Marble Mix Up Puzzle - Solution
The Puzzle:
There were 3 marbles in each container, and the number of blue marbles was different in each one. There was a piece of paper in each container telling which color marbles were in that container, but the papers had been mixed up and were ALL in the wrong containers.
He then told all of his friends to take 2 marbles out of their container, read the label, and then tell him the color of the third marble.
So Tom took two blue marbles out of his container and looked at the label. He was able to tell the color of the third marble immediately.
Dick took 1 blue marble and 1 yellow marble from his container. After looking at his label he was able to tell the color of his remaining marble.
Harry took 2 yellow marbles from his container. He looked at the label in his container, but could not tell what color the remaining marble was.
Sally, without even looking at her marbles or her label, was able to tell the scientist what color her marbles were. Can you tell what color marbles Sally had? Can you also tell what color marbles the others had, and what label was in each of their containers?
Our Solution:Tom took two blue marbles; his label said, "two blue one yellow", and this means he had to have three blue marbles because all of the labels were wrong.
Dick took one blue marble and one yellow marble; his label said, "one blue and two yellows", so he had to have two blues and one yellow.
Harry did not know what he had because he saw two yellow marbles and the label said, "three blue".
Sally knew what she had because she knew what was left, two yellow marbles and one blue marble.
Dick took one blue marble and one yellow marble; his label said, "one blue and two yellows", so he had to have two blues and one yellow.
Harry did not know what he had because he saw two yellow marbles and the label said, "three blue".
Sally knew what she had because she knew what was left, two yellow marbles and one blue marble.