The original problme states:-
There are two tribes of Indians, the Blackfeet and the Whitefeet. The Whitefooted indians never lied, and the Blackfooted indians never told the truth. Both tribes, however, always kept their feet covered, and the conundrum was to determine which one of these interesting savages was which.But, and here's the catch, only by asking them questions about their feet. (
My emphasis)
The statement of the problem is imprecise - presumably because milum was struggling to recall the thing from a few years ago when he was a youngster. However, the use of
"which one" provided me with a reasonable excuse to infer just two subjects in the experiment. It also concurs with my own memories of a similar problem.
If they did
not know each other, then the question would be very simple - you would ask each "What colour is the other one's feet?"
- The truthful one would say "I don't know;"
- The liar would have to state a colour, rather than say that he didn't know.
This makes the problem hardly worth the thought; I have, therefore, added a logical ppiece of vital information.
Next nit, please . . .
Edit Sorry - I managed to cut, rather than copy, and paste the emphasised bit.
