2006-11-15 14:12:58 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
ask, "which road would the other guard tell me to take?"
if the left fork is the road to take, the truth-teller will say right. the liar will also say right. so, take the left.
if the right fork is the road to take, the truth-teller will say left. the liar will also say left. so, take the right.
2006-11-15 14:20:54 · answer #1 · answered by micci73 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The second answer is right. (You could also ask each guard, if I asked the other guard if he were the truthteller, what would the answer be? The liar would say the truthteller would answer "no" (because that's wrong, the truthteller would say yes). The truthteller would say the liar would answer "yes." So you could tell them apart.
However, I think you worded your question wrong. Because you could go up to either guard, hold up 5 fingers, and ask how many fingers am I holding up? And be able to tell them apart.
Normally the problem is that you need to ask which bridge/road is the right one to take (one leads to danger and the other to safety). But you can only ask one question to both guards, and you don't know which guard is the liar or the truthteller. So you ask both guards, if I ask the other guard which is the unsafe road, what would he tell me? The truthteller would point to the safe road, and the liar would point to the safe road, so either way you would pick the safe road, though you still don't know which guard is which.
2006-11-15 22:34:34 · answer #2 · answered by emilynghiem 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"As for the 2 roads (assuming one is somehow better) what wouldn't the other guard say is the better one to take?" Follow that road, but make the guards come with you. If you go down, so do they!
2006-11-15 22:43:44 · answer #3 · answered by Lightbringer 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I assume you meant to say we are supposed to figure out which road is safe/correct.
Ask either one which road the other would say is safe/correct, then take the other road.
Also, one coin is a dime and the *other* is a nickle, the surgeon is the patient's mother, it's a polar bear because you're at the north pole, and the guy hung himself by standing on a block of ice and letting it melt beneath him.
2006-11-15 22:18:12 · answer #4 · answered by John's Secret Identity™ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you like this kind of puzzle, check out the books by Raymond
Smulyan.
One is called "What is the Name of this Book?" and is a whole book of liar/truthteller puzzles written in an entertaining way.
As for the question, I would ask him this:
If I were to ask Donald Rumsfeld if he still believed Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, what would he say?
2006-11-15 22:51:31 · answer #5 · answered by True Blue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ask either guard what the other would say to anwser the question you haven't posted which would be which road is the right one to take
2006-11-15 22:29:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You ask "Are you guarding this road?". The guard who says "no" is the one who is lying.
2006-11-15 22:33:51 · answer #7 · answered by Jem 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where does the road go?
2006-11-15 22:16:22 · answer #8 · answered by ♥tessa♥ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You ask him to tell you what the other guard would have you do, then do the opposite.
2006-11-15 22:21:40 · answer #9 · answered by AileneWright 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would ask him:
"If you were the other guard, who would you say is the lying guard."
The truth guard would say it is himself. The lying guard would say it is the other guy. So the guy who says it is himself is the truthful guard.
This works every time... ^_^
2006-11-15 22:14:41 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋