anderson@uwvax.ARPA (David P. Anderson) (09/05/84)
<> I have decided to *disallow* the solution posted by Eileen Rieback because it involves questions which are yes/no/maybe rather than yes/no. Eileen forfeits the $1000.00 first prize as a result. Recall: truth-teller correctly answers all yes/no questions liar incorrectly answers all yes/no questions diplomat answers yes/no randomly Your task: given one each of the above, ask 3 yes/no questions to figure out which is which. SOLUTION: (call them X, Y and Z) Ask X "Is your being a truth-teller equivalent to Y being a diplomat?" If the answer is "yes" either X or Y is the diplomat Ask Z "Is your being a truth-teller equivalent to Y being a diplomat?" If the answer is "yes" Y is the diplomat else X is the diplomat else either X or Z is the diplomat Ask Y "Is your being a truth-teller equivalent to X being a diplomat?" If the answer is "yes" X is the diplomat else Z is the diplomat Now that you know who the diplomat is, you can distinguish the other two by asking either of them a trivially true question such as "do you know who the diplomat is?". David Anderson (uwvax!anderson)
esr@iheds.UUCP (E. Rieback) (09/12/84)
> I have decided to *disallow* the solution posted by Eileen Rieback > because it involves questions which are yes/no/maybe rather than yes/no. > Eileen forfeits the $1000.00 first prize as a result. What a shame! I was hoping to spend the money on a lifetime subscription to Games Magazine.... And as to your solution, I'm a little perplexed. If X is indeed the diplomat, the answer to the first question would be completely random. So how can you determine by X's answer who can be ruled out as diplomat??? Eileen *disallowed* Rieback ihnp4!iheds!esr