Seven Puzzles You Think You Must Not Have Heard Correctly (2006) [pdf]

Re:Seven Puzzles You Think You Must Not Have Heard Correctly... by fenomas on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @12:09AM (#12387478)

You are overlooking that all the residents gather together each day. Once a visitor has said something nontrivial, after that the new information each day comes when the residents gather, and discover who did or didn't commit suicide the night before.

Also:

> For instance, if the number of blues is 25, and the (merciful) stranger says that the number of blues is not prime every day, no one ever has enough information.

This is not correct. Saying "the number of blues isn't prime" just once would be sufficient to start the process, as would "there is at least one blue", etc. It doesn't matter that it's not new information to any one villager.

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Re:Seven Puzzles You Think You Must Not Have Heard Correctly... by wvrvwwwe on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @06:41AM (#12388828)

> This is not correct. Saying "the number of blues isn't prime" just once would be sufficient to start the process, as would "there is at least one blue", etc. It doesn't matter that it's not new information to any one villager.

Sorry, can you explain this part? If there were 10 blues and 10 reds, and the stranger said "there is at least one blue", why would that result in a suicide in any of the dot-town people?

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Re:Seven Puzzles You Think You Must Not Have Heard Correctly... by fenomas on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @07:59AM (#12389210)

That's exactly the puzzle!

If you'd like a hint, imagine that there are only two villagers - you're one of them, and the other one has a blue dot. A visitor tells you both "there is at least one blue". You already knew that, but did he? And what happens the following day, when you see him still alive (or don't)?

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