Two types of people live on the island, Knights and Knaves. Knights always tell the truth. Knaves always lie. You run into a group of six natives from the island. U, V, W, X, Y and Z (They have short names on this island). U says: None of us is a knight. V says: At least three of us are knights. W says: At most three of us are knights. X says: Exactly five of us are knights. Y says: Exactly two of us are knights. Z says: Exactly one of us is a knight. Which are the knights, and which are the knaves? U is a knave, a liar. None of us is a knight would be true, if none of U,V,W,X,Y or Z were knights, but that is a contradiction, because if it were TRUE, U would have to be a knight. But if he were a knight, it would be FALSE. The statement is actually an impossible one for any knight to ever make! Fact #1: U is a knave. (Its NOT the case there are 0 knights) Consider the last statement, by Z. Z says: Exactly one of us is a knight. Suppose that this statement is TRUE and Z is a knight. Oops! That would make W's statement true too. W says: At most three of us are knights. But if W's statement is true, W is a knight too, along with Z, so Z's statement cannot possibly be true, because it leads to a CONTRADICTION, or IMPOSSIBILITY or ABSURDITY. Fact #2: Z is a knave. (Its NOT the case there is ONE knight). Since we have that U is a knave and Z is a knave, we now have a total of 2 knaves. Since we only have V, W, X and Y left, we now know that X is a knave! X says that exactly five of us are knights, and at this point we know that there are FOUR OR FEWER knights. Therefore, X is a liar, the knave, indeed. Fact #3: X is a knave. (Its NOT the case there are FIVE knights). What do we have left now? U, X and Z are knaves, for a total of THREE knaves. V says: At least three of us are knights. W says: At most three of us are knights. Y says: Exactly two of us are knights. Consider Y's statement, that there are EXACTLY TWO knights. **** "There are EXACTLY TWO knights", has EXACTLY TWO cases. **** Case #1: Suppose its TRUE. Y is a knight. W's statement that AT MOST THREE OF US ARE KNIGHTS, is true. V's statement that AT LEAST THREE OF US ARE KNIGHTS, if false. Y is knight. W is knight. V is knave. This is possible.... -------- Case #2: Suppose its FALSE. Y is a knave. There are NOT exactly TWO knights. W's statement that AT MOST THREE OF US ARE KNIGHTS, is true. V's statement that AT LEAST THREE OF US ARE KNIGHTS, is false. W is a knight, but Y and V are both knaves. But from above, we already have that U, X, and Z are knaves. So U, V, W, X and Z are knaves and W is the one knight. But that is impossible, because ONE KNIGHT would make Z's statement TRUE, and that is impossible. It was ruled out above. Conclusion: W and Y and knights. U, V, X, and Z are knaves.