George Summers puzzle
hello
I am posting here a puzzle from a book written by George Summers.
THE THREE LETTER WORD
Here is a list of words:
INN PEN PET PIE TEE TIE
1. Three logicians are told, " I have told each of u one of the three letters in a word listed
before u so that the three known letters together spell the word."
2. Then they are told, " None of u can tell how many vowels the word has."
3. Then they are told, " At this point still none of u can tell how many vowels the word has."
4. Then one of the three logicians says he knows what the word is.
WHAT IS THE WORD.
I think most of the people have read George Summers book on puzzles.
thank u
shahid
n/a
The hint is
"None of u can tell how many vowels the word has"
And I know the letters can be I,N,P,E,T
So conisder the case for I
If someone has I then words can be INN,PIE,TIE which have 1,2,2 vowels so definitely
I can't tell if the word has 1 or 2 vowels. Thats what the problem says!
So how does it help us?
Consider N -> Words are INN , PEN both have 1 vowel. So If anybody gets N he is sure that the word
has 1 vowel so all words with N are eliminated.
So left with
I , P , T , E
again next time when he asks for I -> 2,2 vowels (remember PEN and INN) are eliminated. So if anyone
gets I he can tell that the word has 2 vowels so we eliminate it and hence left with choices
P,T,E
Do I need to write the answer and spoon fed ;). Figure it out urselves.
Animesh Saxena
The answer should be TEE.
The final two words left after the elimination are PET and TEE.
Because at least one of the three would know the number of vowel
,if he is given INN and PEN. Similarly PIE and TIE could be eliminated.
Now left with PET and TEE, You could eliminate PET as this should be only
word left with P.
So TEE should be the answer.
But, I personally think that logicians cannot be such dimwit not to say that the
word remaining in the last should have two vowels.
Anjum Kabir
Answer should be TEE.
But I am pretty flummoxed over the idea that
logicians cannot tell the number of vowels in
the word which remains after all the eliminations.
n/a
I Think answer should be PET. As at last logicians left with two word PET and TEE. And suddenly one says he know the answer is only possible for logician holding alphabet P, and logician with E and T alphabet can't decide the word as both remaining word contain E and T.
If any one has N , can say the num of vowel in the begining only. Which didnt happen . So INN and PEN excluded.
now if someone has I can say the number of vowels. But That didnt happen again . So I cases excluded all .
Left is PET and TEE. Now if someone still has P , he will shout the word.
ANSWER is PET
The answer is PET as it is the only word having no N ( which has same number of vowels in all the words it appears). P and T remains. There intersection happens at PEN. Hence the answer.
Sam Mishra
wats the answer for this?
or just gv a clue