- #1
StephenPrivitera
- 363
- 0
Noting their locations I place two aces and a jack face down on a table in a row. You do not see which card is placed where. Your problem is to point to one of the cards and ask me a sinlge yes or no question, from the answer to which you can, with certainty, identify one of the three cards as an ace. If you pointed to one of the aces, I will answer your question truthfully. If you pointed to the jack, I will answer yes or no at random. Remember, you get only one question.
From the problem, I can guess that the answer to the question I ask must expose only one of the aces, for if it exposed the jack or two aces, the location of all the cards would be known, and the problem only asks to find one ace. That's not hard reasoning, but a good guess.
The problem that I run into in this problem is that the answer to the question is ambiguous. It is difficult to distinguish between an honest answer and a false answer which are the same. I must find a question for which the answer "yes" unambiguously identifies a card as does the answer "no."
Just a hint please?
From the problem, I can guess that the answer to the question I ask must expose only one of the aces, for if it exposed the jack or two aces, the location of all the cards would be known, and the problem only asks to find one ace. That's not hard reasoning, but a good guess.
The problem that I run into in this problem is that the answer to the question is ambiguous. It is difficult to distinguish between an honest answer and a false answer which are the same. I must find a question for which the answer "yes" unambiguously identifies a card as does the answer "no."
Just a hint please?