Cannibal Village problem.

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[feck]

Hi People,

I saw a movie a few years ago (the name now escapes me), where a problem was put forward that someone had to solve.

Here is what I can remember:

Your walking down a road, when you come to a fork in the road, a man is standing at this fork.
You know that at the end of each road is a village, one village is full of people who always tell the truth no matter what you ask them, and the other is full of liars, who never ever tell the truth.
The village full of liars are also human cannibals who always eat any outsiders that come to the village.

The man at the fork is from one of these villages, but sadly you do not know which village, this man will also only answer one question and one question only.

To proceed to the safe and truthful village what question should this man be asked?

Sorry if this at all sounds cryptic but the answer to this has been bugging me for some time. As I cannot also remember the movie I am stuck with no answer.

Does anyone out there know the answer to this and also if at all the movie in which it was stated.

Thanks

[akiy]

"Which road should I take to get to your village?"

-- Jun

[James Davis]

Four minutes? Well, that didn't take long. Nicely done June. :)

[Lucy Smith]

Wow. Jun, you ARE a god.

[Lucy Smith]

But there's another, shall we say "story" (we call them "acertijos" in spanish but I dunno the word in english) that is: you're in a room with 2 doors. One door leads to safety. The other to death. In front of each door there's a guy. One of them always lies and the other always tells the truth. You can only ask one question to each of them and it has to be the same question. What do you have to ask in order to know what door leads to safety?

[Neil Mick]

But there's another, shall we say "story" (we call them "acertijos" in spanish but I dunno the word in english) that is: you're in a room with 2 doors. One door leads to safety. The other to death. In front of each door there's a guy. One of them always lies and the other always tells the truth. You can only ask one question to each of them and it has to be the same question. What do you have to ask in order to know what door leads to safety?

Ask the first guy: is the other guy, the liar?

Then ask the 2nd guy: are you the liar?

If the answers are no, and no: then the 1st guy is the liar.
If the answers are yes, and no: then its obviously the converse.

[Dirk Hanss]

Ask the first guy: is the other guy, the liar?

Then ask the 2nd guy: are you the liar?

If the answers are no, and no: then the 1st guy is the liar.
If the answers are yes, and no: then its obviously the converse.
If the 1st one was a liar, the other one was not, so the 1st one said the truth and did not lie.

Better: Ask the first one: "If I ask the other one, would he tell me that you are a liar?" The liar has to say "No" the other one "Yes".
So than you can ask the other one. "Which door is safe". As you know, if he would lie, you know, where to go.

Dirk

[Josh Reyer]

If the 1st one was a liar, the other one was not, so the 1st one said the truth and did not lie.

Better: Ask the first one: "If I ask the other one, would he tell me that you are a liar?" The liar has to say "No" the other one "Yes".
So than you can ask the other one. "Which door is safe". As you know, if he would lie, you know, where to go.

Dirk

Except the rules are that you must ask the same question to both men.

Might as well take a page from the fork in the road question. Pick either one of the guys and ask "Which door would the other guy say leads to death?" Then you go through whichever door that is.

If you asked the truth-teller, he'll say "This one." So you go through his.

If you asked the liar, he'll say "That one." So you go through the other one.

[Taliesin]

You're one question would be. "If I ask the other one which road will lead to safety, what will he say". The Liar will point to the dangerous path and so will the truthfull one.

[Dirk Hanss]

OK, I had to read the details more carefully, but why then do you need to ask both. As both would point to the same, one question to one would be sufficient.
David's and Joshua's solutions are both equally good, if I understand it right.

Dirk

[Taliesin]

Both my and Joshua's answers are actually the same concept - but as I understood it you could only ask one question, not one question each

[Josh Reyer]

OK, I had to read the details more carefully, but why then do you need to ask both. As both would point to the same, one question to one would be sufficient.
Dirk

Well, that's what I was saying. The rules say you can ask both of them a question, but it has to be the same question. But AFAICT, you only need to ask one of them the one question. The "official" answer is probably slightly different from mine.

[Jim ashby]

Ask either one "which way would HE tell me to go"? Then you take the opposite path. If you asked the always truthful one he would tell you the way the liar wanted you to go I:E to your death, therefore you take the opposite path. If you asked the liar, he would lie to you telling you to take the dangerous path, therefore you also take the opposite path.
Clear? LOL

[Lucy Smith]

David's right. James, the thing is that the liar doesn't mean you any harm, he just lies. So you would need to ask "If I ask the other one which road will lead to safety, what will he say".
Solved. It took me longer to solve it when I heard it. But well I was like 8 or 9. So any of you guys knows another (how are this things called???)?

[Steve Mullen]

there's always the old one, a man has some hay, a goat and a lion, and needs to get them across a river, but his boat is too small to take them all at once. He can only fit himself and one of the three in the boat at a time, BUT if he leaves the goat with the hay it will eat the hay, and if he leaves the lion with the goat, same thing happens.

i will post another thread after this with the answer in a spoiler

[Steve Mullen]

He starts by taking the goat over (leaving the lion with they hay) he then comes back and takes the hay over, BUT he brings the goat back with him (leaving just the hay) he then takes the lion, comes back and gets the goat..

[Josh Reyer]

Not looking at the answer:

He takes the goat over first. Then he goes back and grabs the hay. He drops the hay off and takes the goat back with him. He leaves the goat and takes the lion with him. Drops the lion off with the hay and goes back for the goat.

*checks answer*

[Steve Mullen]

YEY!!!!!!!!! very well done Josh, you win the prize for being the first person to get it right.

And the prize is *opens golden envelope after pausing for dramatic effect* a week of shikko WELL DONE :D :D :D

[Lucy Smith]

OK this one is really difficult, and I don't know the answer, I think someone told me the answer some time, but I forgot.

There are 20 monks living in a monastery, with a vote of silence (I don't know if this is the way to say it: it means that they cannot speak), and no mirrors. One day a chief monk that sometimes comes to visit them, tells them that there are some of them (doesn't say how many) that are marked by the devil, with a spot on their forehead. The ones who are marked, need to kill themselves. As I said, they can't speak and they don't have any mirror or material on which to see themselves. How can the ones who are marked know if they are marked?

Good luck!!

[Josh Reyer]

OK this one is really difficult, and I don't know the answer, I think someone told me the answer some time, but I forgot.

There are 20 monks living in a monastery, with a vote of silence (I don't know if this is the way to say it: it means that they cannot speak), and no mirrors. One day a chief monk that sometimes comes to visit them, tells them that there are some of them (doesn't say how many) that are marked by the devil, with a spot on their forehead. The ones who are marked, need to kill themselves. As I said, they can't speak and they don't have any mirror or material on which to see themselves. How can the ones who are marked know if they are marked?

Good luck!!

Had to Google the answer, but since I asker didn't even know the answer, I don't feel bad. :D ;)

However many monks have the mark, they will kill themselves that number days later. Here's how it works. Let's say there is one monk with the mark. He looks around, sees no one else has the mark, and kills himself that night. If you had two monks with the mark, each would only see one person with the mark, so they would wait. But when that person didn't kill themselves (because they saw only one other guy with the mark, and were waiting to see what he would do), each would realize that he too has the mark, and would kill himself on the on the second day. If you had three monks, they would all realize they themselves had the mark on the 3rd day. And so on.

Here's a new one I found while looking for the above answer. I think it's pretty easy, compared to the monk one. You are at a party with only truth-tellers and liars. One guy says something to you, but you don't hear it. A second guy tells you, "He said he's a liar." A third guy says to the second, "You're lying!" Is the third guy a liar or a truth teller?

[Hanna B]

But there's another, shall we say "story" (we call them "acertijos" in spanish but I dunno the word in english) that is: you're in a room with 2 doors. One door leads to safety. The other to death. In front of each door there's a guy. One of them always lies and the other always tells the truth. You can only ask one question to each of them and it has to be the same question. What do you have to ask in order to know what door leads to safety?

Actually, you do not need to ask them both. Asking one question to one of them is enough, if you find the correct question to ask. It doesn't matter either where in the room they are standing, but for the point of drama sure it looks better if they are standing each in front of a door.

Edit: gaah, I see it has already been covered in the cannibal village problem.

[Dirk Hanss]

Had to Google the answer, but since I asker didn't even know the answer, I don't feel bad. :D ;)

However many monks have the mark, they will kill themselves that number days later. Here's how it works. Let's say there is one monk with the mark. He looks around, sees no one else has the mark, and kills himself that night. If you had two monks with the mark, each would only see one person with the mark, so they would wait. But when that person didn't kill themselves (because they saw only one other guy with the mark, and were waiting to see what he would do), each would realize that he too has the mark, and would kill himself on the on the second day. If you had three monks, they would all realize they themselves had the mark on the 3rd day. And so on.

Here's a new one I found while looking for the above answer. I think it's pretty easy, compared to the monk one. You are at a party with only truth-tellers and liars. One guy says something to you, but you don't hear it. A second guy tells you, "He said he's a liar." A third guy says to the second, "You're lying!" Is the third guy a liar or a truth teller?

The third one said the truth.
A truth-teller would never say, he is a liar, because that would be a lie. A liar would never say he is a liar, because that is the truth. So "He said he is a liar" is never true, the second one is a liar and the third one said the truth.

It is the firt time I used the spoiler, and it is very useful for this thread.
Dirk

[Mark Freeman]

There was a policeman walking along a path, next to a high wall. From the other side of the wall he hears a woman's voice say "John, don't do it!" then he hears a gun shot. As he gets to the gate in the wall, he sees a woman laying shot on the floor, a gun beside her. There are a Doctor a Lawyer and a Milkman standing by the body. The policeman walks up to the Milkman and arrests him.
How did he know it was the Milkman?

[Jim ashby]

The Doctor and Lawyer were both women.

[Lucy Smith]

LOL. Good one.

OK, this one is really stupid, but well...

There's a black car, with black windows, and black seats, with a black driver dressed in black, going through a black street with no lights and tall trees on each side. The car has no lights either. Suddenly, an old black blind lady dressed entirely in black, with black shoes and a black hat, crosses the street close to the black car. The black driver stops and doesn't hit her. How did he know she was there?

[Josh Reyer]

LOL. Good one.

OK, this one is really stupid, but well...

There's a black car, with black windows, and black seats, with a black driver dressed in black, going through a black street with no lights and tall trees on each side. The car has no lights either. Suddenly, an old black blind lady dressed entirely in black, with black shoes and a black hat, crosses the street close to the black car. The black driver stops and doesn't hit her. How did he know she was there?

It's day time.

[Lucy Smith]

Told ya it was stupid

[Mark Uttech]

What did the fish say when he swam into a concrete wall?

"Dam."

[Taliesin]

Without checking the spoiler - my guess is that the driver who isn't blind saw her white stick

[Lucy Smith]

There's a dead man in the desert with a straw in his hand. What happened?

[Mark Freeman]

There's a dead man in the desert with a straw in his hand. What happened?

He was standing in a lake with a straw and was very very very thirsty??

[Mark Uttech]

He happened to have the straw that broke the camel's back

[Lucy Smith]

Important clue: it's a short straw.

[Steve Mullen]

He and others were stranded in the desert and drew straws t find out who shoukld go for water, he drew the shortest one, and sadly did not make it.

[Lucy Smith]

Something like that, but not quite.

If I only knew how to make a spoiler.

[Dirk Hanss]

Something like that, but not quite.

If I only knew how to make a spoiler.
It is easy like this:
Just quote a spoiler post and you can see how it is done. You do not have to submit the reply

[Dirk Hanss]

There's a dead man in the desert with a straw in his hand. What happened?
My idea sounds too simple:
5 people had to jump out of a plane, but onlye 4 parachutes, so they drew straws
Many similar variations thought of.


Dirk

[Lucy Smith]

My idea sounds too simple:
5 people had to jump out of a plane, but onlye 4 parachutes, so they drew straws
Many similar variations thought of.


Dirk


Close. The exact thing: they were on an airship that started to go down so they needed to loose weight... imagine the rest

[Lucy Smith]

A king shows a slave that has misbehaved two pieces of paper. He tells him "in the other side, in one of them is written YES and in the other one NO, if you choose the one which says YES, you'll live, if not, you'll die". But the slave is able to see for a second that both the papers say NO. What can he do to save himself?

Very frustrating really, when they told me the answer...

[Mark Uttech]

the slave lied?

[Taliesin]

The Slave took one of the pieces of paper, put it in his mouth and swallowed it. Then he told the king - I don't know what was written on that piece of paper, but if the one left says NO then i must have chosen the one that says YES

[Mark Uttech]

so I was right; the slave lied.

[deepsoup]

It doesn't matter what the slave does, he's still a slave and the king wants him dead, therefore he'll die. The king gets to write the small print, and there'll always be a clause in there somewhere that says the slave gets it.

Call me cynical, but you know I'm right. :confused:

[Lucy Smith]

David's right. How did you do it? :confused:
I'm getting scared now.

;)

The king didn't kill him after all. He lived happily ever after.

[Taliesin]

Lucy

I'd love to claim that it is my awesome perception and towering intellect that allowed me to get the answer so quickly. Unfortunately since don't have ant awesome perception or towering intellect I'll just have to admit that I've come across a variation of that one before.

[Lucy Smith]

Mmm I understand now... cheater!! Well I've got another one for you Mr. lets see if you can cope with it's devastating mystery and the horror of the irremediable doubt evileyes

How do you put a giraffe inside of a fridge??

[Taliesin]

Lucy

How can it be cheatring to answer a question, honestly using my own brainpower (since memory is a brain function)

As far as how do you put a giraffe inside a fridge? - My guess is that you put grass in the bottom of the fridge and when it walks in you have one leg in each corner with the head bent down to eat the grass. Then you close the door

Secondly you write the words "a giraffe" on a piece of paper and put the paper in the fridge (works for a model/toy giraffe as well.

Thirdly put someone or something with the name "a giraffe" in the fridge.

PS - I have another answer but I'm sure you REALLY wouldn't like that one.

[Lucy Smith]

You mean like a "Jack the Ripper" solution?
Well see, you couldn't answer this one mwaahahahahahahaha
The answer: you open the fridge door, you put the giraffe inside, you close the fridge door.
Too much for you, I know evileyes

:D ;) :cool:

[Taliesin]

Lucy

Mine is easier as the giraffe goes in on it's own.

But since we have now established your level (meow), you shouldn't have any problems with the following questions

1. What is brown and sticky?

2. What's orange and sounds like a Parrot?

[Lucy Smith]

1. A very sweaty 1st kyu obi :confused:

2. A carrot evileyes


:p

[Taliesin]

Never mind Lucy

Half marks is usually a pass.

[Lucy Smith]

Aren't u gonna tell me the right answers??? :(

Anyway, the Lion King calls every animal in the jungle for a party. Only one animal misses it. Which one?

[Taliesin]

What's brown and Sticky? - A stick

In answer to your question - The Giraffe (because it's in the fridge)

[Lucy Smith]

Interesting...

Well I'm out of extraordinarily smart questions, which I must say you somewhat managed to answer very well indeed. So, I guess now ya all Aikidokas out there will post some more???

[Taliesin]

Here's one for you Lucy and everyone else.

My dad is one of two only children my paternal grandparents had.

How is this possible?

[James Davis]

Here's one for you Lucy and everyone else.

My dad is one of two only children my paternal grandparents had.

How is this possible?
The first only child passed away?

[Taliesin]

Bugger!!!

[Steve Mullen]

okay, as this is an increasing problem faced by us all i thought id give you some advice, posed in the form of a riddle.

You get beamed up by an alien (don't you just hate it when that happens) and he tells you that you have to say one thing, but weather this statement is the truth, or a lie decides what punishment you receive

If you LIE you get shot by his ray gun
If you tell the TRUTH you get blasted out of an air lock

What can you say to the alien which will result in you coming to no harm???

[Steve Mullen]

you say to the alien, you are going to shoot me....... ill explain. if you say you are going to shoot me and your statement was true, you would be shot out of an air lock, which would in turn make your statement a lie, which would mean you would get shot, which would make the original statement true etc etc

a bit sad but quite a good paradox

[Talon]

OK this one is really difficult, and I don't know the answer, I think someone told me the answer some time, but I forgot.

There are 20 monks living in a monastery, with a vote of silence (I don't know if this is the way to say it: it means that they cannot speak), and no mirrors. One day a chief monk that sometimes comes to visit them, tells them that there are some of them (doesn't say how many) that are marked by the devil, with a spot on their forehead. The ones who are marked, need to kill themselves. As I said, they can't speak and they don't have any mirror or material on which to see themselves. How can the ones who are marked know if they are marked?

Good luck!!

In this one with the complicated solution...Why don't the monks just point at the ones with the mark? Would'nt that be easier? Or stare at the marks. It seems like the posted answer for this one is way too complicated when simpeler solutions exist.

[Dirk Hanss]

In this one with the complicated solution...Why don't the monks just point at the ones with the mark? Would'nt that be easier? Or stare at the marks. It seems like the posted answer for this one is way too complicated when simpeler solutions exist.
Yes, but some monks lie, even if they just point with fingers.
As a young boy, I was told pointing to people with fingers is not good habit either. And strict monks are not allowed to communicate to equals at all, not even to smile to tell them they are OK.

Dirk (knowing that these kind of quizzes were initially intended to teach mathematic prove techniques) :D

[happysod]

Really sad one from the bumper book of jokes nobody really likes or finds funny...

Imagine a duck inside a glass bottle. How do you get the duck outside of the bottle without damaging the bottle or hurting the duck. The neck of the bottle is too small for the duck's body to pass through and the bottle contains no other egresses

You imagined the duck inside the bottle, now imagine the duck outside the bottle

[Amir Krause]

There are 20 monks living in a monastery, with a vote of silence (I don't know if this is the way to say it: it means that they cannot speak), and no mirrors. One day a chief monk that sometimes comes to visit them, tells them that there are some of them (doesn't say how many) that are marked by the devil, with a spot on their forehead. The ones who are marked, need to kill themselves. As I said, they can't speak and they don't have any mirror or material on which to see themselves. How can the ones who are marked know if they are marked?

Spoiling hint (how to create a hiding button?):
It may take them a few days.

Each can see all the others and assumes they are as smart as himslef.

Amir

[Mark Freeman]

Really sad one from the bumper book of jokes nobody really likes or finds funny...

As Duck jokes go, that was particularly lame Ian :p

[emma.mason15]

ok .. i have one for you!

Peter and Lucy are laying dead in locked room. The only window is locked too. there is broken glass on the floor and a puddle of water... who murdered Peter and Lucy and HOW?

[Taliesin]

Are Peter and Lucy the same species as 'Anthony and Cleopatra'??

[James Davis]

Are Peter and Lucy the same species as 'Anthony and Cleopatra'??
Nah. They're fish.

[emma.mason15]

damnit! .... well done to James .... I was quite proud of that one!

[James Davis]

damnit! .... well done to James ....
and here I thought she would threaten my life! :p

[Lucy Smith]

I'm a fish?? :crazy: :freaky: :confused:


Well, that one made me remember one:
There's a man hanging from a rope that's around his neck, in a room that's locked from the inside, and there's water in the floor. How could he die, who killed him and how can the room be locked from the inside???

[James Davis]

I'm a fish?? :crazy: :freaky: :confused:


Well, that one made me remember one:
There's a man hanging from a rope that's around his neck, in a room that's locked from the inside, and there's water in the floor. How could he die, who killed him and how can the room be locked from the inside???
The block of ice that he stood on to hang himself melted. ;)

[Taliesin]

The second part is that he locked the door himself. - BTW Lucy - if thought I was annoying, what do you think about James

[Dirk Hanss]

If it was suicide, he did not need the ice block, if it was murder, there are still issues to solve.

I didn't yet.

Dirk

[Mark Uttech]

the man locked the door, hung himself and in the process of dying, "made water"

[Steve Mullen]

If it was suicide, he did not need the ice block, if it was murder, there are still issues to solve.

I didn't yet.

Dirk

he stood on the ice block to make sure he was high enough, then when he stepped off and hung himself the ice started to melt.

[Steve Mullen]

As Duck jokes go, that was particularly lame Ian :p

After reading that joke i think Ian is quackers :drool: sorry :yuck:

[Lucy Smith]

If it was suicide, he did not need the ice block, if it was murder, there are still issues to solve.

I didn't yet.

Dirk

He needed the ice block to stand on it. You guys solved it... :grr:
I'll come up with something... not sure what yet... but you won't be able to solve it, I can tell you :mad: :disgust: :rolleyes:

P.S.: I got my new gi and brand-new white belt yesterday :p
It needed to be said somewhere... :o

[Bronson]

The newest Order Of The Stick (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript).

Bronson