[rookie1ja]

Pandora's Box I. - Back to the Logic Problems
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Pandora, who wanted a bright groom so she made up a few logic problems for the wannabe. This is one of them.
Based upon the inscriptions on the boxes (none or just one of them is true), choose one box where the wedding ring is hidden.

Golden box
The ring is in this box.

Silver box
The ring is not in this box.

Lead box
The ring is not in the golden box.

Spoiler for Solution:

Pandora's Box I. - solution
The given conditions indicate that only the inscription on the lead box is true. So the ring is in the silver box.

[pack_fanny]

yay! my brain worked. i got the answer!

[Joyce]

too easy

[tictoon]

um, shouldnt it be lead box? since either only 1 lie, or all of the boxes lie. so if gold is lying then its in the lead box because silver says : the ring is not in this box. if they were all lying, then the puzzle would be unsolvable because lead would say the ring is in golden box and golden would say its not

[pack_fanny]

i see your point tictoon. my gut still goes with the silver.

[fosley]

Instead of asking which box is lying, I asked "what if the ring was in X box" for each box, and I made a little truth table:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|		 | Gold	   | Silver		 | Lead		  |			 |
|		 | Ring here  | Ring not here  | Ring not gold | Total True  |
|---------+------------+----------------+---------------+-------------|
| Gold	|	 T	  |	   T		|	   F	   |	  2	  |
|---------+------------+----------------+---------------+-------------|
| Silver  |	 F	  |	   F		|	   T	   |	  1	  |
|---------+------------+----------------+---------------+-------------|
| Lead	|	 F	  |	   T		|	   T	   |	  2	  |
|---------+------------+----------------+---------------+-------------|
| None	|	 F	  |	   T		|	   T	   |	  2	  |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|

The left column is showing which box we're testing. The next column is whether the inscription on the Gold box is true if the ring is in a given box, then Silver and Lead inscriptions. Finally, we have how many inscriptions are true. There is only one possible answer--it can't even be in none of the boxes. Edit: The only answer is that it's in the silver box, because it's the only one with 0 or 1 true inscriptions (the other 3 options have too many true inscriptions).

[rookie1ja]

Quote

There is only one possible answer--it can't even be in none of the boxes.

You might have overlooked the most important condition - none or just one of the inscriptions is true. And your table indicates the same conclusion - ring is in the silver box.

[fosley]

I am in agreement with you. I was just showing tictoon another way to look at it.

[Spec1alGift]

W00t i solve it... kinda easy.. isnt it the silver box since both the silver and gold box are lying and the lead box is telling the truth

[kc teves]

yeah i think it is in the silver box!!!