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        riddles >> hard >> island dilemma
        
(Message started by: Ankitt_sk on Oct 27^th, 2009, 10:43pm)

Title: island dilemma
Post by Ankitt_sk on Oct 27^th, 2009, 10:43pm

Hi ,
I tried searching for the similar post in the forum but couldn't find any.This question was asked during yahoo interview ..

There's an island where everyone is deaf and dumb.Each one is wearing a hat which is either red or black.If anyone gets to know the color of his hat he'll die on the spot.One day a foreigner comes on the island and writes on a board that at least one of you is wearing a red hat.What will happen now.

What i could figure out is for every case one person will always die with the red hat.Buy don't know if this is the right solution.Any hints ?

Title: Re: island dilemma
Post by towr on Oct 28^th, 2009, 12:40am

This problem is told in a number of different guises, the best worked out version is probably the red eyed monks (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_medium;action=display;num=1027806383) (there each night the red-eyed monks that know they have red eyes must commit suicide).

Actually, as it stands this version won't work very well, because the process isn't synchronized; and that complicates the information flow.