Here's a nice problem I've found on another site, hope it's not posted here before.
Two prisoners are given a chance to escape jail by winning a card game which works as follows:
The guard randomly selects five cards out of a normal deck (52 cards, no jokers) and gives them to prisoner #1 (say, Alyson).
She must then give four of the cards, one at a time, to prisoner #2 (Brian).
After receiving the four cards, Brian must then determine what Alyson's 5th card is.
They're given the day prior to discuss strategy, but while the game is going on they can communicate only with the cards. Alyson can't bend the cards or mark them somehow, and she can't delay giving cards to Brian in order to make some kind of timer signal.
To be generic, if she thinks of any way to communicate with Brian other than the cards, then the guard will think of a foolproof way of stopping it.
So, what's their game plan?
(PS. It's an evil jail and the two prisoners are fighters for righteousness, so we want them to escape. )
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Here's a nice problem I've found on another site, hope it's not posted here before.
Two prisoners are given a chance to escape jail by winning a card game which works as follows:
The guard randomly selects five cards out of a normal deck (52 cards, no jokers) and gives them to prisoner #1 (say, Alyson).
She must then give four of the cards, one at a time, to prisoner #2 (Brian).
After receiving the four cards, Brian must then determine what Alyson's 5th card is.
They're given the day prior to discuss strategy, but while the game is going on they can communicate only with the cards. Alyson can't bend the cards or mark them somehow, and she can't delay giving cards to Brian in order to make some kind of timer signal.
To be generic, if she thinks of any way to communicate with Brian other than the cards, then the guard will think of a foolproof way of stopping it.
So, what's their game plan?
(PS. It's an evil jail and the two prisoners are fighters for righteousness, so we want them to escape. )
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