The Bag with Silver and Gold

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There are 3 bags and all are labelled incorrectly as follows:

Bag1 : Silver
Bag2 : Gold
Bag 3: Silver and Gold.

You need to label all bags correctly by opening just one bag.

How come?

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    Present Labels:

    Bag 1: Silver
    Bag 2: Gold
    Bag 3: Silver and Gold

    It is known that all three bags are labelled wrongly. Hence:

    Open the first bag (labelled ‘Silver’). As we know that the label is wrong, it may contain either (i) gold or (ii) gold and silver

    (i) If it contains gold, bag 2 may contain (a) silver OR (b) gold & silver. But if it contains silver, then the third bag must contain gold & silver, which makes its label correct, contradicting the given fact that all three bags are labelled wrong. Thus, it follows that the second bag must contain gold & silver, and the third bag must contain silver. Thus, the bags are identified as Bag 1 => Gold, Bag 2 => Gold & Silver and Bag 3 => Silver, and hence can be labelled correctly.

    (ii) If Bag 1 contained gold and silver, then bag 2 may contain (a) gold or (b) silver. Here again, by similar logic as above, bag 2 can’t contain gold (because it would imply that the label is correct), and hence must contain silver, thereby reaching the conclusion as Bag 1 => Gold & Silver, Bag 2 => Silver and Bag 3 => Gold, and hence the bags can be labelled accordingly.

    By applying similar logic, the correct labelling can be derived by opening ANY one of the bags.

     

     

     

     

     

    Viji_Pinarayi Expert Answered on 28th January 2025.
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