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Topic: Fork in the Road 1 (Read 4133 times) |
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RiddleGenius
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Fork in the Road 1
« on: Feb 23rd, 2008, 1:15pm » |
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I think the simple question is " where did u just come from?" if it is, then i don't think this one should be in the hard riddles!
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Icarus
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #1 on: Feb 23rd, 2008, 1:35pm » |
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Your question is one that would work. There are others, as you will note when you get to Fork in the Road II.
I agree that this easier than the general level of the hard riddles, though there are even easier ones (the missing dollar, for instance). However, the placement of the riddles is always subjective, and the logical twists of the Fork in the Road riddles were something William was new to when he put this site together. Once placed, he has never bothered to make changes, and I cannot fault him. It is a lot of work for little gain. Besides, these easier "Hard"s give some encouragement to newer members, who eventually move from them up to the truly hard puzzles.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
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onlyme722
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #2 on: Mar 6th, 2008, 12:54pm » |
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on Feb 23rd, 2008, 1:15pm, RiddleGenius wrote:| I think the simple question is " where did u just come from?" if it is, then i don't think this one should be in the hard riddles! |
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If this is the riddle about the cannibal liar and the truthteller from the land of safety, I do not see how that is a sufficient answer. If you were to ask either one, they would both answer the same.
The person who tells the truth will answer: "the land of safety"
The liar will also say:"the land of safety" because he must lie, and therefore he cannot tell you he came from the land of cannibalism.
The question cannot be about anything to do with the two places or the two people, because most of the time they will both have the same answer. I would suggest that any question that has an obvious answer about MYSELF is a good one...such as....
"What color are my eyes?" (mine are green).
"Am I a man or a woman?" (I'm a woman)
"Is my hair black or blonde?" (it's blonde)
"Am I wearing glasses?" (yes I am)
Etc, etc, etc. Anything that leaves no room for obscure interpretation. Because I know without a doubt the answer to this question, the person who gives me the correct answer is the one who will offer me safety. I only need to ask one of them to know which is the liar.
This works for both fork in the road I and II.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 6th, 2008, 1:22pm by onlyme722 » |
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Icarus
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #3 on: Mar 6th, 2008, 6:21pm » |
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The problem with that is that you are only allowed one question, and you just wasted it finding out which one is the truth-teller and which is the liar. Why is this a waste? Because it doesn't matter to you which one is telling the truth and which is the liar. What you need to know is which road leads to safety. And you still don't know this!
Sometimes when people ask this puzzle, they make the mistake of tying the respondents to the choices, so if you know the truth-teller, that is enough. But this puzzle is told in proper fashion: neither man is connected to either road. Knowing who tells the truth doesn't help at all to determine the right road, since you are no longer able to ask him.
You've got only one question, so you'd better make it count.
You've been just slightly too harsh on RiddleGenius. His question is so poorly worded, even the most incompetent liar could figure out how to leave him squirming. But the basic idea behind it is one genuine solution to this riddle.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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onlyme722
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #4 on: Mar 6th, 2008, 7:23pm » |
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Icarus: You are completely right, I had been looking at the whole thing wrong. If you read my last reply you will note that I admit having made a complete ass of myself, and that I was wrong, they were right...yada yada. I'm brand spankin new to the community and riddles are fun but I've never really done many in the way of difficult ones, so the past 3-4 days have been a learning experience. I'm learning that I need to make sure I pay attention to all the details in a riddle, and I have been quite simply jumping the gun, running my mouth, and looking like an idiot  ...or at least, I was quite embarrassed for myself when I realized I was wrong and you others were right...heh, it's been a humbling experience  .
and btw, I did come to the realization that the question isn't about Who is the liar, but rather which path was the correct one. So I do get it now.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 6th, 2008, 7:25pm by onlyme722 » |
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Icarus
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #5 on: Mar 7th, 2008, 4:45pm » |
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I read and replied to this thread first, then I discovered what you had said in the other thread, which made my post rather pointless...
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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lilox
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #6 on: Mar 24th, 2008, 7:12pm » |
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This riddle is actually very easy.
You simply approach to any one of them and ask: "According to him [the other man], is this [the road behind the man you're speaking to] the way to Safety?"
Or, you can also ask, "if I ask him if this is the way to safety, what would he say?"
The reason for this question is because, if you asked the lying man, he would have to lie about what the truthful man would say, and the truthful man would say what the lying man would say. So, if the answer is yes, you go the opposite way, if the answer is no, then you go to the way you asked about.
So, to make it more clear, if you ask man
A about road A, and the answer is yes, then you take road B. If the answer is no, you take road A. And vice versa with man B and road B.
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rmsgrey
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #7 on: Mar 25th, 2008, 10:35am » |
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on Mar 24th, 2008, 7:12pm, lilox wrote:This riddle is actually very easy.
You simply approach to any one of them and ask: "According to him [the other man], is this [the road behind the man you're speaking to] the way to Safety?"
Or, you can also ask, "if I ask him if this is the way to safety, what would he say?"
The reason for this question is because, if you asked the lying man, he would have to lie about what the truthful man would say, and the truthful man would say what the lying man would say. So, if the answer is yes, you go the opposite way, if the answer is no, then you go to the way you asked about.
So, to make it more clear, if you ask man
A about road A, and the answer is yes, then you take road B. If the answer is no, you take road A. And vice versa with man B and road B. |
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That question works under ideal conditions, and it (or a close variant) is the intended solution to the related problem, Fork in the Road II. This version of the puzzle is deliberately phrased so that a simpler question will work, avoiding the potential issue that a liar who's not so good with languages, or who's easily confused will misunderstand a more elaborate question.
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temporary
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #8 on: Mar 25th, 2008, 6:16pm » |
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Or you could ask"If I asked you which way was the right one, what would you say?", which is the opposite of what you said, but still producing accurate results.
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My goal is to find what my goal is, once I find what my goal is, my goal will be complete.
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Praxis
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #9 on: May 27th, 2008, 7:27am » |
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I would ask them what time it was.
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joeyman
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Re: Fork in the Road 1
« Reply #10 on: Jun 30th, 2008, 11:10am » |
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You could simply use "which way to your city? "
because the truthteller would say the one to safty and the liar would would have to say the oposite which would also be to safety.
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