Three warriors of an enemy tribe are captured. They will be tortured and killed. First they are taken into a wigwam where in total darkness they can choose a headscarf from a bucket. In the bucket there are 5 headscarfs: 3 white, 2 red. The three warriors had to choose one headscarfs a man and to put it on. Then they are told they can save the lives of all three of them if one of them will be able to tell correctly what is the color of his headscarfs. Then they are taken out of the wigwam in such a way the every warrior can see only the warriors in front of him (eg. The third warrior in the row can see the second and the first warrior, the second can see only the first and the first can see nobody.) Thus: they cannot se their own headscarfs…They stand silent for a minute and then the first warrior shouts: We are saved, the color of my scarf is….


What is the color of his scarf..(please (since there are only two choices) argue the choice (why it was correct).

ProCop,

These things can be tricky but it would seem that he was wearing a white scarf and knew so since he saw the other two had on red scarfs.

ProCop,

These things can be tricky but it would seem that he was wearing a white scarf and knew so since he saw the other two had on red scarfs.

the first one (who shouts the collor) cannot see the two other warriors because they stand behind him. He can only reason with logic....but still the riddle is precise (not vague) with one sollution only.

Since they stood silent for a minute I assume they had a system

The third one didn't know what colour his headscarf was because the other two where either both white or white and red, so he said nothing.

The second one didn't say anything because the scarf in front of him was white, if it had been red he could have safely assumed that his was white.

The first one knew his was white since neither of the others said anything.

Since they stood silent for a minute I assume they had a system

The third one didn't know what colour his headscarf was because the other two where either both white or white and red, so he said nothing.

The second one didn't say anything because the scarf in front of him was white, if it had been red he could have safely assumed that his was white.

The first one knew his was white since neither of the others said anything.


The winner! Good reasoning.

I disagree, I think they probably weren't allowed to talk in the first place, after all, their captors went to such great pains to make sure they never saw the colours of their scarves, so they surely weren't going to let them communicate in any way.

The first warrior, realising the impossibility of the task, merely had the guts to take a guess, based on the law of averages.

I disagree, I think they probably weren't allowed to talk in the first place, after all, their captors went to such great pains to make sure they never saw the colours of their scarves, so they surely weren't going to let them communicate in any way.

The first warrior, realising the impossibility of the task, merely had the guts to take a guess, based on the law of averages.


They didn't communicate. The decision was not based on averages. Try to figure what would/could you do if you were 3rd, then second and finally the first warrior:

3rd could only call the color if he saw 2 reds (the 2nd and the first must have figured that too - which means that (at least) one scarf is white)

2nd couldn't call any collor (but he new that the first has white (so he himself had to have or white or red one)

1st reasons: 3rd didn't call that means thar or I or the second have the red one (or both white ones) - but the second didn't call (he would call "white" if he saw I had red one) so I must have white!

No previous agreement needed - only good understanding of the posibilities and timed elimination of these possibilities.

Since they couldn't say anything they devised a methold of noises to make to inform the one ahead what colour he had on. A cough or a sniffle could be the way of expressing what the one ahead could have had on.

Another methold would be a shuffling of the feet. two shuffles could mean red while one shuffle could be white.

Just because they can't say anything doesn't mean they cannot communicate other ways.

They also could have talked one of the warriors into helping them out by nodding his head at the one with the red one.

There are many posibilities that I can think about so there's allot of ways this can be solved not just the way you thought it could be.

Assume that the prisoners were being observed very carefully and so that they couldn't communicate at all and neither did they make a deal with a guard.

The 3rd prisoner can see the 2 in front and is the only one with a chance to tell the colour of his own scarf, but only if the 2 in front are both wearing red. As he doesn't call, it can only mean that the 2 in front of him are either both wearing white, or one is wearing red and one is wearing white (but which one?)

Now, based on this knowledge, how did the 1st prisoner know that he was wearing white, when it could just as easily have been the red?

because if he was wearing red, the second prisoner would have said that his own headscarf was white since he knew from the third prisoner's silence that at least one of them is wearing white.

Ok, now I get it.

continuing form tablariddim's answer we now know atleast that the first two prisoners are'nt wearing red.now the possiblities are 1w-2w,1r-2w and 1w-2r.
the second prisoners knows this thru 3rd prisoner's silence.if he could see red scarf on first prisoners head that meant he would definitely be wearing white. and since he does not say anything means the first prisoner can only be waring white. solves the mystery,buddy!!

what is the guy at th the front had red, the second guy had white and the thrid had red, then they whould have no idea, right, or am I just not thinking clearly right now. How would the three people know how many scarfs there were of each colour?