own was blue.

 

Because Sage #2 did not stand up to announce that he had a blue hat, Sage #1 knew that his own hat must be blue.