Puzzle: Marbles

[LennonCook]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Here is one that's pretty standard. A man lives on the 10th floor of an apartment building. When he leaves his apartment, he always takes the elevator down. When he comes home, he always rides the elevator up. However, he only takes the elevator to the 10th floor if there are other passengers on the elevator. If he is by himself, he gets off the elevator on the 7th floor and takes the stairs the rest of the way. Why?

Because he can`t reach the buttons higher than 7th floor.

[Masklinn]

I got one pretty hard :

In one cell there is :
1 prisoner with a yellow hat --- [img]smile.gif[/img]
1 prisoner with a blue hat ---

In another cell there is :
2 prisoners with a yellow hat --- [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
1 prisoner with a blue hat ---

The 2 cells are not connected in any way.
The prisoners can't talk to each other.
The prisoners can't see the color of their own hat.
The prisoners can only see the color of the hat other prisoners in same cell are wearing.
The prisoners know that there is 5 prisoners total : 3 yellows, 2 blues (they know that).

Now, they have been told that the first one who gets to know the color of his own hat (for sure) will be freed.

Which one can guess and be free ? And why ?

Good luck ! (If you already know this, wait a bit before spoiling).

[VulcanRider]

Originally posted by Masklinn: Which one can guess and be free ? And why ?

The first one who bribes a guard ???

[Masklinn]

No way ! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Bungleau]

The day before yesterday Freda was 17. Next year she'll be 20. Explain...

Today is the 31st of December. Freda was born on the 12th of December. The day before yesterday (the 29th), she was 17 days old. Today, she's 19 days old. Tomorrow, which also happens to be next year, she will be 20 days old.

[Bungleau]

Which one can guess and be free ? And why ?

I know who, but I'll wait until I call it a night to post.

[LennonCook]

The first one to be smart enough to take the hat off and look at it.

[LennonCook]

After thinking about it for a bit;
It`s one of the two yellows in the cell of three.
Assume the situation was different, and one of those yellow hats was actually blue. The yellow person would see that both blues are accounted for, and deduce that his hat is therefore yellow.
A yellow notices after a while that the yellow he can see has not deduced the colour of his hat. This means that there can only be one blue hat in that cell. That hat is already accounted for, therefore his own hat cannot be blue. He concludes that he is wearing a yellow hat.

[VulcanRider]

Originally posted by Bungleau: Quote: The day before yesterday Freda was 17. Next year she'll be 20. Explain...

Today is the 31st of December. Freda was born on the 12th of December. The day before yesterday (the 29th), she was 17 days old. Today, she's 19 days old. Tomorrow, which also happens to be next year, she will be 20 days old.[/QUOTE]WOW! I'm impressed -- this one never occurred to me, or to the author of the puzzle book I took it from...

[Bungleau]

That's the answer, LennonCook, and more nicely put than I was going to say.

And VulcanRider, it's just a case of living outside the box...

So, here's another one...

I have eight matchsticks. You give me one more. How can I make ten?

No breaking, splitting, soliciting, stealing, splicing, or other moves that try to redefine the puzzle are needed (or allowed).