there are 8 campers and a leader and they need to go back to camp in one hour but there are 4 roads. it will take them to go to the camp 20 minutes but they do not know which way is it and they only have 60 minitues till dark because it is already dangerous. There are also 2 liars from the campers and you do not know who they are and the only person whom you could trust is yourself. how will you divide the group and what is the right way to go?
2006-12-14 22:27:32 · 3 answers · asked by chase a 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
there are 8 campers and a leader and they need to go back to camp in one hour but there are 4 roads. it will take them to go to the camp 20 minutes but they do not know which way is it and they only have 60 minitues till dark because it is already dangerous. There are also 2 liars from the campers(they may or may not lie) and you do not know who they are and the only person whom you could trust is yourself. how will you divide the group and what is the right way to go?
2006-12-14 23:24:54 · update #1
I have to assume the liars will only lie about whether they've found the camp site or not. Apart from this, they will behave appropriately and comply with instructions given.
Each group can travel 20 minutes on a road, get back (another 20 minutes) and report if they've found the camp site. Once you know which road to take, the remaining 20 minutes are just enough to reach the camp site.
Divide the eight in two groups: five and three people. You yourself are 'group' three.
Each group tries one road, returns, and report if the road leads to the camp site.
The liars could be both in group 1, both in group 2, or each of these two groups could have one liar in it.
If five people of group 1 agree, group two has two liars.
If four people of group 1 agree, group one has one liar and group two has one liar.
If three people of group 1 agree, group one has two liars.
The majority of group 1 will always tell the truth. Accept the answer.
If group 2 has two liars, take the minority answer. Else take the majority answer.
Group 3, you, can be trusted.
You now know which road to take. If the three roads tried aren't leading to the camp site, take the fourth.
Edit:
"(they may or may not lie)" was added after I wrote my answer. This makes my solution incorrect, as I need to know in which group the liars are. If they don't lie, you cannot tell who's the liar.
Only if no one lied, or if the two liars lied, you can tell which road to take (or so I think at the moment).
2006-12-14 23:05:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I liked the 'alex b' answer but I think I would make the assumption that not only would the two liars follow instructions, but they would not lie about the campsite when lives were depending on it, or in the presence of danger. So, I guess from these assumptions, I would stay at the crossroads and send 2 people down each road. As the leader I would hopefully have some sense of direction myself and not knowlingly gone on a camping trip with a couple of liars (unless it was for comic relief of course). I Guess the lesson here is, unless we are given the full details of a problem, we must make assumptions which can lead to virtually any reasonable answer.
2006-12-15 07:54:29 · answer #2 · answered by Lukis M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You look at your GPS and figure out where you are. You grab your cell phone and call someone still at the camp and have them pick you up using their in car navigation. Since there are so many of you, it takes two trips. You are safely back at camp within 10 minutes.
2006-12-15 06:53:55 · answer #3 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋