Using the concepts you read about in units 3 and 4, explain in your own words ho

Question

Using the concepts you read about in units 3 and 4, explain in your own words how the following joke works:

Three logic students walk into a restaurant. The server asks, "Does everyone want water?"

The first student says, "I don't know."

The second student says, "I don't know."

The third student says, "Yes!"

Hint: Explain why each student gives the answer he or she does given the evidence she has (for example, the first student has no evidence, the second student has the evidence of the first student's statement "I don't know.")

(Disclaimer: Academic humor is very dry, so if you don't find this "funny" in the traditional sense, you're not alone. Nevertheless, the punchline does follow basic rules of logic. Another hint: try using a truth table.)

Explanation / Answer

The joke follows strict logic. Let's understand this with the help of truth table and let the students are A, B and C. so if everyone wants water, the following rule will apply, A*B*C = 1 when A = B = C = 1. Understanding it in terms of student speaking the truth, Any one student will say “Yes” only, if every one’s answer is either “Yes” or “I don’t know” . In case of “Yes” as an answer by any one student, the answer of all the students have to be “Yes”. But in case of “I don’t know” answer by any one, the answer of the students can be either “Yes” or “No”, both will be true.

The first logic student rightly said “I don’t know”, because he doesn’t have any evidence whether the other two students need water or not. He can only tell about his requirement. But the question is specific about everyone’s. Therefore he answered the way he answered. The second student had the evidence about the first student, but he did not have evidence of the third student. Therefore he also answered “I don’t know”

The third student had the evidence of both the students, which was “I don’t know”. So he could give any answer “Yes” or “No”, which will be true.

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