Why would the monks look for ten??? They have no idea of the number -- all they know is that there are 9 that they can see with a dot... Everyone of them is looking at the same thing... So if you see 9 with dots then they should all kill themselves by the 9th day, if not then you have one too, because the 9 are looking at you... See none of the 10 monks know they are the mark UNTIL the 10th day... They all have to wait until the 10th to know and then BAM it hits them like a ton of bricks, ahhh shit I got one too...
First of all, he said there were 100 monks. He said ten of the hundred had the dots. But even if there had only been 10 monks, if they knew how many had the dots, they would do the math the first day, and kill themselves. If they didn't know how many had the dots, they would go on eating every day, the ones with the dots never being told, thus never finding out, that they had the dots. Something was surely omitted or mistold in this telling of the riddle.
te'/commisso, that's why i'm saying it depends on what the monks knew. i agree with what hii a_ooiioo_a said: " ...if there had only been 10 monks, if they knew how many had the dots, they would do the math the first day, and kill themselves." if the first night, some monks can count 10 dots, and they know only 10 people have the disease, then the ones that can only count 9 dots will kill themselves that night. the riddle didn't state if the monks knew this information or not. if they didn't know this, then you're right, the riddle becomes more difficult. however, as it is, i don't think that explanation is incorrect.
hiiaoaoo, the monks DID NOT know exactly how many there were with dots. just answer me this one question, when it is said to you that a solution exists, do you believe that statement or not? if you do believe that a solution exists, go back and read commissso's (I refuse to call you Te', bro!) and lobster's attempts to explain it to me. unless you're operating from a flawed paradigm that there is no solution, like i was, what they say DOES make sense. (although it could be a tad clearer). ponder this. we were told that AT LEAST one of us has a dot. if you OR i had dots on us, how would know which one it was? if you DIDN'T see a dot on me, you would know that it was YOU that had one, and you'd go and kill yourself. if you DID see one on me, you would be hoping that i don't see one on you, right? how would you know if i saw one on you or not? well, if i DIDN'T see one on you, i'd go and kill myself that night. but if i DID see one on you, _I_ would be hoping that you didn't see one on ME. if we both wake up and see each other the next day, it means we BOTH had dots, and we'd have to kill ourselves. do you follow that so far?
Gordon they don't know how many---> THEY WERE NEVER TOLD! u r right though -- thats not the answer and the riddle makes no sense what so ever...
ok, so i guess we assume the monks don't know how many have the disease, in total....but some monks will be able to count 10 dots and some will be able to count 9 dots. after that, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
After that they go on spending the rest of their silent monkish lives seeing 9 or 10 guys with dots at dinner every night. The ones with the dots would never know if the the total of dots was 9 or 10. The ones without the dots would never know if the total of dots was 10 or 11. The whole bunch of them would spend the rest of their sad lives never knowing whether or not they themselves had the dot. After a while they would all realize that it didn't matter because none of them would ever kill themselves over the dot thing, and they would probably forget about it entirely. Although it wouldn't surprise me if the whole non-talking and no mirrors thing would drive many of them to suicide.
hiiaaaaooo, are you calling me a liar when i say a solution exists? if not, could you please tell me whether or not the two man example i used makes sense to you or not?