The Unexpected Examination
On friday afternoon in class, the Headmaster tells his students that next week, they are to have an unexpected exam. That is, there will be an exam but they don't know on which day it will occur.
Over the weekend, the students gather and using logic, try to determine which day the exam will be.
"If thursday afternoon comes, and there has been no exam, then we can be sure that the exam is on Friday. Therefore, the Headmaster can't put the exam on friday. Likewise, on Wednesday afternoon, if there is no exam, we will know it will be on Thursday. Therefore, the exam can't be on Thursday." The students follow this line of logic to Monday.
Having 'proved' that the exam can't exist, the unexpecting students are given the exam on Tuesday morning.
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This is a philosophical problem I heard recently. Superficially, the students' logic seems great. However, they are still given the exam. Does the hole in their logic lie in linguistics (i.e. of the word 'unexpected')? Does it lie in the fact that they pile their proofs on top of each other (i.e. trusting that the exam can't be on friday, thursday, wednesday AND tuesday, and therefore not monday)?