[rookie1ja]

Honestants and Swindlecants IX. - Back to the Logic Problems
After a hard day the gringo wanted some time to relax. But a few minutes later two aborigines wanted to talk to him. To make things clear, the gringo asked: "Is at least one of you an honestant?" After the answer, there was no doubt. Who are they and who answered?

Spoiler for Solution:

Honestants and Swindlecants IX. - solution
If the aborigine answered „Yes.”, the gringo would not have been able to identify them. That means, the answer had to be „No.“, and the one who said that was a liar and the other one was an honest man.

[Ploper]

didn't look at the answer
but if there is one honestant and one swindelcant then the identity is clear,
the honestant would say yes and the swindelcant would lie and say no.
but if both were honestants then they would both say yes.
and two swindelcants would lie and answer yes as well.
so the identity would only be clear if one was honest and the other lied.


I think.

[bonanova]

Quote

...the identity would only be clear if one was honest and the other lied...

There are 3 cases [HH, SS and HS] and in each
case one or the other of the Aborigines could have
answered. So the gringo could have heard any of
6 answers. As Ploper points out, 5 of these answers
will be Yes. Only one answer could be No: the answer
given by the Swindlecant in the case HS.

So the answer is - the gringo heard "No" and that
made it clear a Swindlecant was speaking and that
there was one of each.

A "Yes" answer gives no information about either point.

[BoilingOil]

Quote

Honestants and Swindlecants IX. - Back to the Logic Problems
After a hard day the gringo wanted some time to relax. But a few minutes later two aborigines wanted to talk to him. To make things clear, the gringo asked: "Is at least one of you an honestant?" After the answer, there was no doubt. Who are they and who answered?

Nice one:
If the islanders were both Honestants, the answer would have been "yes", regardless of who answered.
If the islanders were both Swindlecants, the answer would have been "yes", regardless of who answered.
If the islanders were an Honestant and a Swindlecant, the Honestant would answer "yes", but the Swindlecant would have said "No".
Since the gringo HAS NO DOUBT, it must mean that the two were an Honestant and a Swindlecant, and the latter answered the question.


I have a paperback somewhere that contains a large number of these riddles. There they are called the "Greens" who always tell the truth, and the "Pinks" who always lie. This book goes a little further though, and at some point it introduces a third breed, the "Whites" who alternate between telling the truth or lying. The only problem with them is, you never know what type their first answer will be.
I would post a few of them, but this may take a little time, because I would first have to locate the book, and then translate the riddles from Dutch to English.
Please let me know if there's anyone interested in taking a crack at some of those.


BoilingOil

[slmo]

Good one! Uncluttered, gettable with some common sense

[therealdonquixote]

They're Aussies!! Oy Oy Oy!!
The gringo spoke to aborigines... get it?

It was funnier in my head.

[kb3mkd]

BoilingOil, on Sep 28 2007, 09:21 PM, said:

Nice one:
If the islanders were both Honestants, the answer would have been "yes", regardless of who answered.
If the islanders were both Swindlecants, the answer would have been "yes", regardless of who answered.
If the islanders were an Honestant and a Swindlecant, the Honestant would answer "yes", but the Swindlecant would have said "No".
Since the gringo HAS NO DOUBT, it must mean that the two were an Honestant and a Swindlecant, and the latter answered the question.


I have a paperback somewhere that contains a large number of these riddles. There they are called the "Greens" who always tell the truth, and the "Pinks" who always lie. This book goes a little further though, and at some point it introduces a third breed, the "Whites" who alternate between telling the truth or lying. The only problem with them is, you never know what type their first answer will be.
I would post a few of them, but this may take a little time, because I would first have to locate the book, and then translate the riddles from Dutch to English.
Please let me know if there's anyone interested in taking a crack at some of those.


BoilingOil

just found this site.

please ost your questions.

[trojan2k8]

sorry but i didnt know which those words ment lol