“If I asked the other guard for an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the guard I am currently talking to, what is an answer they could give me?”
if you’re worried about misinterpretation.
If you were to ask the lying guard for ‘an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the other guard’, they would necessarily have to give the correct details, which the truth guard would pass on
If you were to ask the truthful guard for ‘an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the other guard’, they would necessarily not be the correct details. However, the truthful guard could answer with any incorrect details, and so the complement of the set of details the truth guard could give is only the correct details, which the lying guard would therefore have to give. That’s why you ask for ‘an example’.
If you were to ask the lying guard for ‘an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the other guard’, they would necessarily have to give the correct details, which the truth guard would pass on
Couldn’t they just lie and give you a non-working example?
Or are you hinging your question on a variation of “don’t tell me the other guard’s credit card information”, which you expect the lying card to contradict and tell you?
You’re asking for an example of details that aren’t those of the other guard. If they give you a non-working example, then the lying guard has been truthful. Which is a contradiction.
Consider the question ‘what is an example of something that is not a cat?’. Any answer that is not a cat is truthful; therefore the lying guard must give an example of a cat.
Ah, ok, so to clarity, you could also ask, “tell me anything that isn’t the other guard’s number,” and they have to tell you exactly the other guard’s number.
![Two Guards Riddle. [11]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d5137530-1a9a-4e36-9cdc-f4de97e02362.jpeg){kind=link}
I guess I’m not getting it. Couldn’t the “that wasn’t yours” part be misconstrued to allow for anyone’s info?
The truth guard could recite someone else’s credit card (which would still be a win), but the lie guard could fabricate false numbers completely
You could rephrase it to
if you’re worried about misinterpretation.
If you were to ask the lying guard for ‘an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the other guard’, they would necessarily have to give the correct details, which the truth guard would pass on
If you were to ask the truthful guard for ‘an example of a credit card number, expiry date and security code that weren’t the details of the other guard’, they would necessarily not be the correct details. However, the truthful guard could answer with any incorrect details, and so the complement of the set of details the truth guard could give is only the correct details, which the lying guard would therefore have to give. That’s why you ask for ‘an example’.
Couldn’t they just lie and give you a non-working example?
Or are you hinging your question on a variation of “don’t tell me the other guard’s credit card information”, which you expect the lying card to contradict and tell you?
You’re asking for an example of details that aren’t those of the other guard. If they give you a non-working example, then the lying guard has been truthful. Which is a contradiction.
Consider the question ‘what is an example of something that is not a cat?’. Any answer that is not a cat is truthful; therefore the lying guard must give an example of a cat.
Ah, ok, so to clarity, you could also ask, “tell me anything that isn’t the other guard’s number,” and they have to tell you exactly the other guard’s number.
oh I see, thank you
These are mythical beings no? Surely you would need to be specific, it’s kind of their thing.