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Fri 8 Jul, 2005 01:53 pm
OK...It's the one of 100 prisoners that go to the courtyard where either a black or white hat is placed on their head. They are facing front, so they only know the color hats that the prisoners infront are wearing. The guard starts with the prisoner at the back of the line ( the one that can see all other 99 prisoners infront of him). The prisoners can only say "black" or "white" when asked what color hat they wear. If they don't gues their color, they get shot on the spot. The night before though.....the prisoners figured out a strategy that by just saying "black" or "white" when asked about their hats, 99 of them would survive and one might not. There is a similar riddle to this, but with only 3 prisoners. That was easy, but this seems difficult to me......any answers out there??
Thanks,
Zipote
The first person is the one who might not be saved. He calls out whatever he sees an odd number of. Let's say it's black. The second guy calls out white if he sees an odd number of blacks, black otherwise.
Each prisoner keeps track of what was called out before him. When his turn comes, he figures out whether the number of remaining blacks is even or odd. If what he sees matches that, he calls white. Otherwise, he calls black.
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