An inspection by the superintendent of St. Joseph School was scheduled on the next day. The class teacher Jenifer knew that he would be asking questions from her class and she would have to choose a pupil to answer. To offer a perfect impression over him, the teacher explained certain instructions to the students to maximise the chances of getting correct answer every time.
One day, all the courtiers from Akbar's court were gathered in the assembly hall when one of them told the Emperor that all his valuables had been stolen by a thief the previous night.
This shocked the Emperor to his core as the place where that courter stayed was the most secured in the kingdom. The Emperor thought that it is not at all possible for an outsider to enter into the courtier's house and steal the valuables. Only another courtier could commit this crime. He quickly called Birbal to identify the thief.
Birbal thought for a while and successfully solved the mystery by identifying the thief in just one statement.
What did Birbal say?
I have one of the three numbers: 1, 2, or 3 in my mind. I speak only truth. You can ask me just one question for which I will only reply in yes or no or don't know. What question will you ask from me so that you are able to know the number?
There was a blind man. He had four socks in his drawer either black or white. He opened it and took out two socks. Now the probability that it was a pair of white socks is 1/2.
Can you find out the probability that he had taken out a pair of black socks ?