[3aidlillahi]

I'm taking a Philosophy and Religion course right now and we've had two exams. On each exam, we have an extra credit question that is a riddle. No one was able to figure out the first one (I can post that if you'd like to try) and I couldn't think of the solution to the one for the exam we just had today. See if you can solve it. Here it is:

On an island far far away, there are three men and only three men (what a sausage-fest). They all have blue faces but none of them know that they have blue faces. And on this island, there are no mirrors or any kind of reflective material, including water (imagine it's near an industrial city), so they can't determine that they have blue faces. And on this island there are two taboos:

1) If anyone finds out that they have a blue face, they will commit suicide by midnight of that day,

2) No one can tell another person that he (the other person) has a blue face.

So one day a stranger pops up on the island. He finds the three men and confronts them: "One of you has a blue face...," and says nothing more. Later that day that man leaves the island.

That night that the man leaves, nothing happens. The next night, nothing happens. However, on the following night, all three of the men kill themselves at midnight.

1) What happened? Why did they kill themselves?

2) What did the man say to them?
-----
Any thoughts on the solution?

I'm hoping that I didn't forget anything important. I didn't take the exam sheet with me and had to do this off of memory from seven hours ago, but I don't think that anything is really missing.

I've always loved riddles. They're good for stretching your brain and are pretty fun also. But I'm also pretty bad at them. Give it a try, if you'd like.

[Bas]

it's a lame riddle and your College sucks.

oh, and your professors' face is blue.

[Cog]

Ok its fairly simple. Lets say we can get in the mind of one of the blue faced men. When no one kills themselves the first night, the man concludes that that the odds of him being the blue faced man has increased from 33% to 50%. On the second day, no one kills himself so its logical to conclude that he must be the man with the blue face. According to the rules he kills himself on the third day.

All three men are thinking exactly the same thought about this which is why they all kill themselves the third day.

[Carlhole]

A man is walking down a long road. He comes to a poor little village and stops for a drink.

The villagers tell him that up the road a ways is a fork in the road. One fork leads to a beautiful city, the other leads to a life of enforced slavery. But none of the villagers has ever been able to figure out which of them leads to the beautiful city.

However, identical twin brothers live in a house at the fork in the road. One of them always tells the truth and the other always tells a lie. Whichever brother comes to the door will answer only one question.

What question do you ask in order to find your way to the beautiful city?

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen no one kills themselves the first night, the man concludes that that the odds of him being the blue faced man has increased from 33% to 50%.

[MD]

If there were two non-blue faces and one blue face, the blue face would have instant confirmation by the strangers statement, and therefore would be compelled to kill himself that night.

[MD]

Since no one died the first night, then everyone can assume that everyone else sees at least one blue face.

[MD]

Since no one died the second night, everyone can assume that everyone else sees two blue faces.

Therefore everyone has a blue face.

Therefore everyone dies the third night.

It wasn't a particularly difficult logic problem.

There was an island with three tribes....

[Carlhole]

Each of the 3 men has been told that "one of you has a blue face".

The 2 men who do not have a blue-face can see the man who has a blue-face. There is no reason for these men to kill themselves if they can already see the one man who has a blue-face.

You must have remembered the problem incorrectly.

[MD]

And another PO.com thread heads right for die off!

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'E')ach of the 3 men has been told that "one of you has a blue face".

The 2 men who do not have a blue-face can see the man who has a blue-face. There is no reason for these men to kill themselves if they can already see the one man who has a blue-face.

You must have remembered the problem incorrectly.

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'E')ach of the 3 men has been told that "one of you has a blue face".

The 2 men who do not have a blue-face can see the man who has a blue-face. There is no reason for these men to kill themselves if they can already see the one man who has a blue-face.

You must have remembered the problem incorrectly.

[HEADER_RACK]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'A') man is walking down a long road. He comes to a poor little village and stops for a drink.

The villagers tell him that up the road a ways is a fork in the road. One fork leads to a beautiful city, the other leads to a life of enforced slavery. But none of the villagers has ever been able to figure out which of them leads to the beautiful city.

However, identical twin brothers live in a house at the fork in the road. One of them always tells the truth and the other always tells a lie. Whichever brother comes to the door will answer only one question.

What question do you ask in order to find your way to the
beautiful city?

[Carlhole]

Each man is wondering if he has a "not-blue" face. And each of them notices that the other two are wondering if they have not-blue faces. It is only possible for all three men to wonder this for three nights.

After that, they all realize that none of them has a not-blue face and so they must kill themselves.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('HEADER_RACK', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'A') man is walking down a long road. He comes to a poor little village and stops for a drink.

The villagers tell him that up the road a ways is a fork in the road. One fork leads to a beautiful city, the other leads to a life of enforced slavery. But none of the villagers has ever been able to figure out which of them leads to the beautiful city.

However, identical twin brothers live in a house at the fork in the road. One of them always tells the truth and the other always tells a lie. Whichever brother comes to the door will answer only one question.

What question do you ask in order to find your way to the
beautiful city?

[smallpoxgirl]

Yeah. If only one of them had a blue face, then that person, seeing the other two white faces, would have known he was blue and committed suicide the first night. When no one does that it confirms that at least two of them have blue faces. The second night, each of the blues, seeing one white and one blue would have known he was the other blue and would have committed suicide. When THAT doesn't happen either, it confirms that all three of them have blue faces, so they all commit suicide.

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'Y')eah. If only one of them had a blue face, then that person, seeing the other two white faces, would have known he was blue and committed suicide the first night. When no one does that it confirms that at least two of them have blue faces. The second night, each of the blues, seeing one white and one blue would have known he was the other blue and would have committed suicide. When THAT doesn't happen either, it confirms that all three of them have blue faces, so they all commit suicide.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', ' ')
What question do you ask in order to find your way to the beautiful city?

[HEADER_RACK]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', ' ')
What question do you ask in order to find your way to the beautiful city?

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'H')ow far can a dog run into the woods?