bonanova

You run across three persons, each of whom is a knight [truthteller] or a liar You ask them, How many of you are knights? Person 1: Snagglefartz. You ask, What does snagglefartz mean? Person 2: It means one. Person 3: It does not! Who are they?

Nice ... !

Unreality asked: So let me get this right: Knaves do either of the following for three questions: lie-truth-lie OR truth-lie-truth Am I getting that right? Correct Writersblock asked: Do you mean Bob, or is this a lie based on the wrong name, or irrelevant because of the wrong name? My bad. Bert/Bob is a typo. You got it. Nice work. Question for you... what is chance Al is the Lying Knave (Lying in response to queries 1 and 3)? And here is why... Interesting question.

Remember knaves alternately tell the truth and lie. After their first response they're deterministic. Hint: use Notepad and save often, then copy into your reply.

In the weird land of KKL, Knights always tell the truth, Knaves alternately tell the truth and lie and Liars always lie. You have been sent on assignment to KKL to learn the ways of the natives and explore ways of identifying their type. A guide leads you to a dark alley and introduces you to Al, Bob and Chuck, who agree to answer exactly three questions. It's too dark to see their faces, you don't know which type of citizen each is, you can't tell which of them is speaking, and they reply in random order. Although they answer anonymously, you must determine which type of citizen they are. You decide to start with the direct approach and then play it by ear: [1] I'd like to know what type of citizens I'm talking with. Please tell me. Sure thing. Myself, I'd be misleading you if I didn't tell you I'm a knight. Hate to admit it, but I'm the unreliable one, being as how I'm a knave. Don't listen to anything I tell you mate, I'm a bloody liar. [2] OK great, thanks for that. But I wonder whether there really is one of each type. Maybe there's more than one of some type. Can you comment specifically on that? Pretty shrewed, aren't you? Well, you're right - it turns out we're all the same type. Forget him. We told you already: there's exactly one of each type here. Aww, they're both messing with you: actually, there's exactly two of one type here. [3] OK well that's pretty confusing. For a final question, it might help just to talk about Al. Would you tell me what type of citizen Al is? I think that will tell me all I need to know. Why all the attention for Al? He's just a knave. No way! Al is a liar! Well I'll tell you this much, whatever Al is, Bert Bob is something else. OK guys, thanks a lot. I think now I know what type Chuck is. And let's see ... what type Al is ... and also Bob. Are you messing with us, or do you really know?

I thought of seeing what happened if you do that. But if you don't pour 1/2 liter each time, the jars start containing unequal amounts of liquid after a set of pours. I didn't think there'd be a chance of equal distribution of liquids in that case.

That's usually handled automatically by the software, which places an edit history [last edited on ___ ; ___ edits total] at the end of the post if another post is made before the edit. The editor can then append a note saying "Edited to clarify the pouring rules," or some such. I suppose there is some merit to locking after 10 minutes, but it does have the drawback of keeping things from being fixed or, say, withdrawing a spoiler, etc. without forum owner's intervention.

Clarify: you pour 1/2 liter from Jar3 to Jar1, not 1/2 of Jar3's mix, which would be 3/4 of a liter.

This is a classic puzzle, most recognizably called the Monty Hall problem. It's been posted elsewhere in this discussion board.

Way to go Ploper!

Roolstar gave a good clue:

Here are four questions that work. Select the least desirable Princess and call her A.

The clunker in this riddle is Princess Mischievous. You might, unknowingly, ask your question of her, and her answer is useless!

I believe there are at least three questions that work.

[tongue placed firmly in cheek] Well it would have to be one from the Alex and Morty's series; modesty prevents me from choosing one. [tongue removed from cheek]

[1] Alfred will survive - 1/3 chance; or [2] Bob will survive - 2/3 chance. I don't see why that's [a] incorrect, or incomplete.