68 replies to this topic

[mmiguel]

Three gods A , B , and C are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A , B , and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are “da” and “ja”, in some order. You do not know which word means which.

[Rob_Gandy]

Spoiler for Q#1

A. Is your answer to this question a lie? OR B. Is your answer to this question the truth? Anyone you ask A will answer No and anyone you ask B will answer Yes. This will let you know which word is yes and which is no.

I think this is where I would start. Still working on Q#2 and 3.

[Yoruichi-san]

Assuming if you ask a god a question they can't answer, they'll say nothing or something completely different that means, like, 'error'...

Spoiler for

Ask two of them "If I ask you next 'Is the sky blue', will you answer da or ja?"

If one can't answer, he is the random answerer, otherwise both will answer which ever is yes and the third is the random.

Third question, ask one that answered yes to the first question, "Is the sky blue?" to discern if liar or truth teller.

[TheChad08]

Assuming if you ask a god a question they can't answer, they'll say nothing or something completely different that means, like, 'error'...

Spoiler for

Ask two of them "If I ask you next 'Is the sky blue', will you answer da or ja?"

If one can't answer, he is the random answerer, otherwise both will answer which ever is yes and the third is the random.

Third question, ask one that answered yes to the first question, "Is the sky blue?" to discern if liar or truth teller.

One issue is that you don't which (da or ja) means yes and which means no.

[phaze]

How omniscient are the 3 Gods?

By this I mean
Can the three identify each other?
and
Can the truth and lying God reliably predict what the random God is going to say if asked?

Edit: can they reliably predict what the random God will say in future?
Is the random God capable of changing his mind one he has decided to go down the path of truth or the path of lies? i.e is is possible to ask him the same question twice and get different answers

Edited by phaze, 18 September 2012 - 01:34 AM.

[Rob_Gandy]

Assuming if you ask a god a question they can't answer, they'll say nothing or something completely different that means, like, 'error'...

Spoiler for

Ask two of them "If I ask you next 'Is the sky blue', will you answer da or ja?"

If one can't answer, he is the random answerer, otherwise both will answer which ever is yes and the third is the random.

Third question, ask one that answered yes to the first question, "Is the sky blue?" to discern if liar or truth teller.

Spoiler for I wonder...

Will they try to be tricky and answer the question as "If I ask you a question will you answer with either da or ja?" True would say yes, False no and Random either. So assuming you can pose a question the Random can't answer, I would change the first question to "If I ask you next 'Is the sky blue', how will you respond?"

Now, I'm assuming that no matter what question you pose they will all be able to answer, so I'm still stumped for now.

[Yoruichi-san]

One issue is that you don't which (da or ja) means yes and which means no.

I meant whatever they answer will mean yes, since truth teller will truthfully answer 'yes' and liar would say 'no' to "is the sky blue", but he'd lie to this question and hence answer 'yes'.

Spoiler for I wonder...

Will they try to be tricky and answer the question as "If I ask you a question will you answer with either da or ja?" True would say yes, False no and Random either. So assuming you can pose a question the Random can't answer, I would change the first question to "If I ask you next 'Is the sky blue', how will you respond?"

Now, I'm assuming that no matter what question you pose they will all be able to answer, so I'm still stumped for now.

If it's truly random, there is no way they can answer every question...but if you want to assume they pre-agreed and memorized the lie/truth pattern of the Random teller...

Spoiler for One person here who doesn't know...

...is you . Ask: "If I knew which one of the three you were, then what would would I say you would answer to the question 'is the sky blue?'" to two of them, then follow up as above.

[Yoruichi-san]

If it's truly random, there is no way they can answer every question...but if you want to assume they pre-agreed and memorized the lie/truth pattern of the Random teller...

I.e, alternatively...

Spoiler for Ask...

If I ask you n more questions and then for the (n+1)th question asked "is the sky blue?", would you say the ja or da equivalent of 'yes'? Or, "If I ask you an infinite number of questions and one of those questions is "Is the sky blue", would you say...etc.

Edited by Yoruichi-san, 18 September 2012 - 05:30 AM.

[phaze]

Can we assume that they know what questions I am about to ask before I ask them?

[mmiguel]

Spoiler for Q#1

A. Is your answer to this question a lie? OR B. Is your answer to this question the truth? Anyone you ask A will answer No and anyone you ask B will answer Yes. This will let you know which word is yes and which is no.

I think this is where I would start. Still working on Q#2 and 3.

Not all will answer that way with certainty, just 2 of 3.