Kogorous Riddle Thread and eworms Deduction Thread

[sstimson]

I just got another crazy idea.

First the riddle

alright here is a puzzle I once heard

There are 3 doors all next to each other, 2 lead to a trap and the other leads your way out. You want your way out naturally but you can't be sure which way is out and you can't go back once you went though the door.

Hesitantly you picked the door on the right to open but wait, you remembered you have a bottle which will point to one of the doors which will harm you. You pluck it out from your pockets and crack open the bottle, a misty steam forms into an arrow and points to the door next to you, the door in the middle.

Phew you thought, now you know one of the doors leads you into a trap. The next part is the hard part now, you know one of the doors, the left or right, might contains trap, but the other leads your way out.

The question is what should you do and explain why

Next some logic, but I should spoiler it

Spoiler:

Well to enter this room we had to come through one of those three doors right?
According to the bottle, the middle is a DEAD end (yes another pun)
So normally we would have to pick either the left door or the right, but there is a clause in this riddle that is a great help

It is this: "you can't go back once you went though the door."

Well we had to go through either the left or the right to get here right?

If you can not go through the door you went though to get in to this room, then that means that one of three door should be locked, and either that is the only safe way out in which case you are doomed or that door had the last trap and the door that is unlocked and not in the center is the way out.

[phreak_91]

Well, Lucky said this

Also you woke up in the room with no other doors except for the 3, someone must of knocked you out and brought you in here through one of the 3 doors.

in an earlier post, so I don't think that would work

[eworm]

Question: are we allowed to open only one door?

Well, if it was as simple as choosing between the two doors, the third one wouldn't be there, same with the magical bottle. That stuff must serve some purpose, be a hint of sort. I have no idea what to make of it though.

Another non-mathematical answers would be to:

Spoiler:

Open the door slightly, put only your hand into the room and search for the light-switch. The outside won't have it of course.

Spoiler:

b) Just open the door, look and listen. If it's really pitch-black, it can't be the outside which would have at least stars and moon accompanied by crickets and cicadas and other noises, depending on how close to the civilization we are.

Spoiler:

c) Check the fingerprints on the doorknobs. The one that has the kidnapper's fingerprints is the one on the door they escaped through after leaving you here so it's the safe one.

[Giogio]

Unfortunately, I know the thing, so no answer from me. But, I think a tiny piece is missing (if I didnt overlook something, it got me totally puzzled again ^^). It's important that the bottle is magically programmed to never point to the door you have already chosen.

[eworm]

If so then:

The door on the LEFT:
a) was not pointed to because it's a safe door. [SAFE]
b) was not pointed to just because the bottle pointed the other trap door. [TRAP]

The door on the RIGHT:
a) was not pointed to because it's a safe door. [SAFE]
b) was not pointed to just because the bottle pointed the other trap door. [TRAP]
c) was not pointed to because the bottle doesn't point to the door you've chosen. [TRAP]

So it would seem the door on the right seem less safe. But it's not even logic.

[sstimson]

Maybe the Bottle was lazy and wanted to point to the nearest trap. As you are at the right and that door is chosen, even if it is a trap it can not point to that. It would be more interesting and maybe telling if instead of starting before remembering the bottle at the right you had chosen the center then the bottle going left or right would not be lazy and the other direction would be the way to go.

[eworm]

sorry if the mist confused you I didn't intend for the mist to matter, so long as it points to one of the doors that isn't the one you picked that's all i'm looking for.
The answer i'm looking for doesn't concern the mist, it's just there to add story to my puzzle

So no, the mist's laziness doesn't matter.

It's quite a problem.

[sstimson]

Well if you put the psyche in place as with my joke earlier most people are likely to take the Right as in their minds they think correct. It goes to the psyche of the person who brought here. What kind of person is here? Do they want you dead. Are you just a test. It the lady and tiger all over again.

If the person want you dead and thinks you are not too bright, the death door will be right
The same but knows you are bright then it the he think i think game and it is more likely to be left
If Just a experiment then I say the trap would be left.

[eworm]

Wait, and how would that person know that the door you'd almost choose first would be the one on the right? The double meaning of the word "right" is absolutely not enough.

[sstimson]

Well let me answer that with a question. If there were two door, one with a reward behind it and one with nothing behind it
which door would you chose left or right?

[eworm]

How could I know? I'd probably flip a coin or something. But I definitely wouldn't choose the right one just because it's "right" one. Especially since English isn't my native language too.

Back to the riddle.

[lucky777]

lol oh wow didn't think my story would cause this much trouble...

Okay i'm just gonna change the story element so it's easier to understand the story elements and give you the bare essentials to solve this puzzle

Okay your playing a game show where you can win a bunch of money as a prize
there are 3 doors behind 2 of them is a pack of tissues, which you don't want to win, the other contains the prize money.
You pick the right door not knowing whether or not it contains the prize money. The host then reveals another door whcih leads to a pack of tissues, which is the middle one, he gives you the option of switching doors or staying with the one you picked (so staying with the door on the right)

So should you stick with the door you picked or switch to the left door?
Again this puzzle requires a much more mathematical answer, no tricks, no loopholes, just a reasonable mathematical answer as to what you should do. And for the people who knows the answer don't give it away i wana see the responses i get 

[eworm]

Oh wait, I heard something about that in my maths class years ago. What was it exactly... I think the right answer would be to change your mind and pick the left now but I'm not entirely sure. And I don't really remember why would that be. Let me think some more...

[sstimson]

I hear the reverse. On multi choice test most people who change their answer go from the correct one to an incorrect one.
As you first guess for some reason is best. And also for some reason if you were to chose B on those kind of test and only B, on most of them you would pass. Again Psychology. Yes Eworm you might not consciously pick the Right door, but even if you are not English, are still likely to sub-consciously pick it.

add url for future mc test takers and showing to only change your answer if you are sure
http://www.studygs.net/tsttak3.htm

look at this picture in words (Door 1) (Door 2) (Door 3). Three doors three chances. I think this way I choice the doors in order in this case door 1, then something is trying to get me to choice a different door by showing me a bad door. at first my change of picking the right was 33%. Now knowing a wrong door they become 50%. But now you need to answer this question. Was my first guess right or wrong. As I already showed, most of the time changing your answer is wrong. So the best thing to do seem to be go with your first choice. I would really do this in the game show because my thinking is If I choose the wrong door he will just open it, by trying to get me to doubt myself he is likely trying to get me to go from the right door to the wrong door. Also that crazy game show deal or no, how many times were game players fooled into selling winning suitcases.

Go right.

[phreak_91]

Now that you put it that way, I also seem to remember something from a math class I once had.  I believe that we went over this subject, and even watched an episode of the TV show "Numbers" that had to do with this concept....  However, I never did understand the reasoning, and have since forgotton.  It does have something to do with probability changing once an option is removed, though.  That I do remember.