There is an on/off switch inside a room, controlling a light bulb. The warden will randomly pick one out of 30 prisoners to go inside the room. The prisoner can turn on or off the light bulb, or leave it as is. However, among the 30 prisoners, they don't know who went in and who didn't. The warden will keep randomly picking a prisoner to go inside the room. The goal of the group of 30 prisoners is to find someone to go up to the warden and say for sure all 30 of them have already gone inside the room at least once.
How can they do that?
- The initial state of the light bulb is not known
- The 30 prisoners can discuss a strategy before the game begins
- The temperature of the light bulb cannot be used as information
- Any prisoner will know how many times he himself has gone into the room.
- Prisoners cannot talk among themselves once the game begins
EDIT:
- Prisoners cannot leave anything inside the room, because the warden doesn't allow them to
- The warden did keep track of who went in or not
- The 30 prisoners were separated in 30 different cells. The warden took a random prisoner to the room and accompanied him back to his own cell. The prisoners NEVER see each other.
How can they do that?
- The initial state of the light bulb is not known
- The 30 prisoners can discuss a strategy before the game begins
- The temperature of the light bulb cannot be used as information
- Any prisoner will know how many times he himself has gone into the room.
- Prisoners cannot talk among themselves once the game begins
EDIT:
- Prisoners cannot leave anything inside the room, because the warden doesn't allow them to
- The warden did keep track of who went in or not
- The 30 prisoners were separated in 30 different cells. The warden took a random prisoner to the room and accompanied him back to his own cell. The prisoners NEVER see each other.
Facebook
Twitter