This is a very hard one, its not the obvious answer!

Um...do they know what colors all of the possible hats were?

yes they know that there were 2 blacks and 3 whites to start with....

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=620

Oh srry about that i didnt see it, although this is a different way and harder since less clues are given

It wouldnt hurt to revive it though

solved
the hat was white, becouse he was the third person that could see the other 2 people and they had the 2 black hat's on so it had to be white

Re: This is a very hard one, its not the obvious answer!


hat was white 3rd person saw it and he saw the other 2 had on a black hat.so his had to be white

why is every one saying RED hat its [black&white]

Line A: The third person can see two black hats!
If A were true he would know immediately that he had a white hat. We are told that the answer took a long time so line A cannot be true.

Line B: The second person can see one black hat!
He can reason, as above, that line A cannot be true and that he and the first person cannot both have black hats. Therefore if the second person can see one black hat, he must have a white hat. We can assume that this would also not take a long time, so Line B cannot be true.

Line C: The First person cannot have a black hat if lines A and B are both untrue.
He can reason, as above, that line A and line B cannot be true and he must therefore have a white hat.

But why would line C take "a long time" time if all three are "very very smart"? That is the part that makes me feel I have missed something!

And would the first person, who is after all "very very smart" be 100% sure when his reasoniong relies on the reasoning ability of the others? 100%? Not according to my solution. (e.g. neither the first or second person can see the third person so he could have dropped dead, gone to sleep, or just be in no hurry to give the answer. The first person cannot see the second person, so the same could apply to him. These possibilities are real and finite so there must be some possibility that the first person is wrong) So again I feel I have missed something!

The guy next to the wall knows his hat is white because nobody else has spoken.

i.e. to say nothing, the guy at the back must be seeing either 2 whites or 1 black/1 white. The middle one knows this and since he does not speak it follows that he must be looking at white otherwise he would be sure his own was white.

NB This relies on the axiom that all three guys know the original ratio of 3:2 which may not have been stated above.

Sorry Craven....I didn't spot the link.

where do i find the answer from

where do i find the answer from

Frankemp

Kraven's link (see above) leads to the answer, Fresco has answered it (see above) and I have answered it (see above).

Help yourself; one of those explanations must be right for you.