Time for MATH MINUTE! (provide your favorite theme
music here).
Get
out your paper & pencil because I have a new puzzle for you!!
PUZZLE #44 Colored
hats. Dec. 3-7
Three
students are seated at a round table in a dimly lit room. They are blindfolded
and a hat is to be put on each students head. There are black and white colored
hats from which to choose. The students have to guess the color of the hat on
their own head. Whoever guesses first wins a prize.
The
hats are placed on the students heads and they are instructed to raise their
hand if they see at least one white hat when the blindfolds are removed. Then
they are to hit a buzzer in the middle of the table as soon as they know the
color of their own hat.
The
blindfolds are removed, the students look at each other, and they all raise
their hands, but no one hits the buzzer.
Based
on this information, how can one of them guess the color of their hat?
Suppose
you are one of the students, what would you do?
Send
your comments, ideas and solutions before Monday to this email address, and be sure to put
MM in the subject line: parksjm@potsdam.edu
Visit
us here online to see the results every Monday.
See
you next time on MATH MINUTE! (theme music fades out here).