Bustin' Brains

[Enigma]

This thread was requested by GuardianPat. If it fails terribly, its his fault.

I will post one of the following per day.

• Riddle
• Puzzle
• Enigma

Your job is to try to answer each one to the best of your ability.
However, there will be different difficulty levels for each question.

• Easy
• Moderate
• Difficult
• Diabolic

Guidelines/Rules:
1. One answer per person for each question. Think carefully before you post!
2. Questions will end when a correct answer is given.
3. Please stay on topic for the sake of the thread.
More to come?...

[Enigma]

[Diabolical] Question of the Day: 4/15

Diabolical!

Here is a question that my math teacher has presented me earlier this year.

This question is not to offend any of the Jewish population in anyway.

As the Holocaust was nearing its end, Hitler decided to play a game with 100 Jews. He assembles 100 Jewish men and tells them that he is about to line them up and that he will place either a black or white hat on each of their heads. Once lined up, they must not communicate amongst themselves. Nor may they attempt to look behind them or remove their own hat.

The Führer tells the Jews that they will be able to see all the hats in front of them. They will not be able to see the color of their own hat or the hats behind them, although they will be able to hear the answers from all those behind them.

Then Hitler will then start with the person in the back and ask "what color is your hat?" The Jewish man will only be allowed to answer "black" or "white," nothing more. If the answer is incorrect then the Jew will be silently killed. If the answer is correct then the Jewish man may live but must remain absolutely silent.

Hitler will then move on to the next person and repeat the question.

Hitler makes it clear that if anyone breaks the rules then all the Jews will die, then allows them to consult before lining them up. The Führer listens in while the men consult each other to make sure they don't devise a plan to cheat. To communicate anything more than their guess of red or blue by coughing or shuffling would be breaking the rules.

What is the maximum number of men they can be guaranteed to save?

[Raven]

[Moderate] Question of the Day: 4/6

Marilyn Monday!
Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ".

So without further delay, here is a question that has been presented to and solved by Marilyn von Savant.

The Monty Hall Problem
Assume the following:
You are on a game show which has you choose one door out of three choices. After you choose a door, the game show host removes an incorrect door from the remaining two doors. From here you are given two options. You may either choose to stay with the door you chose or choose to switch to the other door. Only one door has a prize.

What is the best choice of action and why? (In other words, what is the probability of each choice being the correct choice.)

Since the odds at the beginning were 2 to 1 against guessing the correct door, it is more likely that the first guess was incorrect, so I would switch to the other door.

Taken by itself, the second choice is 50/50, but since the odds of the first choice being wrong were 2 to 1, the second choice is now roughly 2 to 1 in favor of being correct by switching to the other door.

[Enigma]

Since the odds at the beginning were 2 to 1 against guessing the correct door, it is more likely that the first guess was incorrect, so I would switch to the other door.

You have yet to answer the second part to the question.

[Enigma]

[Easy] Question of the Day: 4/8 has been posted.
You may submit answers now.

[Enigma]

The time to answer [Easy] Question of the Day: 4/8 has expired.

A new question will be posted shortly.

[RydoMatic]

Well , i had a theory , but after reading it again one more time .....they all will die. Because in the last paragraph where it stated Hitler listened to the men and it stated anything more than their guess of red or blue would be breaking the rules. Their hats were supposed to be "black" or "white" and could only answer black or white . If they answered red or blue they would be killed.

[GuardianPat]

[Easy] Question of the Day: 4/8

Here's an unusually easy question. I decided to lower the difficulty of the problems because of Raven's post.

Assume the following:
One of the three boxes contains gold. The other two are empty. Each box has a clue on it, but only one box's clue is true.

[The gold is not here.] [The gold is not here.] [The gold is in the first box.]

Which box contains the gold?

the third

[Raven]

[Moderate] Question of the Day: 4/10

Moderate!

Enjoy this logic problem.

Assume the following:
Three of these four statements are untrue.


Mr Red: "Mr Blue did it."

Mr Blue: "Mr Red did it."

Mr Green: "Mr Blue's telling the truth."

Mr Yellow: "Mr Green's not lying


Who is the culprit?

Mr. Blue

Since Blue did it, Red is telling the truth, but Blue, Green, and Yellow are lying. 3 untrue statements.
If Red did it, then Blue, Yellow, and Green are telling the truth, but only Red would be lying.
If either Green or Yellow did it, they would all be lying.

[Enigma]

Mr. Blue

As usual I expect the reason why. Sorry for not specifying.