(30 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
Four criminals are caught in a minor offence, they pleaded judge to release them without any punishment. As it was a minor offence, judge told them that they will be freed without punishment, but only if they can solve a puzzle
All four of them are lined up on some steps(as shown in the picture above). A wall separates the 4th person from other three.
So to summarize:-
Criminal 1 can see 2 and 3
Criminal 2 can see 3
Criminal 3 and 4 can’t see any one else
Criminals are wearing hats, they are told that there are two white hats and two black hats. They can’t see their own hat color and are told to shout their hat color as soon as they get to know for certain what color it is.
They are not allowed to turn around or move.
They are not allowed to talk to each other.
They are not allowed to take their hat off.
Who will shout first ?
As Criminal 1 is not able to decide the color of his hat, color of Criminal 2 and 3 should not be same. Seeing the color of Criminal 3′ hat, Criminal 2 can be sure that his hat color is white.
situation of 3 and 4 are same, can’t see anybody, so they can not conclude, One will be in dilemma bcoz he sees one black and white in front of him. Chances are high for 2. He will wait for 1 to shout, but 1 will shout if he arrived to decision if 2 black or white in front of him but that is not., So 1 will not shout because there are two colours in front of him. so 2 knows that 1 is not shouting because there are 2 different colours he can see and 2 can see colour of 3 that is white so he is left available with black only. criminal 2’s decision is arrived from 1st shouting takes place or not…
criminal 2 will guess first because probability of wearing white hat by him is highest
‘
criminal 3 will GUESS for sure what he is wearing.
logical thinking:
if 2 and 3 have white hat then for sure 1 will say black HAT but he did not
then 2 and 3 are either :
Black and Black
Black and White
White and Black
then Number 2 said nothing so this mean he can see for sure a black hat in front of him cause if it was white then he would be for sure Black
then Number 3 can SAY for sure he is Black
Gtfo
Answer is criminal 2, as the criminal 1 didn’t shout any color its confirmed that 2 and 3 r of different color hat. Since 3 is wearing black, 2 shouts out the color of his hat as white.
1 will take risk as he has seen 2 alternative colors ahead. So he can guess that by basing on logic that 2 had wore white hat and 3 had black one. So he can conclude that the person on other side (4) can wear white color hat.
That gives a answer as 1 wore Black one.
first they think deeply about this but as they can’t conclude.after waiting for a long time criminal 1 will shout as he has possibilities more than the others.he will take risk only in case 2and 3 wearing different hats(if wearing same hats puzzle is solved) and shout either black or white.if he shouts correct they become free if he shout incorrect as the crime is minor they get minor punishment…but its better to get punished minor in comparison to solving this puzzle and wasting time without moving.
or you can say the judge is so clever that he just don’t neglected their request and punished them by giving this puzzle to them. :p
i don’t think this is a good explanation..
#2 looks ahead & see the guy’s black hat..
so 1/4 is already black.. which means his prob. of black is 1/3
as criminal 1 can see the color of 2 & 3…if its both the same color (lets say black), he would have shout white…so criminal 2 can see the color of 3(black) and knowing that crim 1 didnt shout white, means 2 and 3 are different color…means 2 knows his is not black as well…