39 replies to this topic

[rookie1ja]

Honestants and Swindlecants I. - Back to the Logic Problems
These are typical logic problems which can be solved by using classic logic operations.
There are two kinds of people on a mysterious island. There are so-called Honestants who speak always the truth, and the others are Swindlecants who always lie.
Three fellows (A, B and C) are having a quarrel at the market. A gringo goes by and asks the A fellow: "Are you an Honestant or a Swindlecant?" The answer is incomprehensible so the gringo asks B: "What did A say?" B answers: "A said that he is a Swindlecant." And to that says the fellow C: "Do not believe B, he is lying!" Who is B and C?

This old topic is locked since it was answered many times. You can check solution in the Spoiler below.
Pls visit New Puzzles section to see always fresh brain teasers.

Spoiler for Solution

Honestants and Swindlecants I. - solution
It is impossible that any inhabitant of such an island says: „I am a liar.“ An honestant would thus be lying and a swindlecant would be speaking truth. So B must have been lying that A said "I (A) am swindlecant" and therefore B is a swindlecant. And that means that C is telling the truth saying B is lying – so C is an honestant. However, it is not clear what is A.

[babygurl456321]

Actually, if you figure B is a swindlecant and he said that A was a swindlecant, that means he lied and A is really an honestant. So you can figure out who everyone it.

[fosley]

babygurl456321, I don't think it works that way. B said "A said he's a Swindlecant", not "A is a Swindlecant". If A is an Honestant, he must tell the truth and say "I am an Honestant", and if A is a Swindlecant, he must lie and say "I am an Honestant". Regardless of what A is, he will say the same thing, so we can't know for sure what he is unless we ask him what someone else says they are.

[PhuCho]

Since A is going to say Honestant in both cases B is lying so he is Swindlecant and C is telling the truth he is an Honestant

[mafroorfam]

The fact is that A would be a honestant because b said A said that A is a swindlecant and because B is a swindlecant that means B was lying which means A really said that it was a honestant so A is a honestant. simple really.

[bonanova]

Since A is going to say Honestant in both cases B is lying so he is Swindlecant and C is telling the truth he is an Honestant

This is correct.

The final bit of analysis is that we can't know what A is.

[mart3323]

If A is honestant he/she will say honestant.
If A is swindlecant he/she will say honestant.
So if B says that A says swindlecant he/she must be lying making him/her a swindlecant.
Please excuse my poor english as i am from Estonia.

[controller]

Why doesn't the guy just ask a question he already knows the awnser to like what color is my hair?

[KBHoleN1]

Why doesn't the guy just ask a question he already knows the awnser to like what color is my hair?

Are you serious? The point of the puzzle is to make you think, not wish the answer was easier. If the answer was that simple, the riddle wouldn't be very fun, now would it?

[Some Guy]

A is an Honestant OR a Swindlecant; B is a Swindlecant; C is an Honestant.

Let's explore why this is true by focusing on the boolean value of whether or not B is an Honestant or SwindleCant:

Case I: B is an Honestant.

In this case if B is an Honestant, then this will mean that C is a Swindlecant.
More importantly, it will mean that A stated that he is a Swindlecant.

If we explore the logic of A's presumed statement, it can not be a plausible statement because:
1.) If A was an indeed a Swindlecant, he would not state that he is a SwindleCant.
(Given the nature of Swindlecants, he would lie and state that he is an Honestant.)
2.) If A was an Honestant, he would not state that he is a Swindlecant.
(Given the nature of Honestants, he would tell the truth and state that he is an Honestant.)

Either way, A can not state that he is a Swindlecant.
Logically, A MUST state that he is an Honestant, whether he truly is or not.


Case II: B is a Swindlecant.

In this case, if B is a Swindlecant, then this will mean that C is an Honestant.
More importantly, it would mean that A stated that he is an Honestant.

A could either be telling the truth and be an Honestant OR A could be lying and be a Swindlecant.


Conclusion:
Combining the knowledge from Case I and Case II, we can arrive at the result that A can be either an Honestant OR a Swindlecant; B must be a Swindlecant; C must be an Honestant.