document.write( "Question 1206988: Hats in a Bag
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document.write( "Zack, Susie and Peter are standing in a line. All are facing in the same direction. Zack is facing the wall. Susie is behind Zack and Peter is behind Susie. They all know that Mr. Smith has four black and two red hats in a bag. Mr. Smith asks them to close their eyes and randomly puts one hat on each of them. He tells them to open their eyes.
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document.write( "He then asks a question,\" Tell me the color of the hat you are wearing?\"
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document.write( "After a few minutes of silence, Zack started jumping in excitement and yelled that he was wearing a ______ hat. Remember that they can only look in front of them.
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document.write( "Which color was Zack’s hat? \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #844769 by math_tutor2020(3817)![]() ![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! \n" ); document.write( "Zack, Susie and Peter all face to the left in the order presented.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Zack can only see the wall. \n" ); document.write( "Susie can only see Zack's hat. \n" ); document.write( "Peter can see Susie's hat and Zack's hat.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "All three participants know the number of hats and number of each color. \n" ); document.write( "It is assumed that each participant also follows a logical process without randomly guessing. Also, each participant will change their thought process based on what the others call out (or lack of call out). \r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "There are 4 possible scenarios \n" ); document.write( "(a) Zack and Susie both are wearing a red hat \n" ); document.write( "(b) Zack and Susie both are wearing a black hat \n" ); document.write( "(c) Zack wears a red hat, Susie wears a black hat \n" ); document.write( "(d) Zack wears a black hat, Susie wears a red hat\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "If scenario (a) was the case, then there aren't any red hats left, and Peter would call out \"black\". \n" ); document.write( "However, Peter remains silent. \n" ); document.write( "Peter's silence allows both Zack and Susie to rule out scenario (a).\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "If scenario (c) was the case, then Susie would call out \"black\". But like Peter she is silent as well. \n" ); document.write( "Her silence lets Zack rule out scenario (c).\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "In cases (b) and (d), Zack is wearing a black hat. \n" ); document.write( "Unfortunately there isn't enough info to determine the hat color for Susie or Peter.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Answer: Black \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |