Puzzles

[Lightenup]

Proclaimer:

You said:

“The two remaining disks were taken out of the bag. That means they could see them and they were not able to see what was in the bag.”

The video tells you that the two remaining disks were left in the bag and taken out (of the room apparently). So, not correct on that guess.

Your next try:

The prisoners saw all 5 disks and the white ones were at the top according to the diagram. Because the other two had white disks on their back, he reasoned that the person was taking the disks out from the top. Thus he realized he had a white disk on his own back because the black disks were at the bottom of the bag.

Not even close.

Then you guess this:

Black isn’t a colour as it is the lack of light, so if all prisoners could see the colour of each other’s disk, then they all had to be white.

Except “white” isn’t a colour either. So, no again.

And then you said:

…However, if he did have a black disk on his back, then the other two could have used the same math to say that they had a white disk on their back. They didn’t do that despite the three guys having equal intelligence. Regardless, if this was the case, someone would still be first to provide the answer.

It is not a probability solution as you realize, although you are getting much closer.

Finally you say:

If Igor has a white disk on his back, then this helps explain why no one was able to answer right away. So that fits the evidence.

But if Igor has a black disk on his back, then the other two would see a black and white disk. If that was the case, then neither of them can have a black disk on their back. If they did, then they would see two black disks meaning Igor must have a black disk. But that didn’t happen by reason of the others not answering the question.

Bingo! You get a free “get out of jail” card. Congratulations!!

I hope you had fun with that.

LU

 

 

 

 

 

[Proclaimer]

Really, I got it right. Cool. I still wasn’t too confident in that answer because it was hard to visualise. Then my mind got it and almost immediately sort of lost that thought. Must be getting old. But it came back and then again and I quickly wrote the post.

That was fun. A bit time consuming though. I had work to do. Lol.

[Proclaimer]

Except “white” isn’t a colour either. So, no again.

I should Google it. My current view is that colour is either a primary colour or a mixture of primary and mixed colours. White is all the colours of the spectrum and black is no colour.

I remember a science teacher at school spinning a wheel in front of a slide projector. On the edge of the wheel were coloured transparent squares. As he rotated the disc, you could see the light change to each colour as it passed through. When he spun it fast, all you could see was white light.

[Lightenup]

“Then my mind got it and almost immediately sort of lost that thought…”

That same thing kept happening to me. I went to tell my husband the reasoning and had to go back in my mind again to try to find it in order to tell him.

Two prisoners with black discs would give the third prisoner a quick answer that he would be obviously white, so that couldn’t be the case if he wasn’t able to give a quick answer. One black disc and one white disc would also give a fairly quick answer after realizing there couldn’t be a second black disc and you must therefore be white.

The three had white discs which would take the most time to figure out. An important key to the puzzle was that it took 30 minutes. Igor proved to be the smartest. Yeah for Igor.

I’m glad you enjoyed the challenge.

[Lightenup]

Black and white are considered shades, not colours.

[Proclaimer]

This is what Wikipedia says. Not saying Wikipedia is right. But this would be a consensus among many I would imagine.

White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of fresh snow, chalk and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on television and computer screens is created by a mixture of red, blue and green light. In everyday life, whiteness is often conferred with white pigments, especially titanium dioxide, of which is produced more than 3,000,000 tons per year.

Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, a color without hue, like white and gray. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates.

[Author]

Posts