5 pirates and a 100 ducats

[Kamikazie]

Cause they want to live (Grey you forgot to mention that). Pirate 5 is the one with the money (in the explanation that Grey Fox is about to give ).

that really helps, thank you good sir

 

[Gray Fox]

Oops, I thought that was obviouse, their live is their first priority, then the loot, then the money. Since there aren't spoiller tags. I'm probably going to post the anwser tomorrow so you can think about it. But if you Brick think it is time to post them sooner you can post it yourself. I don't mind.

 

[The Brick]

I don't care either, I'm off to bed.

 

[Gray Fox]

Well, for anyone that cares:

Okay, here is the solution.
All 5 survive and pirate 5 takes 97 ducats, pirate 3 gets 1 ducat and pirat 1 or 2 get 2 ducats.

Lets assume there is only one pirate.
1 pirate then takes 100 ducats.

Now there are 2 pirates.
Now no matter what the second pirate says, he will die. And the Pirate number 1 will take all the gold. Cause there are two of them. So it’s 50-50. Now no matter what the second pirate says, the first will disagree with him, and the second one will die. Cause he dies if the majority does not agree with him, there doesn’t have to be a majority that disagrees with him, just as long as a majority doesn’t agree with him. Which means if 50% disagree, he dies.
And the pirates are bloodthirsty so they would rather see each other die.

Now there are 3 pirates.
In this case the third pirates will take all the ducats for himself. Cause he knows that no matter what he says the second will agree with him, and then he and the second will be for and the first will be against. Meaning he lives and get’s to keep his gold. The reason the second will always agree is because if he doesn’t, the third pirate dies, and then there are only 2 of them left and that means the second dies.

Now we have 4 Pirates.
In this case pirate 4 will take 98 ducats and he will give number 1 and 2 each 1 ducat. The reason for this, is because if they vote him off, there will only be 3 of them left and in that case number 1 and number 2 do not get anything. If he doesn’t give them anything, they might as well disagree and see him die, But their greed exeeds their blood thirst and so they agree.

Now if there are 5 pirates
In this case Pirate number 5 will take 97 ducats and pirate number 3 will get 1 ducat and either pirate 1 or two will get 2 ducats. The reason for this is. That pirate number 3 doesn’t get anything if pirate 5 dies and there are only 4 of them left. And the reason pirate number 1 or 2 get 2 ducats, is because if there is only 4 of them left, they would only get 1 ducat. Now 5 does not need to give to both number 1 and 2, 2 ducats, cause pirate 5 and 3 and either 1 or 2 make 3 pirates and that is a majority.

 

[The Brick]

I can't believe you guys couldn't figure that out.

 

[Lucid]

Pirates pwn.

 

[Dumb Dude]

I might not be understanding this the right way..but why would the pirates be thinking of it from 1-5 if the sequence is going 5-1? I mean the way I see it, if 5 said he takes 97, then he would die becuase thats not very good way to split it up and so on. And if these priates are truely that smart, then they would know that money is quite possibly the greatest thing on the planet and that would mean that pirate 1 gets all 100 after he owns number 2.

In short: I don't get it.

 

[Gray Fox]

Like I said, they are smart, forwardthinking and blood thirsty.
Now I do not know if I can give a better explenation then I allredy did, but I will try.

Okay, now you are pirat number 5. Now you are very very smart. You want as much mone yas you can get and you want to survive. Now you know that you need to have atleast 2 other pirates agree with you to have a majority. Then you go thinking to yourself.

Okay how much money can I get away with. Now you know that if they disagree with you, you die. So you think to yourself, what would happen if you die. Well if you die there would be 4 pirates left. Now you know that in that case as I have described, pirate 3 will get nothing and pirates 1 and 2 will each get 1 ducat. Okay, so now you know that pirate number 3 will be better of with 1 ducat with you alive, then if you die and number 4 gets to make a suggestion, cause in that case, pirate number 3 gets nothing. So you can keep him happy with 1 ducat. And you also know that pirate 1 and 2 will get 1 ducat if you die and there are 4 left. So you pay one of them 2 ducats. The reason you only pay 1 of them is because you(pirate5) + pirate3 + pirate 1 or 2 make majority.

And the reason you start of thinking mathematically and begin from what if there was only 1 pirate and what if there were 2 is because then you can figure out what would happen if you died. And because all the pirates are very very smart and forward thinking you know that they have done the same and know their fate.
________________

 

[Dumb Dude]

I understand why the answer is what it is, but I'm saying if this was a real world situation, it would not go down like that at all. See, if number 5 claims so much and gives 4 and 3 very little, I would damn well disagree becuase they SHOULD be getting 20 each minimum. So settling for 3 or 2 "ducats" would be stupid. Thats when the others would disagree too and eff up number 5. Then number 4 would learn from number 5 and split it up evenly (25, 25, 25, 25) so that he doesn't get killed.


I also still don't understand how "forwardthinking" benefits these guys at all if the order is 5-1....

I dunno, call me stupid, but I think this riddle is poop.

 

[Razor]

I understand why the answer is what it is, but I'm saying if this was a real world situation, it would not go down like that at all. See, if number 5 claims so much and gives 4 and 3 very little, I would damn well disagree becuase they SHOULD be getting 20 each minimum. So settling for 3 or 2 "ducats" would be stupid. Thats when the others would disagree too and eff up number 5. Then number 4 would learn from number 5 and split it up evenly (25, 25, 25, 25) so that he doesn't get killed.


I also still don't understand how "forwardthinking" benefits these guys at all if the order is 5-1....

I dunno, call me stupid, but I think this riddle is poop.

I would have to agree, number 5 could not make any deals with any of the other pirates as they all want the money and they're all bloody thirsty so want the others dead. If they all want the money and the other pirates dead, would you agree to 1 ducat when you could work away with 20ducats if they all survive or 100ducats if you gamble and try to kill them. At the end of the day, you're more likely end up with 0 pirates getting nothing due to them all killing each other or 1 pirate left with 100 or 2 pirates left with 50 or 3 pirates left with 33.


And anyone who is smart and forward thinking and wants as much money as possible wouldn't agree to a deal where they walk away with 1 ducat whilst someone else walks away with 97ducats. Grey Fox, your logic is flawed.

 

[Beerdude26]

I would have to agree, number 5 could not make any deals with any of the other pirates as they all want the money and they're all bloody thirsty so want the others dead. If they all want the money and the other pirates dead, would you agree to 1 ducat when you could work away with 20ducats if they all survive or 100ducats if you gamble and try to kill them. At the end of the day, you're more likely end up with 0 pirates getting nothing due to them all killing each other or 1 pirate left with 100 or 2 pirates left with 50 or 3 pirates left with 33.


And anyone who is smart and forward thinking and wants as much money as possible wouldn't agree to a deal where they walk away with 1 ducat whilst someone else walks away with 97ducats. Grey Fox, your logic is flawed.

Nah, the riddle just sucks

 

[15357]

Actually, everyone would get nothing ,if they value life more than moneh.

1 gives up money becasue hes scared
2, 3 ,4 are greedy so they can't decide
2 gives up money
3,4 can't decide
3 gives up money
4 gives up moneh because everyone is glaring at him with laser eyes

 

[Razor]

Nah, the riddle just sucks

It's Grey Fox's riddle...so.....

 

[The Brick]

It's Grey Fox's riddle...so.....

He didn't come up with it. I knew that one from some magazine. And he got it from a teacher.

 

[Gray Fox]

No the logic is not flawed, it's prfectly logical within the context of the riddle. You do not understand, they have no choice, this is not a real world situation.
If it was and they would be this smart, they would figure out that if they made a deal to split it this way, that number five would get most of the money.
Maybe it would have helped if I said, that incredibly powerfull alians abducted bloodthirsty, greedy MIT students and gave them hundred ducats to split and made these rules.
Riddles aren't meant to be realisitc. Almost all riddles have a certain context you have to work within. I explained the rules of the game very clearly. And saying that they would have never agreed upon to split it with thease kind of rules makes no sense. It's like loosing in chess and saying, wtf in real life a queen would never be able to kick so much ass, or a horse/knight does not move in that way in real life.

 

[Razor]

No the logic is not flawed, it's prfectly logical within the context of the riddle. You do not understand, they have no choice, this is not a real world situation.
If it was and they would be this smart, they would figure out that if they made a deal to split it this way, that number five would get most of the money.
Maybe it would have helped if I said, that incredibly powerfull alians abducted bloodthirsty, greedy MIT students and gave them hundred ducats to split and made these rules.
Riddles aren't meant to be realisitc. Almost all riddles have a certain context you have to work within. I explained the rules of the game very clearly. And saying that they would have never agreed upon to split it with thease kind of rules makes no sense. It's like loosing in chess and saying, wtf in real life a queen would never be able to kick so much ass, or a horse/knight does not move in that way in real life.

But if the pirates are blood thirsty, why do 3 pirate walk away with 1 or 2 ducats and 1 pirate walks away with 97 ducats. That whole theory doesn't make sense within the context of the "blood thirsty, smart and forward thinking" pirate bit of the riddle.

 

[The Brick]

But if the pirates are blood thirsty, why do 3 pirate walk away with 1 or 2 ducats and 1 pirate walks away with 97 ducats. That whole theory doesn't make sense within the context of the "blood thirsty, smart and forward thinking" pirate bit of the riddle.

Now you do have to keep in mind, that
B) they are greedy, their greed exeeds their blood thirst.

wirisfkvjskndv

 

[Angry Lawyer]

They'd all hop onto a ship and pillage some more people, collecting a few more ducats, making everyone happy. Pirates are better than ninjas, too.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[_-_-SELAS-_-_]

Yes they would get more money if they divided it equally then went and plundered more.
Alternatly they would kill one, then feelings of them killing an old friend and copirate would overwhelm them and they would do as above just with more money each.
However my favourite solution is the one that goes on a few hundred years ago right where my house is now and they waste each other leaving the treasure to be found by me while digging in my little yard..

/me goes to search for treasure
http://www.afn.org/~mxyzptlk/terphil.jpg

 

[Ren.182]

I don't get the riddle either. If I was a greedy blood thirsty pirate I wouldn't let one of them walk away with 97 while I walk away with 2. It just doesn't make shens to me...

 

[Razor]

Yes they would get more money if they divided it equally then went and plundered more.
Alternatly they would kill one, then feelings of them killing an old friend and copirate would overwhelm them and they would do as above just with more money each.

We have a winner, you've solved the riddle :cheers:

 

[Sam]

How about pirate 5 getting 98 and pirates 4 and 3 getting 1 each. Pirate 5 would get pirates 3 and 4 to support it, as if they don't the same fate awaits them as pirate 5 (death). Alternatively, pirate 5 gets 40, pirate 4 gets 26 and pirate 3 gets 34. Pirate 5 offers them more than they would get choosing to share equally, if they wanted more they would be killed by the others, if they chose to kill pirate 5 and make a similar offer themselves they would be killed.

I'm just not happy with the 97-2-1 answer.

 

[Gray Fox]

Nope, cause if pirate 5 dies and there are only 4 pirates left, pirate 4 gets 98 ducats, so pirate 5 would have to offer him 99 ducats to keep him happy.

 

[Sam]

Pirate 4 would then be killed, leading to pirate 3 trying to get 99 ducats and then getting killed himself.

 

[Gray Fox]

No he would not, read my explenation of what would happen if there were only 4 pirates.

Now there are 3 pirates.
In this case the third pirates will take all the ducats for himself. Cause he knows that no matter what he says the second will agree with him, and then he and the second will be for and the first will be against. Meaning he lives and get’s to keep his gold. The reason the second will always agree is because if he doesn’t, the third pirate dies, and then there are only 2 of them left and that means the second dies.

Now we have 4 Pirates.
In this case pirate 4 will take 98 ducats and he will give number 1 and 2 each 1 ducat. The reason for this, is because if they vote him off, there will only be 3 of them left and in that case number 1 and number 2 do not get anything. If he doesn’t give them anything, they might as well disagree and see him die, But their greed exeeds their blood thirst and so they agree.

 

[Top Secret]

If they really were forward thinking pirates, then one of them would have pulled out a flintlock ducksfoot and had been done with it.

 

[The Brick]

Gah you guys are retards. Ok, lets' just say the pirates are banana's, the ducats are goldfish and there would be a hundred policebanana's standing around the group of 5. There is a council that decides when it's legal to peel banana5, if it's illegal, all the bananapolice will kill the attacking banana before it can do any harm. The council is based on democracy, so if 50% disagrees, it's legal for a banana to attack.

Banana5 has 100 goldfish, and he has to devide them between himi and the other 4 banana's. They govern the same rules as in the human riddle about the pirates. The banana's are very nice and smart, but they don't agree when they get nothing. They are pleased with 1 fish if that's all they can get. That's all there's known about how banana's think.

Try again.

 

[Danimal]

Ninjas would clearly split it evenly. Except for the fat one, he'd get like... 2.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Pirates are better. They'd run in, peel all the bananas, and take all those damn goldfish.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Razor]

No he would not, read my explenation of what would happen if there were only 4 pirates.

Your looking at the problem in a mathematical way, Pirates, even very smart ones, are still blood thirsty and wouldn't care about mathematics when their mate walks off with 98 ducats and they walk off with 1 ducat. Thus, your logical answer is illogical when talking about such a situation.