Saturday, February 11, 2017

What to Do in the Forest of Werewolves Part IV

This time, we get the following statements:
  1. At least one of the three of us is a knave.
  2. C is a knight.
Given that there is exactly one werewolf and that he is a knight, who is the werewolf?
(Source: What Is the Name of This Book? The Riddle of Dracula and Other Logical Puzzles by Raymond Smullyan)

Be careful here, the condition that the werewolf is a knight does not mean there are not one or two other knights here not so cursed.

Anyway, thinking along similar lines as in the last puzzle, consider whether A can actually be a knave. If he is a knave, then what he's saying is true, which is a contradiction, so A is in fact a knight. This means that there really is at least one knave in the lot.

Now on to B's claim. If B is a knight, then so is C. But we've already established that there is at least one knave here. So B is actually a knave and, on that account, so is C. A is the only knight and so is the werewolf.

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