The king wants to execute a prisoner but gives him a chance to survive.
The prisoner is led to 5 closed doors, and one of them has a tiger behind it.
The king says to the prisoner: "You must open these doors in sequence. I can be certain that you won't know where the tiger is until you open the door that has the tiger behind it."
Before opening the doors, the prisoner made the following analysis:
1. Suppose the tiger is behind the 5th door, then after I open the first 4 doors, I will already know that the tiger is behind the 5th door, which contradicts the king's words.
=> The tiger can only be behind the first 4 doors.
2. Suppose the tiger is behind the 4th door, then after I open the first 3 doors, I will already know that the tiger is behind the 4th door, which contradicts the king's words.
=> The tiger can only be behind the first 3 doors.
3. By analogy.
=> There is no tiger!
The prisoner thought the king was scaring him and there was no tiger at all. So he confidently went to open the doors. But when he opened the 2nd door, the tiger jumped out and ate him.
The prisoner's reasoning seemed very rigorous. But the king's words also seemed correct: the prisoner really didn't know that the tiger was behind the 2nd door before opening it.
What on earth is going on?
The prisoner is led to 5 closed doors, and one of them has a tiger behind it.
The king says to the prisoner: "You must open these doors in sequence. I can be certain that you won't know where the tiger is until you open the door that has the tiger behind it."
Before opening the doors, the prisoner made the following analysis:
1. Suppose the tiger is behind the 5th door, then after I open the first 4 doors, I will already know that the tiger is behind the 5th door, which contradicts the king's words.
=> The tiger can only be behind the first 4 doors.
2. Suppose the tiger is behind the 4th door, then after I open the first 3 doors, I will already know that the tiger is behind the 4th door, which contradicts the king's words.
=> The tiger can only be behind the first 3 doors.
3. By analogy.
=> There is no tiger!
The prisoner thought the king was scaring him and there was no tiger at all. So he confidently went to open the doors. But when he opened the 2nd door, the tiger jumped out and ate him.
The prisoner's reasoning seemed very rigorous. But the king's words also seemed correct: the prisoner really didn't know that the tiger was behind the 2nd door before opening it.
What on earth is going on?
ko20010214
=================================
大功告成,打个Kiss!
ko20010214@MSN.com
神州优雅Q300C
Intel CeleronM 370处理器 | 256MbDDR内存
40G硬盘 | USB2.0 | IEEE 1394
13.3 ' WXGA 宽屏(16:10) | COMBO光驱
10/100M网卡 | 四合一读卡器
=================================
大功告成,打个Kiss!
ko20010214@MSN.com
神州优雅Q300C
Intel CeleronM 370处理器 | 256MbDDR内存
40G硬盘 | USB2.0 | IEEE 1394
13.3 ' WXGA 宽屏(16:10) | COMBO光驱
10/100M网卡 | 四合一读卡器



