[bonanova]

So I've been reading over on the Brainden site there

all about these logical puzzles, Alex said to no one in

particular last night. He'd been traveling - to broaden

his mind he claimed - and this was his first visit to

Morty's in more than a month.

Jamey laid down the darts he was throwing, while Davey

raised his mug in greeting and sauntered over to Alex's

table to hear more. Ian just leaned against the bar

and listened.

So there's these three blokes, see? One always lies.

Another always tells the truth. And the third one, well,

ya just never know what he's gonna say. Call them

A, B and C, in no particular order - just to keep it simple.

Now give a listen to what I heard them say:

A: O'Doul's is the drink I always choose.

B: C always tells the truth.

C: A hates O'Doul's.

Now I hope you took notes, continued Alex, [the slightest of

smiles becoming visible on his face] cuz I'm going to bet

10 quid that none of you geniuses can tell me which one of the

three was the guy who always tells the truth. What do you say?

Davey scratched his beard, and finally decided not to bet.

Jamey thought at first that he had it solved, but then he decided

there wasn't enough information. Ian finished his cold one,

and, with a wink to the others, wrote a single letter on his bar

bill, handed it to Alex and said, I'll bet this is the truthful bloke!

Assuming Ian was thinking clearly, which letter did he bet on,

and would you have made the bet?

[Guest]

I know who Ian bet on and why, and I'd make the same bet.

Only 3 possible configurations can fit what is said. Where T is the truth teller, F is the liar, and B is the random, only TFB, FBT, or TBF can fit. Any other configuration has the T lying or F telling a truth. Therefore you have a 2/3 shot that A is T. I'd take a 2/3 shot at winning 10 quid.

[Guest]

I know who Ian bet on and why, and I'd make the same bet.

Only 3 possible configurations can fit what is said. Where T is the truth teller, F is the liar, and B is the random, only TFB, FBT, or TBF can fit. Any other configuration has the T lying or F telling a truth. Therefore you have a 2/3 shot that A is T. I'd take a 2/3 shot at winning 10 quid.

But don't you think Alex knew this already also and thus chose the 1/3 chance option in throwing off Ian? But then you get into the Princess Bride scenario

[Guest]

I think I wrote this correctly...

C is stating something about A that he can not know unless A told him. As such A had to have told him and it had to be the truth when he told him... and the only way that is possible is if A is the truthteller.

But what if C drew the conclusion on his own... well again... he couldn't state what he said unless he knew it to be true (if he were the truthteller) so therefore C can't be the truthteller

[Guest]

I think I wrote this correctly...

C is stating something about A that he can not know unless A told him. As such A had to have told him and it had to be the truth when he told him

>>> Add... and C had to know that A was telling the truth when he told him... <<<<

... and the only way that is possible is if A is the truthteller.

But what if C drew the conclusion on his own... well again... he couldn't state what he said unless he knew it to be true (if he were the truthteller) so therefore C can't be the truthteller

[Guest]

One fact everyone forgot about.

There are three possible combinations (T = Truthteller, L = Liar, ? = The other guy):

TL?

T?L

LT?

L?T

?TL

?LT

Now, A cannot be ?. Look at what they say. Also, is A = L, then B cannot be T (because he says that C = T). That leaves:

TL?

T?L

L?T

Ian could have bet on A as the truthteller, but he didn't. Ian knows that A says he loves O'Douls, a non-alcoholic beer. You can never trust people that drink non-alcoholic beer because they are basically lying to themselves. So Ian would take A as the liar, which means C is the truthteller, and B both lies and tells the truth (telling the truth in this case).

[unreality]

A: O'Doul's is the drink I always choose.

B: C always tells the truth.

C: A hates O'Doul's.

T- truthteller

L- liar

R- random responses

scenarios for the ABC order:

TLR

TRL

RLT

RTL

LTR

LRT

we can simplify A, B and C's statements:

This is what they are saying when broken down:

A: (statement)

B: C is 'T'

C: A is not 'T'

Let's just look at B. If he is 'L', then A is not 'T', thus A would be 'R', and C would be 'T', who would be correct about A not being 'T'. Thus it can fit if B is 'L"

If B is 'T', then he is contradictory by saying C is 'T'. This is not possible. So we can remove any scenarios where the middle letter is 'T', leaving these four:

TLR

TRL

RLT

LRT

If B is 'R', then his own response doesn't matter, we have to look at C's. If C is 'T' than it isnt contradictory, same if C is 'L'. So that tells us nothing. The goal here is to eliminate possibilities.

Let's look at C now. If he is 'R' then by our previous elimination, A is 'T' and B is 'L'. That could work, so we cannot eliminate anything.

If C is 'L', then by previous elim, A is 'T' and B is 'R', thus we can ignore B. C would be lying about A not being 'T', so this could also work.

If C is 'T', then the other two are 'L' or 'R'. Since B is saying that C is 'T', then B is telling the truth, thus B is 'R', leaving A to be 'L'. This can fit too. However we can eliminate the RLT since if C is 'T' then it would be LRT, leaving these scenarios:

TLR

TRL

LRT

So moving onto A. If A is 'T' then B is lying and so is C. Since it's either 'R' or 'L' for them it doesn't matter, you can't eliminate.

If A is 'L' then C is telling the truth. B would be 'R' and would also be telling the truth, according to previous eliminations. No eliminations.

So let's reassess the three remaining situations:

TLR: A likes O'Doul's, C must be 'T' since B is 'L'- aha! We can eliminate this one! Leaving:

TRL

LRT

Either way B is 'R' now, meaning his statement about C being 'T' doesn't apply, it could be a lie or a truth.

in TRL, A likes O'Doul's and C is lying when he says A is not 'T', so A is 'T', which he is

in LRT, A's fav drink is not O'Doul's, and C was telling the truth about A not being 'T'

So there's no more eliminations. As far as I can tell its either TRL or LRT. I can't tell you who 'T' is but I can sure tell you who 'R' is

[Guest]

So I've been reading over on the Brainden site there

all about these logical puzzles, Alex said to no one in

particular last night. He'd been traveling - to broaden

his mind he claimed - and this was his first visit to

Morty's in more that a month.

Jamey laid down the darts he was throwing, while Davey

raised his mug in greeting and sauntered over to Alex's

table to hear more. Ian just leaned against the bar

and listened.

So there's these three blokes, see? One always lies.

Another always tells the truth. And the third one, well,

ya just never know what he's gonna say. Call them

A, B and C, in no particular order - just to keep it simple.

Now give a listen to what I heard them say:

A: O'Doul's is the drink I always choose.

B: C always tells the truth.

C: A hates O'Doul's.

Now I hope you took notes, continued Alex, [the slightest of

smiles becoming visible on his face] cuz I'm going to bet

10 quid that none of you geniuses can tell me which one of the

three was the guy who always tells the truth. What do you say?

Davey scratched his beard and decided not to bet. Jamey

thought at first that he had it solved, but then he decided

there wasn't enough information. Ian finished his cold one,

and with a wink to the others, wrote a single letter on his bar

bill, handed it to Alex and said, I'll bet this is the truthful bloke!

Assuming Ian was thinking clearly, which letter did he bet on,

and would you have made the bet?

I_think.doc

[Guest]

A: O'Doul's is the drink I always choose.

B: C always tells the truth.

C: A hates O'Doul's.

T- truthteller

L- liar

R- random responses

TLR: A likes O'Doul's, C must be 'T' since B is 'L'- aha! We can eliminate this one! Leaving:

Your logic is illogical, I believe. TLR is possible.

A: O'Doul's is the drink I always choose.

B: C always tells the truth.

C: A hates O'Doul's.

A is telling the truth and always drinks O'Doul's. B is lying by saying that C ALWAYS tells the truth, but it does not mean that C doesn't SOMETIMES tell the truth. So C could be lying or telling the truth, which in this scenario he is lying.

[unreality]

Ah yes. Thanks dude. My mistake!

So you can chop off the very bottom part of my spoiler after the following:

TLR

TRL

LRT

and thats what ur left with 2/3 is pretty good but not good enough for me