Colleagues,

I have used the following problem in my Legal Environment classes to
illustrate the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning. Can
you solve it?

The king wanted his daughter to marry the smartest knight in the land. All
knights were tested and 3 tied with the highest score. The king then had
the 3 sit at a round table. He asked them all to close their eyes, which
they did. He then announced that he was placing a beanie on each of their
heads positioned in such a way that, when they opened their eyes, they each
could see the beanies on the others' heads but not their own. The king told
the knights that the beanies might be either red or white. The king said,
"When you open your eyes you are to raise your hand if you see either 1 or
more red beanies. When you deduce the color of the beanie on your own head,
then lower your hand and rise. Now open your eyes." The king had in fact
placed red beanies on all 3 knights' heads. All 3 raised their hands. In
about 10 seconds one of the knights lowered his hand, rose, and explained
his deduction that his beanie was red. What could he have said?

>>>>>>>

Just as I do in class, I will disclose my analysis of the problem on
condition that there are at least 6 serious attempts to solve it. I will
respond to each unsuccessful attempt with a critique which will contain a
clue.

Any takers?


                "It's impossible that everything
                  that is possible is happening"
                        - Richard Feynman
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Professor Keith A. Maxwell            |
Legal and Ethical Studies|            |  Voice:         253 756 3703
School of Business                    |  Fax:           253 756 3500
University of Puget Sound             |  Internet:      [log in to unmask]

Tacoma, WA 98416                      |