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A man was sentenced to death on the first of the month and was told that he would be executed during the same month but would not know beforehand which day. He argued that this was not possible. The governor agreed with his argument and let him go. How come?
Question
#20829. Asked by Son of The Household. (Jul 21 02 9:43 PM)
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Gnomon
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This is known as the Paradox of the Unexpected Hanging. To be strictly accurate, you have to say that 'he would not know on the morning of the day he was to be executed that it would happen that day'.
He argued: he couldn't be executed on the 31st, because if he was still alive on the morning of the 31st, he would know that the execution was on that day.
He couldn't be executed on the 30th, because if he woke up on the 30th, he would know that the execution had to take place that day, since the 31st was already ruled out.
He couldn't be executed on the 29th by the same reasoning. This is then repeated to cover all days.
Of course, if the governor had staged the execution on the 17th, the man would not have expected it.
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Jack Flash
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The answer is I think that if the man was still alive on the last day of that he would know that he was going to be executed on that day. I can't come up with anything better I'm afraid.
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