The inhabitants of an island are either gentlemen or liars. A gentlemen always tells the truth and a liar always lies. A, B and C are three of the inhabitants. A sailor who landed on the island asked A, "Are you a gentleman or a liar?" A answered but the sailor did not hear clearly what A said. He asked B, "What did A say?" and B replied, "A said that he is a liar." C then shouted, "B is lying!"
1. It is impossible to tell whether A is a gentleman or a liar.
2. B is a gentleman and C is a liar.
3. B is a liar and C is a gentleman.
Which statements are correct?

Question

The inhabitants of an island are either gentlemen or liars. A gentlemen always tells the truth and a liar always lies. A, B and C are three of the inhabitants. A sailor who landed on the island asked A, "Are you a gentleman or a liar?" A answered but the sailor did not hear clearly what A said. He asked B, "What did A say?" and B replied, "A said that he is a liar." C then shouted, "B is lying!" 
1. It is impossible to tell whether A is a gentleman or a liar. 
2. B is a gentleman and C is a liar. 
3. B is a liar and C is a gentleman. 
Which statements are correct?

nottim · Answer

WE do have an english group. you can access it but clicking the long blue rectangular button beside openstudy's logo

anonymous · Answer

this is maths! its logic

nottim · Answer

i guess. i didnt read the question; made some assumptions

anonymous · Answer

3 is correct i think

anonymous · Answer

consider 

C is L
=>B is G
=> A said "i am a liar"

this is impossible since if A is a liar then he told  the truth and if A is a gentleman then he just lied

so the only other case is that 

C is G
=> B is L
=> A did not say "i am a liar"

hoblos · Answer

yes 3 is correct... but what about statement 1 ? i think it is also correct because A can be either a liar or a gentleman

pythagoras123 · Answer

I agree with hoblos; Because B is a liar, a statement made by B against A cannot be taken as proof for whether A is a liar or a gentleman.

hoblos · Answer

yeah and the question is "Which statementS ARE correct" so there could be more than one

anonymous · Answer

but if B lied and A did not say "i am a liar" and still answered the sailors question A must be a gentleman

hoblos · Answer

A said " im a gentleman"  but he may be lying !! so both cases are possible

anonymous · Answer

ah good point

lgbasallote · Answer

this reminds me of a riddle i saw in yu-gi-oh -___- hahaha

lgbasallote · Answer

if b is a liar then it is impossible to determine A i believe..so that means b is a gentleman..but if he is then A said he was lying..which would be impossible as well because like you said liars wont admit that and gentlemen wont say that

apoorvk · Answer

1 I say

anonymous · Answer

From the problem its difficult to find the validity of both b's and c's statement. So I'll go with the 1st.

anonymous · Answer

we solved it :D

anonymous · Answer

read above X)