Riddles

Originally posted by Andrew Kern
What is lighter than a feather, but not even the strongest man can hold it for that long?

How long is that long?

Originally posted by Andrew Kern
What is lighter than a feather, but not even the strongest man can hold it for that long?

breath

For what do you go on red, and stop on green?

Originally posted by Andrew Kern
For what do you go on red, and stop on green?

Eating watermelon?

You are participating in a race.

You overtake the second person.

What position are you in?

Originally posted by HandyAndy
What position are you in?

Second? From the finish line.

Though if we count from the racer's perspective, then third from last?

Originally posted by apathist
Second? From the finish line.

Though if we count from the racer's perspective, then third from last?

Touche!

Originally posted by Andrew Kern
What is lighter than a feather, but not even the strongest man can hold it for that long?

breath

The three wisest sages in the land were brought before the king to see which of them were worthy to become the king's advisor. After passing many tests of cunning and invention, they were pitted against each other in a final battle of the wits.

Led blind-folded into a small room, the sages were seated around a small wooden table as the king described the test for them.

"Upon each of your heads I have placed a hat. Now you are either wearing a blue hat or a white hat. All I will tell you is this- at least one of you is wearing a blue hat. There may be only one blue hat and two white hats, there may be two blue hats and one white hat, or there may be three blue hats. But you may be certain that there are not three white hats."

"I will shortly remove your blind folds, and the test will begin. The first to correctly announce the color of his hat shall be my advisor. Be warned however, he who guesses wrongly shall be beheaded. If not one of you answers within the hour, you will be sent home and I will seek elsewhere for wisdom."

With that, the king uncovered the sages' eyes and sat in the corner and waited. One sage looked around and saw that his competitors each were wearing blue hats. From the look in their eyes he could see their thoughts were the same as his, "What is the color of my hat?"

For what seemed like hours no one spoke. Finally he stood up and said, "The color of the hat I am wearing is . . ."

What did he say, and why?

Originally posted by apathist
The three wisest sages in the land were brought before the king to see which of them were worthy to become the king's advisor. After passing many tests of cunning and invention, they were pitted against each other in a final battle of the wits.

Led blind-folded into a small room, the sages were seated around a small wooden table as the king described the ...[text shortened]... he stood up and said, "The color of the hat I am wearing is . . ."

What did he say, and why?

I am wearing a blue hat.

The choice for the Person is bbb or wbb.
If he wore a White hat the choice for his opponents would be wbb and wwb. Since www is explicitely not the case one of the Opponents would realize that he can't wear a White hat since the other did not claim wwb. So he can't wear a White hat himself.

Originally posted by Ponderable
... one of the Opponents would realize that he can't wear a White hat since the other did not claim wwb. ...

That's the part I have trouble wrapping my head around. The indecision of the others turns out to be a source of information. Let's hope I guess that the other two wisest men in the land didn't come from a shallow pool.

Originally posted by apathist
That's the part I have trouble wrapping my head around. The indecision of the others turns out to be a source of information. Let's hope I guess that the other two wisest men in the land didn't come from a shallow pool.

The Point is:

If I see two White hats I know that I have to wear a blue one since the combination www is explicitely excluded. (combination wwb).

So if I see one white hat and one blue hat, the guy wearing the blue hat would be the one seeing two White hats (and claiming the win) if I wore a White hat. If he does not Claim the win I am not wearing a White hat, so I wear a blue hat.

So if I see two blue hats and nobody is claiming the win. I have to wear a blue hat.

The Point is to react slow enough to give the others reason to Claim thier win (if any) and to Claim the win before them 🙂.

btw: since seeing White hats gives a clue, the fairest Option for the King would be to give each one a blue hat to give equal chances...

Originally posted by Ponderable
...
btw: since seeing White hats gives a clue, the fairest Option for the King would be to give each one a blue hat to give equal chances...

I've been chewing on the problem at work, still don't quite get it, and you toss this at me.

Dang!

I told my dad this riddle and it took him 20+ minutes to figure it out without hints.

A woman was drinking her tea when she noticed a fly in her cup. A waiter came up and took her glass, then brought back a fresh cup. She took a sip and then yelled, 'THIS IS THE SAME GLASS!" How did she know?