the riddle of aggravation

The Situation:
There is an island with 10 inhabitants. One day a monster comes and says that he intends to eat every one of them but will give them a chance to survive in the following way:
In the morning, the monster will line up all the people - single file so that the last person sees the remaining 9, the next person sees the remaining 8, and so on until the first person that obviously sees no one in front of himself. The monster will then place black or white hats on their heads randomly (they can be all white, all black or any combination thereof).
The monster will offer each person starting with the last one (who sees everyone else's hats) to guess the color of his/her own hat. The answer can only be one word: "white" or "black". The monster will eat him on the spot if he guessed wrong, and will leave him alive if he guessed right. All the remaining people will hear both the guess and the outcome of the guess. The monster will then go on to the next to last person (who only sees 8 people), and so on until the end.
The monster gives them the whole night to think.

The Task:
Devise the optimal strategy that these poor natives could use to maximize their survival rate.

Assumptions:
1) All the 10 people can easily understand your strategy, and will execute it with perfect precision.
2) If the monster suspects that any of the people are giving away information to any of the remaining team members by intonation of words when answering, or any other signs, or by touch, he will eat everyone.
3) The only allowed response is a short, unemotional "white" or "black".
4) Having said that, I will add that you can put any value you like into each of these words. For example, "white" can mean "my mother did my laundry" and "black" can mean the guy in front of me is wearing a black hat.

WTF?:confused:

4) Having said that, I will add that you can put any value you like into each of these words. For example, "white" can mean "my mother did my laundry" and "black" can mean the guy in front of me is wearing a black hat.
I don't understand this rule.

The best I can come up with is if every person in line says the color of the hat on the person in front of them. This way, the next person would know what color their hat was... Oh shit... that doesn't work. Nevermind.

damn... I'm gonna have to let that one marinate for a while...

Okay, here's one that would work... to a certain degree...

The first person in line says the color of the 6th persons hat.
The 2nd person in line says the color of the 7th persons hat.
the 3rd says the color of the 8th.
the 4th says the color of the 9th.
the 5th says the color of the 10th.

By the time the monster gets through with the fifth person, the remaning five know the color of their hats, so a minimum of 5 people will survive. Each of the first 5 people in the line will have a 50/50 chance of survival.

Either that, or since they know the monster is coming back the following morning, frag his ass when he comes back.

Coat the first person in monster poison.

Coat the first person in monster poison.
:iceslolan I was going to say they should all just gang up and kill the monster.

damn...if you thought of that all by your lonesome, you need to get some time off your hands.

and i would just get my ass on the other side of the island

kill the moster!!!! LOL

otherwise...
have everyone turn the opposite way and say the color in front of them... then u only lose one person

my friend posted this in another forum. i let it run through my mind for about a half hour. it was pissing me off for a while. as ci5ic said originally, thats what you are supposed to think. i believe that ideally nobody should die, or only one person. i left that part out.
-there is no answer to this riddle. i just had to share the aggravation.

Smear yourself in your own feces so he can't sniff you out, than you run into the woods and make a ghille suit to blend in with the bushes, next find a nice sized stick and sharpen it, make a few more and than make a drop pit so he'll fall down into the pit and onto the sticks if he does find you. Keep one stick to stab him with, let him eat the rest of the people. Owned.

I know the answer... did a search for it. Very ingenious...

I'm fairly sure the anser has got to do with the even or odd number of white or black hats which is the last guy in line would know is in front of him (as well as his own).

If the people in line can count then they can tell if they have a white or back based on even or odds counts and what was said behind him. I supposed they could decide that the guy who could see everything says "white" for seeing an odd number of white hats (if that is what he has on) or black for the same reason. The next person can count and tell which one is on his head.

after reading that ci5ic searched for it, i had to as well. OMG!:
Answer:
Here it is: The first guy to guess (guy #10) will be the only one to assume the following value for the words "white" and "black": The answer "black" will mean that there are an odd number of black hats that he sees. The answer "white" will mean that there are an odd number of white hats that he sees. This way one by one all the other 9 people will know the color of their hats.
Let us say that guy #10 (first to speak, and sees the hats of the remaining 9) says "white". That should mean to everybody else that he sees an odd number of white hats. At this time guy #9 will either be wearing a white or a black hat. If he is wearing a white hat he will only see an even number of white hats, and since guy #10 said that there is and odd number of white hats, guy #9 will know that he is wearing white and will say it. But if guy #9 is wearing a black hat, he will see an odd number of white hats (just like #10 did), and thus will know that he is wearing a black hat and will say it. No matter what #9 answers, guy #8 (who heard guy #10 and guy #9) can now easily incorporate the color of hat on guy #9 into the original answer of guy #10. This will allow #8 to know if he should see an odd or even number of white hats in front of him to determine his own hat color. The same thing repeats with #7-1. And they all get it right except of course #10, though he may get lucky.

Sweet! I was right for once today :p

I'm not sure how to comment on this thread but I hate it, mainly 'caus eit did 'cause aggravation since I actually pondered on it!!! :banghead:

wow...that is amazing

I'm still trying to figure out how the people would know what the words mean if they can't talk to each other.

I'm still trying to figure out how the people would know what the words mean if they can't talk to each other.
read it again, they have the whole night to think.

2) If the monster suspects that any of the people are giving away information to any of the remaining team members by intonation of words when answering, or any other signs, or by touch, he will eat everyone.

Even if they had an entire week to think about it, there would be an extremely slim chance that all 10 people would agree on the exact same strategy without any kind of communication between them. Also, without anyone facing each other, that just makes it even more impossible.


4) Having said that, I will add that you can put any value you like into each of these words. For example, "white" can mean "my mother did my laundry" and "black" can mean the guy in front of me is wearing a black hat.


This also proves it to be impossible by letting "white" and "black" mean anything, because one person could screw this up by assuming that "white" and "black" mean that he sees an even number of colored hats it front of him, while everyone else assumes that it means an odd number of hats.

Even if they had an entire week to think about it, there would be an extremely slim chance that all 10 people would agree on the exact same strategy without any kind of communication between them. Also, without anyone facing each other, that just makes it even more impossible.

This also proves it to be impossible by letting "white" and "black" mean anything, because one person could screw this up by assuming that "white" and "black" mean that he sees an even number of colored hats it front of him, while everyone else assumes that it means an odd number of hats.

There is no stipulation that they cannot agree on a strategy the night before the event. It only states that during the guessing, they can't appear to be giving information to each other. But simply saying "black" or "white" hides the fact that they are giving information...

And as to the second part of your post, you're right. There is no accounting for stupidity.

There is no stipulation that they cannot agree on a strategy the night before the event. It only states that during the guessing, they can't appear to be giving information to each other. But simply saying "black" or "white" hides the fact that they are giving information...

And as to the second part of your post, you're right. There is no accounting for stupidity.

I guess it would be possible, it never said that they couldn't talk during the night that they can think about it.

No, stupidity was accounted for, right here:Assumptions:
1) All the 10 people can easily understand your strategy, and will execute it with perfect precision.