There are 20 prisoners and a king. The king made them stand in a queue.
It is a normal queue like we see in front of any booking counter. The
person who is at the back end, can see
everyone else in front of him. The next person can see everyone in front
of him, except the one behind him etc.
The king blind-folded everyone and placed one hat on each one's head. The hat can be of 2 colors - either Black or White. Then he removed the blind-folds. Now, the person at the back end of the queue has to guess the color of his hat and announce it. Then the next person in the queue has to announce the color of his hat. This will go on. At last, the person in the front end of the queue has to announce. We will assume that everyone can hear the answer given by others. The king has got enough number of hats for each color.
The king is very cruel. Once everyone completes his answer, the king will mark those who guessed a wrong color. They will be sentenced to death. The other prisoners will be relieved.
Let us now travel in the past in a time machine. We are in the previous night. All the prisoners are kept in a cell. The above event will be held tomorrow. All the rules are already explained to the prisoners. They have to decide a strategy for tomorrow such that maximum number of prisoners' life will be saved. What strategy should they follow and how many of them can be saved for sure ?
Please remember that no such trick like answering in a low-pitch tone & high-pitch tone or whispering to give a clue to your next person, will be allowed. The king is very clever as well. If he thinks that any such "non-mathematical" trick is followed, he will immediately take everyone's life !!
Difficult ? Not able to get the answer ? Mail me at justwithjeet@gmail.com for the answer :)
The king blind-folded everyone and placed one hat on each one's head. The hat can be of 2 colors - either Black or White. Then he removed the blind-folds. Now, the person at the back end of the queue has to guess the color of his hat and announce it. Then the next person in the queue has to announce the color of his hat. This will go on. At last, the person in the front end of the queue has to announce. We will assume that everyone can hear the answer given by others. The king has got enough number of hats for each color.
The king is very cruel. Once everyone completes his answer, the king will mark those who guessed a wrong color. They will be sentenced to death. The other prisoners will be relieved.
Let us now travel in the past in a time machine. We are in the previous night. All the prisoners are kept in a cell. The above event will be held tomorrow. All the rules are already explained to the prisoners. They have to decide a strategy for tomorrow such that maximum number of prisoners' life will be saved. What strategy should they follow and how many of them can be saved for sure ?
Please remember that no such trick like answering in a low-pitch tone & high-pitch tone or whispering to give a clue to your next person, will be allowed. The king is very clever as well. If he thinks that any such "non-mathematical" trick is followed, he will immediately take everyone's life !!
Difficult ? Not able to get the answer ? Mail me at justwithjeet@gmail.com for the answer :)
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