Staralfur:

How many questions do they get? If one spy guesses and turns out to be wrong, do they all die? Or if one spy gives his answer (which is heard by the others), do the others still get to go?

If it's sudden-death, Spy 3 has a 66% chance of guessing right.
If at least 2 spies may answer, Spy 1 and Spy 3 each have a 100% chance, IF Spy 4 goes first.

You probably think it's mankind, Gazza. But Terry Pratchett would not agree (read Pyramids, the sphinx part ;) )

Out of the back of my head, it came down to something like this:

If we divide the day in four parts of six hours, three of which represent a life, night not being used, and the average life is, say, 60, the four legged one should only be able to walk on two legs at the age of twenty. And aged fourty, he'd already need a walking stick.If we make it 90 to make the latter fit better, you couldn't walk until you were thirty, and need a stick at 60.
So the formulation is not entirely correct. The child should only crawl until it reached the age of 2, so that's 2 years out of ninety, which equals x hours out of 18. The x equals o.4 hours, which is less than thirty minutes.
Most people also don't need a walking stick at 60 already, ut maybe eighty would be reasonable. Some maths show that the twolegged period would be about 2 hours longer than the 12 from the original riddle.

So, for the question to be at least a bit more correct, it would be

What creature walks on all four legs for almost half an hour during the morning, on two legs for the rest of the day until two hours into the evening, and on three legs after that, roughly?

In which case, the answer Man would be more correct ;)


Oh, and the other spy riddle? I knew the answer once, but I forgot [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img] But from the way you've formulated the question, the spy outside the wall can see all the others. Then again, he can't tell the answer without any of the spies talking as that would require him to speak [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I'll be thinking on it.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SixOfSpades:
Staralfur:

How many questions do they get? If one spy guesses and turns out to be wrong, do they all die? Or if one spy gives his answer (which is heard by the others), do the others still get to go?

If it's sudden-death, Spy 3 has a 66% chance of guessing right.
If at least 2 spies may answer, Spy 1 and Spy 3 each have a 100% chance, IF Spy 4 goes first.<hr></blockquote>

Only one guess is allowed, although it isn't a guess really, and they are not allowed to communicate, in this way or any other.
One of them is able to say what the color of their hat is, so this situation doesn't really arise.

nah huh, what if this man goes towar, and got one of his legs blown off? so dont be too picky when you are giving a question, just answer it for the question's sake!!!

I've got one. (It's lateral thinking)

Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor.
Near them is a table, which has been skewed slightly, a bowl lies smashed on the floor, and there is a puddle of water on the floor.
They did not drown and they did not kill each other.
How did they die?

How did they die? Well, a lot of people die when their hearts stop beating...

CCL, not being clever there, it's not the individual that counts, but the group ;)

On the spies, is it correct to say the two nearest the wall can't see a single head, while the others can see only the one person directly in front of them?

Nope, they didn't die of natural causes or heart attack either.
And I'll rephrase the question, for all the slippery people out there.
What led to their deaths (hearts stopping etc.)

now can spy 4 see spy 2? if he can, then the problem is really simple

because spy 4 cannot tell the color on his own hat, that implies spy 2 and 3 has different color. spy 3 would be able to come with this conclusion. then spy 3 also knows spy 2's hat color. that means, spy 3 is the person to know his hat's color

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Legolas:

CCL, not being clever there, it's not the individual that counts, but the group ;)
<hr></blockquote>

says whom??? so individual dont matter? for the greater good, you can sacrifice the small group?? that makes you a terrorist!!! **gaspe**

[img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by 250:
now can spy 4 see spy 2? if he can, then the problem is really simple

because spy 4 cannot tell the color on his own hat, that implies spy 2 and 3 has different color. spy 3 would be able to come with this conclusion. then spy 3 also knows spy 2's hat color. that means, spy 3 is the person to know his hat's color<hr></blockquote>

Yes spy 4 can see spy 2.... therefore spy3 knows the color of his hat.
So you are correct 250.