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Mon 2 Oct, 2006 08:12 am
Papa Smurf summons all the smurfs, and gets them to stand around in a circle.
* Some of the smurfs have a disease
* Those with it have a red dot on their forehead
* He wants those with it to step forward voluntarily
He asks "Will all those with a dot step forward?"
* Nothing happens
* He asks again, several times
* Suddenly, every diseased smurf steps forward
Assignment
1. How many times did he ask?
2. Why?
i may be wrong on this but.... he asked as many times as there are diseased smurfs...
assume one smurf has a dot....he sees that no one else has dots and concludes he must have a dot and steps forward after 1 question.
assume 2 smurfs have dots, A and B. smurf A sees one smurf with a dot, and so does smurf B. smurf B thinks, if A is the only one w/ a dot, he must step forward after 1 question (logic above), but since he didnt, i must also have a dot. they both step forward after 2 questions.
assume 3 smurfs have dots. smurf C must think he has a dot if he sees 2 dots but no one steps forward after 2 questions. all 3 step forward after 3 questions.
and this continues. for n sick smurfs, all step forward after n questions.
does anyone agree w/ my logic? if not may all the sick smurfs be sacrificed to gargamels cat
Yeah thoh that's basically what I was thinking.
And to the other two who posted links, those two riddles are nothing like my one.
yeah, I agree with thoh answer, as far as, "as many times as there where sick smurfs", but I thought you wanted an exact #.
I agree those other riddles aren't the same.
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