tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911587.post8434859047971211173..comments2022-12-04T19:36:10.864-08:00Comments on Jiaqi's Blog: 23 prisoners problem, brutal solution and analysisJiaqi Guohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15995204576197285319noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911587.post-73598939054918310392008-01-24T22:55:00.000-08:002008-01-24T22:55:00.000-08:00Hmm... unfortunately the parity of the initial con...Hmm... unfortunately the parity of the initial conditions the switches can be in is random. This solution is very similar to the idea you had before - flip the first switch and change the parity on the first time you enter the room, flip the second switch and leave the parity constant otherwise.BenVitalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252218231924085041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911587.post-71628332950215176162008-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:002008-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00Because there are two bits, the switches can repre...Because there are two bits, the switches can represent the numbers 0,1,2,3 in binary, and it is possible for each person to flip a switch and either change the parity of the number, or leave it unchanged. For instance one flip will take 0 to 2, or 0 to 1; 1 to 0 or 1 to 3; 2 to 0 or 2 to 3, etc. <BR/><BR/>Try working out a protocol where each prisoner knows what to do when he finds a given parityBenVitalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252218231924085041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911587.post-57261248018938155152008-01-23T22:30:00.000-08:002008-01-23T22:30:00.000-08:00If they don't know the initial states ... this wo...If they don't know the initial states ... this won't work, the counter can miscount by up to 1 person.<BR/><BR/>I'm sure there's better solution out there. Any suggestions?Jiaqi Guohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15995204576197285319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5911587.post-6653123366321691252008-01-23T22:21:00.000-08:002008-01-23T22:21:00.000-08:00This almost works. The only problem is that we don...This almost works. The only problem is that we don't know the initial condition of the switches... it's plausible that they were both in the on position firstBenVitalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252218231924085041noreply@blogger.com