Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:12:37.386Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Problem of A, B, C and D

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2017

A. S. Eddington
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

If A, B, C and D each speak the truth once in three times (independently), and A affirms that B denies that C declares that D is a liar, what is the probability that D was speaking the truth?

I understand that this problem appeared many years ago in a mock examination paper in the Granta. I heard of it from Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin in 1919, when A, B, G and D (or more strictly C, C’, D and E) were about to start on the eclipse expeditions which verified Einstein’s prediction of the deflection of light. Crommelin in an after-dinner speech hinted that this problem might arise. I made use of it in my book New Pathways in Science, and rashly gave my solution-—the result being a considerable increase in my correspondence. I hope the following explanation will be sufficiently clear to avert a similar sequel to its appearance in the Mathematical Gazette.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 19 , Issue 235 , October 1935 , pp. 256 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1935

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)