A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the...

A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner. He will not know the day of the hanging until the executioner knocks on his cell door at noon that day.

Having reflected on his sentence, the prisoner draws the conclusion that he will escape from the hanging. His reasoning is in several parts. He begins by concluding that the "surprise hanging" can't be on Friday, as if he hasn't been hanged by Thursday, there is only one day left - and so it won't be a surprise if he's hanged on Friday. Since the judge's sentence stipulated that the hanging would be a surprise to him, he concludes it cannot occur on Friday.

He then reasons that the surprise hanging cannot be on Thursday either, because Friday has already been eliminated and if he hasn't been hanged by Wednesday noon, the hanging must occur on Thursday, making a Thursday hanging not a surprise either. By similar reasoning he concludes that the hanging can also not occur on Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday. Joyfully he retires to his cell confident that the hanging will not occur at all.

The next week, the executioner knocks on the prisoner's door at noon on Wednesday — which, despite all the above, was an utter surprise to him. Everything the judge said came true.

>Where was the flaw in the prisoner's logic Sup Forums, and if there's none, then how was the judge able to keep his promise and surprise him?

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Just apply the same logic in a sequence. If it's planned to happen on Monday, it wouldn't a surprise, because making it on one of the other days wouldn't be a surprise (working from Friday backward). Each day, he would expect it to be that day, which would mean it wouldn't be a surprise, which means it couldn't happen. The judge fucked up. user gets to live another day to commit more crimes.

>tfw this isn't politics so will likely get deleted.

If the executioner leaves it until 12:01 Thursday, then it will not be a surprise, but before 12:01 thursday, any knocking on the door will be a surprise.

>the executioner knocks on the prisoner's door at noon on Wednesday — which, despite all the above, was an utter surprise to him. Everything the judge said came true

>>Where was the flaw in the prisoner's logic Sup Forums, and if there's none, then how was the judge able to keep his promise and surprise him?

The flaw is that the judge is setting the execution on what is essentially a random day. The prisoner must be able to predict the day for it to not be a surprise, but he is trying to predict an essentially random event. It falls into the realm of probability. There was always going to be an execution, the only question was about which day it would be probable to happen.

>he concludes that the hanging can also not occur on Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday
This is not similar reasoning.

If it happened on Friday, it wouldn't be a surprise, which means it would be expected to happen on Thursday, but then this wouldn't be a surprise, which means it would be expected to happen on Wednesday, but then this wouldn't be a surprise, which means it would be expected to happen on Tuesday, but then this wouldn't be a surprise, which means it would be expected to happen on Monday, but then this wouldn't be a surprise, which means it can't happen and be a surprise, which means it can't happen.

Exactly. It's just a regress problem. It's another version of Xeno's paradox. There is no solution from the standpoint of the prisoner and his expectations, which means he lives.

There is only one last day in the week. Friday. The ONLY time it would not be a surprise would be if he was not executed before Friday. On Wednesday, he can still die either on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. If Each day BECAME the last day of the week, his reasoning would work. But, it isn't, and it doesn't.

The last day of the week is sunday

Sup Forums is too stupid to solve this.

Executioners don't work on weekends.

That's the first day my dude. Or are we talking work weeks?

17

The criminals flaw was that he came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to die and got comfy. He deluded himself, so when the knock came, it became a surprise because in his mind, he was safe.

Since his conclusion is that he cannot be hung because he would not be surprised - any day the executioner arrives will surprise the prisoner.

15

5+1x10

he lets his guard down as soon as he comes up with the sequential thing. which happened the moment he got to Wednesday. kek approves

burger+mug of beer+bottle of beer= a good time

>implying the judge gives a fuck about semantics:

>hanging is actually on Friday
>Prisoner: " I expected my execution would be on a friday. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise and thus I can't be executed!"
>gets fucking hanged anyways

The flaw in his logic was that he was a fucking autist who took the judge's word in the literal sense and thought there was ever a possibility that he wouldn't be executed.

He assumed there was only 5 days in the week?

16

The problem is he's thinking backward from Friday and not forward from Monday morning.

The flaw in his logic is that he makes decisions that put him in the position of a condemned prisoner.

He fell for linear thinking and did not include the random factor which was the judge. For all he knew, he could have died that same day

42 of course.

70? I'm retarded.

>Judge has him hanged on Friday
>"HA! I wasn't surprised at all!"
>still dies

Hmmmm

>giving a shit what a condemned prisoner think

WHAT THE FUCK

I just got this video recommend to me an hour ago now I see this post on Sup Forums

youtu.be/vxlCiV_axQ0

70

Thing is that because the day of the execution is a surprise(aka random) we cant determine what day its gonna be on


25 easy

Consider the one day alternative:

>A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon tomorrow but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner

As soon as the prisoner concludes that he won't be hanged tomorrow, he opens up the possibility of being hanged and surprised tomorrow. Because of this, the prisoner is not right to be 100% confident in his conclusion. The logic follows in the 5-day version.

He could BTFO the judge 20% of the time if he just chose randomly, but he's a huge overconfident fag brought down by hubris.

What he should have done was anticipate every day to be the day of the hanging.

That way no matter what he would be spared.

Not one person has yet pointed out that this is zeno's paradox, just really poorly framed?

Oh that's right: this is Sup Forums and you're a bunch of illiterate retards.

Beer bottle = 10
Hamburger = 5
One pint = 2

>which means he lives.
uh no. the utter surprise is that the judge did what was predictable which is why it was surprise.

Hes logic is that event_hanging {Friday|Not hanged by thursday} is same as event_hanging {Friday}.

He's correct to eliminate Friday but the logic doesn't work for any other day.

Fuggen phone, one pint = 1

Your phone had it right the first time then

Turns out the prison is in Uganda and the warden makes another inmate beat the prisoner to death with a bat. Surprise!

Fuck off with your 1994 Reader's Digest riddles OP you aren't impressing anyone.

There was a flaw in the prisoner's logic.

I wanna say it's the Gambler's Fallacy but they aren't exact.

Either way, he's just being too sure of himself.

Lol this

see

Oh: he just misspelled Zeno.

No one said predicting the day correctly means he gets spared. The only thing it would spare him from is the added torture of uncertainty.

every single word within every single language carries an innate meaning. The logical flaw here is that the prisoner is not considering the meaning of the word "surprise" - its quality being that it doesnt follow the rules of logic in the first place.