4 criminals are caught and are to be punished. The Judge allows them to be freed if they can solve a puzzle. If they do not, they will be hung. They agreed.






The 4 criminals are lined up on some steps (shown in picture). They are all facing in the same direction. A wall seperates the fourth man from the other three.

So to summarise :-
Man 1 can see men 2 and 3.
Man 2 can see man 3.
Man 3 can see none of the others.
Man 4 can see none of the others.

The criminals are wearing hats. They are told that there are two white hats and two black hats. The men initally don't know what colour hat they are wearing. They are told to shout out the colour of the hat that they are wearing as soon as they know for certain what colour it is.

They are not allowed to turn round or move.
They are not allowed to talk to each other.
They are not allowed to take their hats off.

Who is the first person to shout out and why?

PS: There is no trick to the question, just logical deduction.

hmmmmmmm.... seems interesting lemme think abt this

it is person 1 who will shout first...coz he can see other 2 guys and color of hat they r wearing

The man who calls out is Number 2.


After a short time, Number 1 has not shouted out what colour hat he is wearing. Because of this number 2 knows that he cannot be wearing the same colour hat as the person in front of him. If he was then number 1 would see two black hats and would therefore know that his hat must be white.

Ok.... wots the aim actually... each shud know wot color hat others r wearing?

This justice system seems more criminal than the selection criteria for our software companies...lol

i am not convinced with mekala's answer

y so? If Man 2 is wearing the same hat as tMan3, then Man 1 would have shouted the color of his hat!

Man 2 realises that, since man1(who cud see the hat colors of other 2 persons) is not shouting, then he shd be wearing the other color hat and not the same as man3.

So, he shouts the color opp to that of man3!

Got it hari?

yes i understand now

:wallbash:
I give up. I don't know the answer.


2nd Men!
Seems to be CORRECT!
Great Mekala DeeDee. Clever Xplaination.

Did you saw this already?

hey avik r u alive man?>??? give out answers....

i think mekalas answer is correct coz my answer was stupid straight forward without any application , but mekala applied something somewhere and gave out her answer....


avik.....wake up.....come alive...give answer...

hey avik is not replying in any of his threads. hes jus startin and goin

mekala got the answer its true... great

mekala is right.and that explanation is correct

sorry guys.sorry for giving reply in late

lol...thanks for u r answer da....