It is known that all generals in Saddam’s army fall into two groups: the ones wh

Question

It is known that all generals in Saddam’s army fall into two groups: the ones who
always lie, and others who always tell the truth. So Saddam summoned all of them to
his palace, and asked the Chief of Staff, general A, whether he was a liar. General A got
very scared. He mumbled something in response, and then immediately died of heart
attack. Since Saddam did not hear his reply, he asked two other generals, B and C (who
stood next to A), what was A’s reply. According to B, general A said he was an honest
person. According to C, general A said he was a liar. Based on this information, help
Saddam to decide whether general B is a liar or general C is a liar.

Explanation / Answer

Basically we will name the two types of people either 'liars' or 'truthers' Now we will consider the two scenarios where General A is either a liar or a truther. Scenario 1- If General A was a truther then when B said that A always tells the truth it means that B was a truther. Therefore C must be the liar. Scenario 2- If we assume General A was a liar then he would have said "I always tell the truth," this means that when General B told saddam that General A said he was a truther he was saying this in good faith and General B is an honest man. General C therefore, must be the liar. As we can see from this simple example, in both situations General C is the liar.

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