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roolstar

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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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Well I did the "SEARCH" thing and nothing came up, so...

A prisoner was taken to his execution in the presence of the king...

As he was passing by, the king had a fun idea to toy with him. So he stopped him and said:

"I'll give you the choice of your death. You can say anything you want but if the next affirmation you say is TRUE I'll cut your head off, and if it's UNTRUE I'll hang you!".

"Of course I don't have all day, so I'll give you 1 minute to say an affirmation, if you don't I'll choose how you'll die myself and I promise you it's gonna be something very slow and painful!"

What would YOU advise the prisoner to say?

Make sure you read the remarks and FAQ I'll post next...

Edited by roolstar
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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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Remarks and FAQ:

TRUE and UNTRUE are defined according to the knowledge and belief of the king. So any debatable affirmation will be decided by the king to be either TRUE or UNTRUE. And the same goes for any affirmation about the future where the king simply consults with his wizard!!!!

ex 1: If the prisoner says: "In 200 years, there's gonna be a flood!", the king consults with his court's wizard and depending of the vision he has, the prisoner will either be hanged or decapitated.

ex 2: If he says: "GOD exists!", the kings decides based on his belief or religion...

ex3: If he says some sort of a secret or something that only he knows, the king has to consult with his wizard again.

ex4: A question of course is not an affirmation and the clock is ticking for the remainder of the minute!

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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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Given that the king allows the guy to say anything, then the guy can simply blur out any paradox to save his life.

Seems simple enough...

Try one!

Remember it cannot be a question.

And our king is not as subtle as to go into deep analysis of paradoxical affirmations so he will just follow his intuition!!!!!

Ex: If the prisoner says: "I'm lying!" the king can go either way with his execution, or can simply ask him: "About what?"

Anyway, I love this puzzle because it's pure logic and interesting consequences!!

So try to find the most elegant answer!

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Guest

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"I'll give you the choice of your death. You can say anything you want but if the next affirmation you say is TRUE I'll cut your head off, and if it's UNTRUE I'll hang you!".

2 possibilities:

"You will hang me."

or

"You won't cut my head off."

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I'd tell him to say, "You will hang me." That way the King couldn't really do anything. Because if he hangs him, the statement is True, which means that he should have been decapitated. If he decapitates him, then it makes the statement Untrue, which means he should have been hung.

Edited by live4him4eva
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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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so PDR's solution is not what you are looking for (since the same vicious circle applies for crocodile) - right?

Not really sure...

Since the main difference here is that the king specifies only 2 ways to die...

In the Crocodilecase, hecan take him as a prisoner forlife if shesays "You will kill him"...

In this case, The only choicethe king can makeis to let him go!

So PDR gave the answer I was looking for....

I'm not sure any other answer will do actually...

Myspacebarisreallyscrewedup :D

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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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The main difference with the Crocodile dilemna is the fact that in the prisoners case, the possible event are exclusif but not totally covering all scenarios!!

so If the guy says "you're going to hang me", and if the king lets him go as a concequence, the king is not in a vicious circle (YET) since he did not do either of the 2 executions and the prisoner is SET FREE or kept prisoner meanwhile (His life is spared!!)...

In the crocodile case however, the crocodile CANNOT let the kid go otherwise he did not keep his word! So if the mother says: "You're going to eat him!", she just guaranteed her child to be forever the prisoner of the Crocodile awaiting her child's natural death.... (Not sure that this is a better fate for the mother & child)

Edited by roolstar
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bonanova Grand Master

bonanova

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lol I have an idea but seems to simple

shouldn't he just say "anything you want" - the King's exact words

:S

tell me if I'm right

The OP says -

"I'll give you the choice of your death.

You can say anything you want but if the next affirmation you say is TRUE I'll cut your head off,

and if it's UNTRUE I'll hang you!".

You're right in thinking "anything you want" is neither true nor false, so it won't produce a beheading or hanging.

But ... since "anything you want" is not an affirmation, the king will simply wait until you do make one.

Unless you go through life never again making an affirmation, you'll eventually have to play his game.

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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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The OP says -

You're right in thinking "anything you want" is neither true nor false, so it won't produce a beheading or hanging.

But ... since "anything you want" is not an affirmation, the king will simply wait until you do make one.

Unless you go through life never again making an affirmation, you'll eventually have to play his game.

Actually you just have a minute to make an affirmation Bonanova!!

And "ANYTHING YOU WANT" will just get him decapitated with no problems for the king: since he wants to get him decapitated!!

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The prisoner says, "I'll die of old age". He can't be killed by the king, since killing him will prove it fault. The king will hav to watch him die of old age in order to confirm whether that statement was true or not!

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roolstar Community Regular

roolstar

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The prisoner says, "I'll die of old age". He can't be killed by the king, since killing him will prove it fault. The king will hav to watch him die of old age in order to confirm whether that statement was true or not!

I know it's kinda late to reply on your post several months ago...

But if the prisoner says: "I'll die of old age". The king will simply hang him!!!!

By hanging him, he proved him wrong (he did not die of old age) and therefore he can hang him, no problem!

I'm sorry dude, but you didn't get THIS one... Yet...

Edited by roolstar
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