Riddle of the 3 Astronauts

[amber r shaffer]

Suppose that you are on vacation with two of your coworkers. Now it's time to relax and knowing that you and your coworkers are going to be stuck up at the space station ( you are all astronauts) for the week following your trip south. So you decide to go out and find the beach that the hotel had told you was a great place to get some sun.

Now as the three of you are walking through the heavy brush you encounter a native tribe that proceed to take you and both of your coworkers hostage. The three of you are them blindfolded and are told to sit down. After being seated in an equilateral triangle your captors remove all blindfolds and this is what you are told. The hats you are wearing each contain either a green or a red dot and can be in any combination. now when we turn your caps over I want any of you that see a green dot to raise his or her hand. The natives tell you that when one of you know what the color is of the dot painted on your own forehead you are to give the tribal leader the answer and if wrong all of you will be killed and sold as meat (the tribe is a hungry group of cannibals) and the rest will be used for souvenirs.

So all three hats are turned to reveal that all three men have a green dot on their hats. At the same time all three of you raise your hand.

You begin to feel the weight that comes with being in charge though thinking back it had been difficult to get them to think of you as the "leader" since when you received the assignment at NASA you were a kid phenom and getting a full scholarship to MIT at 15 and barely out of puberty. Over time though you had earned their respect and the three of you had become best friends. Now as you sit facing the other two you raise your hand and tell the leader that you know that you have a green dot on your forehead. Now the reason that you know that is......?

 

This is a good riddle and I think it took me like at least a day or more to figure it out. Good Luck!

[Mr Skeptic]

Well it took me about as long to read that riddle as to figure it out. You would know the answer if no one raised their hand, or if two people (other than you) raised their hand. If you and one person raised your hands, you also know the answer. If only one person raised their hand, then you would know that he knows what color he has. In fact, the only way you don't know the answer is if everyone raises their hands and you see the other two have green dots. In that case, you also know that your buddies will know the answer unless you have a green dot too. Assuming your astronaut buddies are clever, you know that if no one knows the answer then you must all have green dots.