Honestants and Swindlecants #1 (Solution)

Have you got your answer? Let’s compare with mine.

This is a typical logic problem which can be solved by using classic logic operations.

The clue is in the 2-first sentence:

1. There are only 2 kinds of people: Honestants and Swindlecants.
2. The Honestants always tell truth (never tell lie).
3. The Swindlecants always tell lie (never tell truth).

From the given situation we know that:

• No any information we got from A.
• (Implicitly) B told that he was an Honestant. B didn’t told anything about who A was (B only told what A have said).
• C said that B was a Swindlecant and (implicitly) told that he was an Honestant C, but didn’t told anything about who A was (C only implicitly told what A have said).

Let’s analyse:

Start from the possibility of what A might said. If someone asks someone else whether he is an Honestant or an Swindlecant:

An Honestant would answer, “I’m an Honestant” (he tells who he is indeed, an Honestant).

A Swindlecant would answer, “I’m an Honestant” (he don’t tell who he is indeed, an Swindlecant).

None would say, “I’m a Swindlecant”.

So, A must said, “I’m an Honestant” (no matter who he is indeed). It means that B is a Swindlecant. While C is an Honestant because he told the truth (that B was lying).

This brain teaser I copied from Brain Teasers (http://brainden.com/logic-problems.htm). Just on click on that link, then you’ll get more brain teasers to tease your brain or even just to ease your boring day. When you get stuck, you can visit brain teasers forum to get extra “clues” from them whom have tried to solve it (but for me, it’s better to do it by myself as I did in solving this quiz).