Puzzle | Octopus Empire
There was an empire where lived a King Octopus with his few servants. The servants either had 6, 7, or 8 legs. It is known that:
- Seven-legged servants always lied.
- 6 and 8-legged servants always told the truth.
One fine day, four servants gathered before the king, and they came up with four statements:
- Servant A said, “Altogether, we have 28 legs.”
- Servant B said, “Altogether, we have 27 legs.”
- Servant C said, “Altogether, we have 26 legs.”
- Servant D said, “Altogether, we have 25 legs.”
How will King Octopus find the truthful speaker?
Solution: As we can see that the four are making different statements and since one of them speaks the truth, three are undoubtedly lying. This forms the base of our argument.
- Step 1: So, the three lying servants must have seven legs each, resulting in 21(i.e., 7 + 7 + 7) legs.
- Step 2: Now, the fourth servant speaking the truth must have 6 or 8 legs. Adding 21 to 6 gives 27 legs. Adding 21 to 8 gives 29 legs.
- Step 3: Since 29 legs are out of the options, hence it is proved that the 27 legs are the correct answer and Servant B is the truthful one.
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