another riddle anyone?? (Taoist, you ready for this one??)

[KotysDad]

Came across this at work.

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The warden meets with the 23 prisoners when they arrive. He tells them:

You may meet together today and plan a strategy, but after today you will be in isolated cells and have no communication with one another.

There is in this prison a "switch room" which contains two light switches, labelled "A" and "B", each of which can be in the "on" or "off" position. I am not telling you their present positions. The switches are not connected to any appliance. After today, from time to time, whenever I feel so inclined, I will select one prisoner at random and escort him to the "switch room", and this prisoner will select one of the two switches and reverse its position (e.g. if it was "on", he will turn it "off"); the prisoner will then be led back to his cell. Nobody else will ever enter the "switch room" until I am ready to call another prisoner.

Each prisoner will visit the switch room aribtrarily often. That is, for any N it is true that eventually each of you will visit the switch room at least N times.

At any time, any of you may declare to me: "We have all visited the switch room." If it is true (each of the 23 prisoners has visited the switch room at least once), then you will all be set free. If it is false (someone has not yet visited the switch room), you will all remain here forever, with no chance of parole.

Devise for the prisoners a strategy which will GUARANTEE their release.
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[yyz]

Are you fuhking mad?

 

[yyz]

Well, here's what I would do:

In the big meeting in the "yard", I would tell the other 22 stooges this.

When you go in for the first time, pick your nose, and wipe the greenie on the wall by the switches. When you see 22 boogers on the wall, you can tell the warden the jig is up!"


NEXT!

 

[JediCapper]

thats a riddle??!!! Unreal...

 

[KotysDad]

yyz,

LMAO...that's a good one, but unacceptable. But to be perfectly honest, you are thinking along the right lines lol The only flaw with your answer is that there would be no way to distinguish one prisoner's booger from the next without doing DNA testing, so for all we know the same prisoner was "picked" 23 straight times. Bad choice of words, but you get my point lol

Jedi,

Doesnt seem like it at first glance, but there is a real solution.

 

[Palmetto Pimp]

I dont even know if I can attempt this one
Need to relax first. Ill think about it later

 

[yyz]

KD,

Now remember........I stated that the first time each guy went in, he left a snot sample. I know it's snot the answer you wanted, but it would work!

 

[PerpetualCzech]

OK, this is good stuff. There are 4 possibilities for the switches' starting position: AA, AB, BA and BB. My gut feeling is that we can put them into 2 categories: "same" and "different" and also that the fact that there is an odd number of prisoners is significant.

That's all I have so far, but I'll try and report progress (if there is any!)

 

[KotysDad]

yyz.....:nono: lol Your answer would work assuming the boogers could hold their adhesiveness for that long. I guess theoretically you couldnt guarantee the adhesiveness would last, so I am going to have to discredit your answer. Sorry :moon: Remember, it could be months or years before the warden decides he wants to call the next prisoner. That would have to be one mighty strong booger. lol

PC,

Keep in mind the prisoners dont know the starting position of the switches.

 

[yyz]

Hold on! I've seen the same boogers on the shithouse walls at certain low-grade establishments, in and around the Cincinnati area for years!

 

[PerpetualCzech]

OK, next thoughts I have are that the strategy should follow something along the lines of "don't touch this particular switch until you see it's been changed from the last time you have visited"

Stil vague, I know - just thought I would try and show the lines of thinking ...

 

[yyz]

"don't touch this particular switch until you see it's been changed from the last time you have visited"

It would never get touched, then. Who would change it, if no one can?

 

[KotysDad]

OK, next thoughts I have are that the strategy should follow something along the lines of "don't touch this particular switch until you see it's been changed from the last time you have visited"

Stil vague, I know - just thought I would try and show the lines of thinking ...

PC,

You are on the right track now. Your thought should start with "dont touch this PARTICULAR switch UNLESS you see......." but now you have to finish the rest

YYZ,

Man, thats just simply disgusting.

 

[yyz]

Okay.........you stated that I was along the right line. I am guessing that the riddle has nothing to do with the light switches. They are merely there to throw the "riddle" a twist.

So, do the inmates each leave a sock in the room on their initial visit?

 

[PerpetualCzech]

I think it's something to do with "Follow this certain rule and count the number of times you see this particular switch change its position. When you get to 23, call the warden."

I'm trying to think now what this rule could be ...

 

[PerpetualCzech]

How about:

"Notice the position of the left switch on your first trip. Anytime you see the position of the left switch is different from your first trip then add one to your internal count. When your internal count gets to 23, call the warden"

 

[PerpetualCzech]

Whoops, I also need to add a rule about what switch to throw based on the left switch being different or the same from the previous visit.

This is going to take a while ... !

 

[KotysDad]

yyz,

I assure you the switches are not there to throw you off. In fact, they are the essense of the solution. When I said you were on the right track, I meant the part about keeping count of something. The something of course is the solution.

PC,

You are almost right on top of the solution. If I give you any more hints at this point, its gonna ruin your satisfaction of solving it yourself. But dont get off the track you are currently on - thats the only hint I wanna give at this point.

 

[PerpetualCzech]

Here is one I thought was good:

"Notice the position of the left switch on your first trip. Throw the right switch. Anytime you return and notice the left switch is different from your last trip flip it and add 1 to your internal count. If it is the same flip the right switch and add zero. When you get to 23 call the warden"

I was excited about it until I realized the left switch would never get flipped!

Damn ...

 

[PerpetualCzech]

OK, one small amendment to my last answer. Does this work?:

"Notice the position of the left switch on your first trip. Throw the LEFT switch. Anytime you return and notice the left switch is different from your last trip flip it and add 1 to your internal count. If it is the same flip the right switch and add zero. When you get to 23 call the warden"