Puzzle [Thread 7385]

Mattamkiran
Hi all,

here is a smll puzzle for you as my gift on this week end....work on it and think on it beofre you scroll down completely for answer.....

PUZZLE:

4 criminals are caught and are to be punished.

The Judge allows them to be freed if they can solve a puzzle.

If they do not, they will be hung. They agreed.





The 4 criminals are lined up on some steps.

They are all facing in the same direction.

A wall seperates the fourth man from the other three.



So to summarise :-

Man 1 can see men 2 and 3.

Man 2 can see man 3.

Man 3 can see none of the others.

Man 4 can see none of the others.



The criminals are wearing hats.

They are told that there are two white hats and two black hats.

The men initally don't know what colour hat they are wearing.

They are told to shout out the colour of the hat that

they are wearing as soon as they know for certain what colour it is.



They are not allowed to turn round or move.

They are not allowed to talk to each other.

They are not allowed to take their hats off.



Who is the first person to shout out and why?



PS: There is no trick to the question, just logical deduction.







Ans : Scroll down.



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The solution to the puzzle



The man who calls out is Number 2.





Why?



After a short time, Number 1 has not shouted out what colour hat he is wearing.

Because of this number 2 knows that he cannot be wearing the same colour hat as the person in front of him.

If he was then number 1 would see two black hats and would therefore know that his hat must be white.



Armed with the knowledge that :-

He isn't wearing the same colour hat as the man in front.

The man in front is wearing a black hat.

number two can confidently shout out that the hat he is wearing is white. Easy wasn't it!

Regards,

Kiran.
Mattamkiran
Yeah.....It is really one of the best puzzles I have ever come across.
The simple way to find the solution for this is to...picturize their postures in your mind or draw them on a piece of paper with the information given.
You really need pen and paper to solve these kind of puzzles.
Regards,
Kiran.
Mattamkiran
Hi Rupa,
I sure have puzzles like this, but are scattered all over my mail IDs. Need to search for them and I am not getting time for it due to heavy schedule. I sure will post them once I find time to search and find them.
Regards,
Kiran.
hrx_pbs
Hi Kiran,
The logic of the solution is perfect. But, it has been made based on two assumptions, which are not given in the question, i.e.
1. After a short time, Number 1 has not shouted out what colour hat he is wearing.
2. The man in front is wearing a black hat.
Now, it has not been said that number1 does not say anythin until sometime or either that number 3 is wearing a black hat.
Conclusions can be drawn only from the data provided, isn't it.......?
And these two assumptions have been made without any reasoning behind them.
Regards,
Smita
sacalaarun
Same question was asked by my professor, but we are nt able to answer it.
I am happy that i finally i got the answer from u.
thank you, post more,
bye bye,
Arun Kumar SG
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