SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Strategies & Market Trends : Dave Gore's Trades That Make Sense
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Bruce A. Brotnov who wrote (11124)8/11/2002 1:22:08 AM
From: mishedlo  Read Replies (2) of 16631
 
Mish, I'm not sure you an solve this with only one question to one farmer. If you ask the same question to all 3, then you can eliminate U.
Let's assume you ask the question of U and he/she lies and says T. If you had asked U instead they would also say T.

How do you know if the lie came from L or U? And if U told the truth and said L, you would have also gotten L from T and you wouldn't know if you had T or U telling the truth. What am I missing? Seems like you need to simultaneously ask the question of all 3 to eliminate the combinations of possible answers.

Bruce let me try again.
There are three farmers
Each of the farmers knows the others propensity to lie or tell the truth.
L always lies
T always tells the truth
U is random

Pick ANY farmer at random.

If you randomly ask L which of the other two farmers is more apt to tell a lie, he will ALWAYS lie and say "T", the only other choice being U

If you randomly ask T which of the other two farmers is more apt to tell a lie he will ALWAYS tell the truth say "L", the only other choice being U.

If you randomly ask U which of the other two farmers is more apt to tell a lie He may say anything. It does not matter. He will point to either L ot T at random but never himself.

If you chose the person selected that person will always be L or T and never U.

The first round goal was to eliminate all uncertainty.
Now you know you have a 100% liar or a 100% truthteller but the answer to ANY question you ask that person will ALWAYS be the same. You will not know if the answer is a lie or the truth but it will ALWAYS be consistent.

Hope you are with me.

You now get to ask this farmer one question and one question only to determine the correct fork in the road to take (the other leads you to cannibal land and gets you eaten). LOL

If you ask the farmer L he will always steer you wrong but if that farmer is T he will always steer you correct. So a direct question will not help.

Perhaps you need to think anbout this but try asking....
What WOULD you say If I WERE to ask you which is the correct way to go?

T will always tell you what he would say. T will always point to the correct path.
L will always lie about what he "hypothetically would say" since L ALWAYS lies. Let's assume that right is the correct fork and left the bad fork. If you ask L which fork to take he will ALWAYS lie and say "left". Since he would ALWAYS say "left" if you point blank asked him which way to go you need to be clever. Ask him what he "would say" and he MUST lie. He always lies. Since he MUST lie about what he would in fact say, he will say that he would tell you "RIGHT!". He is lying of course as he really would say left if you asked him.

In either case it does not matter.
You have evoked a "Right Fork" answer from T
You also have evoked a "Right Fork" answer from the liar.
You still do not know whether or not you are dealing with a liar or a truth teller but you know which fork to take.

M
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News