a) You are marooned on an island, where there are only liars and truth-tellers. You meet a couple and the husband says, "My wife told me that she is a liar.". Is he a liar or a truth-teller?
2006-11-26 16:39:33 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Its very clear that he is a liar, as if the wife really was a liar, she would be revealing a truth to her husband. In other words, she was telling the truth, so she couldn't be a liar. So, obviously the husband was just making it up.
2006-11-26 23:08:06 · answer #1 · answered by Enlightened 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The man is a liar. He cannot be telling the truth because the wife cannot say that she is a liar whether or not she actually is one. If she is a liar then she could not say that she is one, because the statement would be true. If she is a truth teller then she would be lying to say that she is a liar.
2006-11-27 00:51:42 · answer #2 · answered by DUDColony 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think he's a liar.
If his wife was a liar then she would have told her husband she was a truth-teller.
If his wife was a truth-teller she would have told her husband she was a truth-teller.
If the first had happened and the man was a truth teller, he would have told you she was a truth teller.
If the second had happened and the man was a truth teller, he would have told you she was a truth teller.
If the first had happened and the man was a liar, he would have told you she was a truth teller.
And ditto if the second had happened and the man was a liar.
Clear?
2006-11-27 00:44:35 · answer #3 · answered by Amy 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
See all persons there are liars or truth tellers....so when a person admits that he is a liar it implies that he is lying as a truth teller cannot admit that he is a liar so this satement is false also a liar is lying when he admits that he is a liar so person's wife cannot admit that she is a liar..Thus the husband is lying
2006-11-27 08:31:12 · answer #4 · answered by Siddharth P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A liar of course. No one on the island can claim themselves to be a liar - if they are truth-tellers, it would be a lie, and they cannot lie; conversely, if they are liars, it would be the truth, and they cannot speak the truth. Therefore, his wife could not have told him she is a liar, and therefore he is lying.
2006-11-27 00:43:40 · answer #5 · answered by Pascal 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is a liar. If his wife was a liar she would tell him that she is a truth teller not a liar.
2006-11-27 01:04:23 · answer #6 · answered by Skull 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hes a liar bc the statement I am a liar can not be both a truth & a lie
2006-11-27 00:45:20 · answer #7 · answered by mongoose 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Let us consider the wife : if she is true, she has to tell that she is not a liar. if she is a liar, she has to tell she is not a liar. So in both the cases, she should have told that she is not a liar. But as per the man, she says, she is a liar, which should have been manipulated by him. so he lies. so he is a lier.
2006-11-28 02:14:22 · answer #8 · answered by just a kid 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
make a branch
them man said that the wife says shes a liar
consider 2 options
his wife is telling the truth:
if the wife is telling the truth, but she says that she lies
then a contradiction arrises
this cannot be the point
his wife is lying
she is lying about telling lies
also a contradiction
thus since both of the scenarios described are false or not possible
the MAN has to be lying
(and the woman is unknown)
whala!
-b
2006-11-27 00:46:14 · answer #9 · answered by The Russian 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he's a LIAR! the wife can't say she is a lair b/c if she is a truthteler she would tell the truth and if she was a liar she would say she was truthful. This means the husband was lying.
2006-11-29 17:37:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋