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Old 07-07-2010, 05:26 PM   #43
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffC View Post
You know, I'm still not convinced ....

Spoiler:

A sees 8. So A knows that B sees either 2 or 5.
A knows that if B sees 2, he will know that A sees either 8 or 11.


Each night provides the same scenario .....
How does that give them the answer of 10 or 13 - it still leaves them each night not knowing ..... there is no new information between night one and any of the succeeding nights .... !?

OK, I'll try to explain using the example you've started, looking only at what wise man A can know.

Spoiler:
BTW, the new information is that the other person could not work out the answer.

1st day
A sees 8 towns. A knows that B sees 2 or 5 towns, but does not know which.
A knows that
if B sees 2 towns, B will know that A sees 8 or 11 towns
if B sees 5 towns, B will know that A sees 5 or 8 towns.
A knows that A doesn't know how many towns there are, and that B doesn't know how many towns there are. However, B does not know that A does not know how many towns there are. If B sees 2 towns, B will know that A sees 8 or 11 towns, and if A sees 11 towns, A would know there were 13 towns.

A knows that A doesn't know how many towns there are. But there's a possibility that B knows that there's a possibility that A knows.

1st evening: Neither knows, they stay imprisoned.

2nd day
A now knows that B knows that A does not see 11 towns (because if A saw 11 towns, they would both now be free). A knows that if B sees 2 towns, B will now know that A sees 8 towns. But A also knows that it's still a possibility that B sees 5 towns.

A knows that A still doesn't know how many towns there are. But A also knows that there's a possibility that B now knows how many towns there are — if B sees 2 towns, he knows that A sees 8.

2nd evening: A doesn't know. As it happens, B doesn't see 2 towns, he sees 5, so he still doesn't know whether A sees 8 or 5 towns. They stay imprisoned.

3rd day:
A now knows that B does not see 2 towns, as if B saw 2 towns, B would have known on the second day that A saw 8 towns not 11 towns, and they'd both now be free.

So A now knows that B sees 5 towns.

3rd evening: A knows that B sees 5 towns, so tells the Gaoler that there are 13 towns, and A & B are freed.


HTH

Last edited by pdurrant; 07-07-2010 at 05:29 PM.
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