Wednesday, July 6, 2011

World's Most Difficult Brain-Busting Logic Puzzle

Three gods A , B , and C are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A , B , and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are “da” and “ja”, in some order. You do not know which word means which.

The puzzle above is what George Boolos, a legendary philosopher, logician, and teacher in MIT, coined as "The Hardest Logic Problem Ever."  This puzzle was invented by the logician and puzzle-master Raymond Smullyan and slightly modified by the computer scientist John McCarthy.    

I love logic puzzles and have solved some difficult ones, but I am not smart enough to touch this one.  It's so friggin' hard.  But, hey, you might be able to solve it (I doubt it :P. lol).

If you are interested for more details about the puzzle and its solution, CLICK HERE.


When not busting his brain in the "Experimental Theatre", Bernel is busting his brain in "The Bernel Zone"...         

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