Buried Up to Neck

Three friends, Adam, Bob, and Charlie are buried in the sand up to their necks, all facing West. Charlie can see both Adam and Bom, Bom can see only Adam, and Adam cannot see anyone. Black and white hats are placed on their heads. The three friends are told that there is at least one hat from each color, and then they are asked whether anyone can guess the color of their own hat.

After a few minutes, one of them answers. Who is that?

SOLUTION

If Adam and Bob had hats with identical colors, then Charlie would immediately be able to deduce that his hat has the opposite color. Charlie doesn’t do that, so Adam and Bob are able to figure out that their hats have opposite colors. Since Bob is the one who can see the color of Adam’s hat, he is the one that answers the question.

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