21–30 of 220 posts
SPOILER 1 Names in boxes I don't understand how this works. The answer says it works to a certain percentage if there are no cycles longer than 50. But even if chance has it that there are two cycles of length 50. Then it seems the chance would be very large that one of the 100 prisoners would en up in the "wrong" loop and thus not find their name?
I'm have some trouble understanding the solution to the 3 natives puzzle. Is the objective to find the road guarded by the truth teller? SPOILER BELOW The solution suggests Q1) --> A Q1): Is B least likely to tell the truth out of B and C? If yes ask Q2 --> B, If no, ask Q2 --> C Q2): If I were to ask you does your road lead to the truth village, would you say yes? If yes, you know where the truth village is. If no,…
There are only two roads and one village, and the problem is to find out which of the roads lead to the village. Forget about "guarding" and the "truth village". If you ignore the random answerer for a second, then you ask "if I were to ask you if this road leads to the village, what would you say?". Let's call this the original question. The answer will be trustable, because the truth teller will tell the truth, and…
SPOILER 1 Names in boxes I don't understand how this works. The answer says it works to a certain percentage if there are no cycles longer than 50. But even if chance has it that there are two cycles of length 50. Then it seems the chance would be very large that one of the 100 prisoners would en up in the "wrong" loop and thus not find their name?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't actually need to label them you just need all the prisoners to be able to memorize which name is associated with which box, Alice's box is the first on the left, Bob's the second etc... Then when Zach. Z. Z. Vanderwall opens "his box" and finds the name Bob he follows procedure. You need a minimal perfect hash function but it's a thing that can be done, especially because prisoners in these sort of conundru…
Still, I didn't hear correctly either: I thought there would be 100 identical boxes lined up in a row by the warden's assistant.
The problem statement makes it clear they can communicate prior to starting the game.
SPOILER 1 Names in boxes I don't understand how this works. The answer says it works to a certain percentage if there are no cycles longer than 50. But even if chance has it that there are two cycles of length 50. Then it seems the chance would be very large that one of the 100 prisoners would en up in the "wrong" loop and thus not find their name?
It's because you start with the box labeled (via the initial random labeling) with your name. If you cycle back to it then it means that you found your name on a piece of paper, since the next box you open is always the one matching the piece of paper in the last box. So it is impossible to start in a cycle that doesn't include your name.
SPOILER 1 Names in boxes I don't understand how this works. The answer says it works to a certain percentage if there are no cycles longer than 50. But even if chance has it that there are two cycles of length 50. Then it seems the chance would be very large that one of the 100 prisoners would en up in the "wrong" loop and thus not find their name?
It's because you start with the box labeled (via the initial random labeling) with your name. If you cycle back to it then it means that you found your name on a piece of paper, since the next box you open is always the one matching the piece of paper in the last box. So it is impossible to start in a cycle that doesn't include your name.
check box A - read name B; check box B - read name C; check box C - read name B
and now I'm in a B-C loop, and will never find my name.
SPOILER 1 Names in boxes I don't understand how this works. The answer says it works to a certain percentage if there are no cycles longer than 50. But even if chance has it that there are two cycles of length 50. Then it seems the chance would be very large that one of the 100 prisoners would en up in the "wrong" loop and thus not find their name?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because you start with the box labeled (via the initial random labeling) with your name. If you cycle back to it then it means that you found your name on a piece of paper, since the next box you open is always the one matching the piece of paper in the last box. So it is impossible to start in a cycle that doesn't include your name.
Couldn't I start in a "tail" leading to a cycle that doesn't include my name? Suppose my name is "A", and I proceed: check box A - read name B; check box B - read name C; check box C - read name B and now I'm in a B-C loop, and will never find my name.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because you start with the box labeled (via the initial random labeling) with your name. If you cycle back to it then it means that you found your name on a piece of paper, since the next box you open is always the one matching the piece of paper in the last box. So it is impossible to start in a cycle that doesn't include your name.
Couldn't I start in a "tail" leading to a cycle that doesn't include my name? Suppose my name is "A", and I proceed: check box A - read name B; check box B - read name C; check box C - read name B and now I'm in a B-C loop, and will never find my name.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because you start with the box labeled (via the initial random labeling) with your name. If you cycle back to it then it means that you found your name on a piece of paper, since the next box you open is always the one matching the piece of paper in the last box. So it is impossible to start in a cycle that doesn't include your name.
Couldn't I start in a "tail" leading to a cycle that doesn't include my name? Suppose my name is "A", and I proceed: check box A - read name B; check box B - read name C; check box C - read name B and now I'm in a B-C loop, and will never find my name.