Problem with the Truth

Logic Level 1

You, a newbie cop, just gathered intel about four theives, Andrew, Orville, Nottica and Xorax have run off from the bank with a bunch of coins. You chase them to a dead end. Seeing no way out, the four decide to play a mind game with you.

  • Andrew: I only have coins if every one of them have coins too.
  • Orville: If at least two of them don't have coins, I won't have any.
  • Nottica: I only have coins if Andrew has some too.
  • Xorax: I only have coins if Orville and Nottica both either have coins or none at all.

From your intel, you know that all of them have a syndrome that prevents them from saying lies. With your skill, you could not apprehend all of them, so you have to make sure you get some of the coins back.

Who is guaranteed to have coins?

Xorax Nottica None of them Andrew All of them Orville

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5 solutions

David Vreken
Apr 11, 2020

Here are all the possibilities of the four thieves having coins (C) or not having coins (X):

Andrew: "I only have coins if every one of them have coins too." That means the following possibilities can be crossed out:

Orville: "If at least two of them don't have coins, I won't have any." Three more possibilities can be crossed out:

Nottica: "I only have coins if Andrew has some too." Two more possibilities can be crossed out:

Xorax: "I only have coins if Orville and Nottica both either have coins or none at all." No new possibilities can be crossed out.

In summary, there are only two possibilities left:

In both cases, Xorax is guaranteed to have coins.

Good work .....it takes a lot of time to write a big answer

Soham Nimale - 1 year ago

Thanks for your detailed explanation.

krishna singh - 7 months, 4 weeks ago
Chew-Seong Cheong
Apr 11, 2020

First we note that all four statements are true. Let us consider all the cases as follows.

Case 1: If Andrew has coins

Andrew Orville Nottica Xorac Statement 1 : Yes Yes Yes Yes Statement 2 : Yes Statement 3 : Yes Statement 4 : Yes \begin{array} {|r|c|c|c|c|} \hline & \text{Andrew} & \text{Orville} & \text{Nottica} & \text{Xorac} \\ \hline \text{Statement 1}: & \blue{\text{Yes}} & \blue{\text{Yes}} & \blue{\text{Yes}} & \blue{\text{Yes}} \\ \hline \text{Statement 2}: & & \blue{\text{Yes}} & & \\ \hline \text{Statement 3}: & & & \blue{\text{Yes}} & \\ \hline \text{Statement 4}: & & & & \blue{\text{Yes}} \\ \hline \end{array}

  • Andrew: I only have coins if every one of them have coins too. This means that if Andrew has coins, all others have coins too (therefore the " Yes " "\blue{\text{Yes}}" underneath the four persons' names).
  • Orville: If at least two of them don't have coins, I won't have any. Since the other three have coins, Orville has coins too.
  • Nottica: I only have coins if Andrew has some too. Since Andrew has coins, Nottica has coins too
  • Xorax: I only have coins if Orville and Nottica both either have coins or none at all. Since Orville and Nottica both have coins, Xorax has coins too.
  • Conclusion: If Andrew has coins all others have coins too.

Case 2: If Andrew has no coins

Andrew Orville Nottica Xorac Statement 1 : No Statement 3 : No Statement 2 : No Statement 4 : Yes \begin{array} {|r|c|c|c|c|} \hline & \text{Andrew} & \text{Orville} & \text{Nottica} & \text{Xorac} \\ \hline \text{Statement 1}: & \red{\text{No}} & & & \\ \hline \text{Statement 3}: & & & \red{\text{No}} & \\ \hline \text{Statement 2}: & & \red{\text{No}} & & \\ \hline \text{Statement 4}: & & & & \blue{\text{Yes}} \\ \hline \end{array}

  • Andrew: I only have coins if every one of them have coins too. If Andrew has no coins, then not all others have coins.
  • Nottica: I only have coins if Andrew has some too. Since Andrew has no coin, Nottica has no coin too
  • Orville: If at least two of them don't have coins, I won't have any. Since Andrew and Nottica both have no coin (at least two), Orville has no coin.
  • Xorax: I only have coins if Orville and Nottica both either have coins or none at all. Since Orville and Nottica both have no coin, Xorax has coins.
  • Conclusion: If Andrew has no coins all others have no coin except Xorax.

Therefore, Xorax is guaranteed to have coins in all cases.

Good work .....it takes a lot of time to write a big answer

Soham Nimale - 1 year ago

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Glad that you like it.

Chew-Seong Cheong - 1 year ago

Yes... Good reasoning

shlok shet - 1 year ago
Sachetan Debray
May 29, 2020

Case 1 -Everyone has coins.

Case 2 -Not everyone has coins (Some or none of them have coins)

Then Andrew doesn't have coins.

Nottica doesn't have any because Andrew doesn't have any.

Orville doesn't have any because two people don't have any.

Xorax has some coins because Nottica and Orville both have none.

Thus whatever the case, Xorax is guaranteed to have coins

Agreed, that's the reasoning I used.

Martha Sapeta - 1 year ago

Some grammar and spelling edits:

--... about four thieves, Andrew, Orville, Nottica and Xorax, who have run off...

-- Andrew: I only have coins if every one of them has coins too.

-- Despite your skill, you cannot apprehend all of them...

Martha Sapeta - 1 year ago

I thought it was clever how the first letters in their names formed AND, OR, NOT, and XOR.

Antimatter Bee - 7 months, 2 weeks ago

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Whoa! Thats great.

Sachetan Debray - 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Saya Suka
Mar 6, 2021
  • Andrew depends on the state of Nottica AND all others to have coins
  • Nottica depends solely on Andrew's state to have coins
  • Therefore, Andrew and Nottica are co-dependent on each other, although Andrew still have more requirements that needs fulfilling than just Nottica
  • Thus, Nottica also would need to depends on the state of Orville AND Xorax to have coins
  • Orville depends on the state of the majority (at least half of the four) to have coins, and Andrew's and Nottica's co-dependency ensures themselves to be his majority by their twin states
  • By this, Orville made himself a part of an Andrew-Nottica-Orville trio for a newly established triplet states of the three
  • Xorax depends on the state of Orville AND Nottica to have coins, but these two are already part of the triplet states so their having coins or not is decidedly the same anyway
  • Xorax is guaranteed to have coins in whatever scenario of triplet states.
Anatoly Korzunin
Nov 11, 2020

Start from only one have coins to everyone have coins and using the exception(s) method you will find that only Xorax is guaranteed to have coins

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