The Solution To The Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever!

gravenewworld

Seems like no one got it so here it is without further adieu (sp?) http://people.ucsc.edu/~jburke/three_gods.pdf

dextercioby

Ouch,mamma,that was...hm...2 smart for me...

Daniel.

tribdog

I understand how the puzzle was solved, but I have two problems with it.
1. shouldn't be able to make up words "iff"
2. the second question "...iff Rome is in Italy" isn't logically correct. Can't assume Rome is in Italy

gravenewworld

??????????

iff=if and only if is standard vocabulary in math and philosophy

tribdog

new one for me, why not say if and only if

gravenewworld

because mathematicians are notoriously lazy

dextercioby

There's a Rome in NY state as well,if i'm not mistaking...So Trib's right...

Daniel.

Bartholomew

I figured out the 3 component puzzles before reading on and got answers using XOR instead. Being a computer science major, I thought of XOR before XNOR (XNOR is iff). It works out the same, just reversed.

Still, Boolos limited himself in his choice of questions; if you ask True or False what Random says next, they can only be silent.

Icebreaker

Ok, that is one brilliant puzzle.

K.J.Healey

so by this iff reasoning we can ask things like:
Are you goign to say yes, the 2nd guy no, and the thrd guy yes to the question "blah blah"

I think thats sort of a copout, like asking multiple questions in one.

The original problem should not limit you to asking "only 3 questions" but getting only 3 responses.

Icebreaker

You still get 3 responses.

honestrosewater

I don't know why he assumes the False god would lie about a biconditional (or, for that matter, any compound proposition) but not about its constituent propositions. In [S <-> P], there are 3 propositions in question: S, P, and [S <-> P]. It makes as much sense, if not more, to assume False would lie about all 3. It doesn't effect his conclusion, but still...
Eh, I was going to maybe write and ask him but I see that's unfortunately not possible. Great puzzle still.

gravenewworld

Bump. I still keep getting PM's asking for the solution to this problem all the time.

matter67

http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~rabern/SSHardPuzzle.pdf