Lateral Thinking Puzzles

33. The Fork in the Road

You are trying to get to a place called Village A. However, on your travel, you come to a fork in the road which leads to two identical villages, Village A and Village B. From a friend, you know already know village A will tell the truth at all times, and village B will always lie. Trying to decide, a man walks past you in the road. You are only allowed to ask him one question about trying to get to you destination, without knowing whether he is from village a or b. hat do you ask?

Submitted by zozee · Added 11 September 2013

Solution:

Ask the man, 'If I were to ask you which road leads to Village A, what would you say?' If he is from Village A, he will truthfully point to Village A. If he is from Village B, he will lie about what he would say and also point to Village A. In both cases, you can follow the direction he indicates to reach Village A.


Comments (8)

Senor Coolguy 14 September 2013

"Which of these two paths will take me to the village where you live?"

If the man is from village A, he will point in the direction of village A, since he is honest.
If the man is from village B, he will point in the direction of village A, because he cannot point toward village B, since that would be truthful, meaning the only other option is to point towards village A.

teaknow 2 June 2014

"What would you say if I asked you 'Does the road to the left lead to village A?'"

Whether or not he is telling the truth or lying, his answer gives the needed information. If he, dishonestly answers "yes", he would have actually said "no" in the case that you asked him, but that, too, would be a lie, rendering "yes" to be the truth. So the road to the left would be the right one. If the liar said "no", then of course it would mean he'd say yes, also a lie, rendering the left road not the road to village A.

As a parallel, if the honest man said yes, he would've actually answered "yes" in the given situation, which, also, would be the truth. The same reasoning applies for the negative response.

So, in either case, the answer to the question gives the traveler enough information, even if he doesn't know whether or not he's being lied to.

thakurji 3 June 2014

I would simply ask that man if he could point in the direction of the road from which he is coming............if he would be coming from village B he would point in the direction of village A and if he would be coming from village A he would again point in the direction of village A

nicky53 6 June 2014

As i am standing at the fork of the road, it can noticed from which side of the fork the person is coming.

Now, i've to decide whether the person is true teller or a lair. I'll ask him a general question (like 'What is the color of the sky?' or 'Showing a dog/goat/tree/stone, i'll ask what is it?') if the person is coming from Village A gives the correct answer and if the person is coming from Village B gives the wrong answer, obviously we know the correct answer.

On analyzing the path from which the person is coming and the answer given by the person. I can decide which way to take. 8)

Atanu 23 June 2014

Question "If I would ask the other person which road leads to the village, what would he answer?" Both the honest and the liar will point the wrong path. Now that you know the wrong path, take the right one :)

BenLuc 21 October 2014

Ask him what colour your shirt is. If he lies, let him pass you and see if he goes left or right. He will be headed to Village B. Take the opposite road. If he tells the truth, let him pass you, &follow him to Village A. He will be going there because he does not lie.

drikus 17 May 2015

Ask the person which road a person from the other village will point out and take the other road. If he is from the village that always lie he will point out the wrong road. If he is from the village that always tell the truth the guy will know that the other village always lie and hence point out the wrong road.

oncemoreforluck 10 June 2015

you could ask him "which village are you coming from?" and they could point to either village a or village b

BUT...What if this was a villager a visiting village b or vice versa? then, to make sure he wasn't you could ask what village they lived in.

BUT...What if it was an a villager temporarily living in village b or vice versa? Then, they would point to village b.

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