Put your skills to test and find the correctly labeled box | Trending

Are you someone who enjoys solving puzzles and brain teasers? Such games always keep our minds busy and make us wonder about their solutions. If you are someone who enjoys exercising your mind, we have a mind-boggling puzzle for you. In a recent Reddit post shared by user ShonitB, you have to identify which box is labeled correctly. The puzzle may seem simple at first glance, but it will require some mental effort to reach the solution.

The question reads, “You have four boxes, one contains only diamonds, one contains only emeralds, one contains only rubies, and one contains only sapphires. You know that only one of the boxes is labeled correctly. How many boxes do you need to open to find out which box is labeled correctly?

Take a look at the post below:

This post was shared just a few hours ago. Since being shared, it has been upvoted several times. Many people also shared their answers in the comments section.

Check out a few reactions below:

An individual shared two scenarios and answered this puzzle. They wrote, “Two. The only possible configuration in which one and only one of the boxes is labeled correctly is the one in which there is a box containing what the label says and three other boxes form a ‘loop’ (eg. ‘diamonds’ contains diamonds, ’emeralds’ contains rubies, ‘rubies’ contains sapphires and ‘sapphires’ contains emeralds). Opening two boxes you get one of two possible scenarios.”

In the first scenario, they explain, “You open the correct box and one of the boxes of the loop. (Example: ‘diamonds’ containing diamonds and ’emeralds’ containing rubies). In that case, you can fill out the rest of the loop (‘rubies’ will contain sapphires, otherwise ‘sapphires’ would be correct; ‘sapphires’ will contain emeralds).

In the second scenario, they added, “You open two of the boxes of the loop (Example: ’emeralds’ containing rubies and ‘rubies’ containing sapphires). Among the labels and the contents of the two of the boxes, you must have all the elements of the loop, otherwise, the loop would contain the fourth box as well and there would be no correct box. This means that you can deduce the contents of the two unknown boxes (‘sapphire’ must contain emeralds, leaving ‘diamonds’ containing diamonds).

A second person added, “Two turns will be used, let’s say we open a box and it’s incorrect then we have info about two incorrect boxes since the opened box will contain another gem also this will provide info of the box which should have this gem. Now two boxes remain. And one is correct another one is incorrect. Opening any one of the boxes will give info about the correct box either by elimination or by choosing the correct box. Lastly, let’s say on the first turn you chose the correct box then it will end at the first turn. Thus you will need at most chances to figure out the correct box.” two

A third shared, “Open at most two. If you open one and it’s labeled correctly you have your answer. If not, open the box that is labeled with the value inside the box. For example, if the contents of a, b, c, and d are a, d, b, and c, relatively, and you open up the box labeled b containing d, then open up the box labeled d and it contains c. You now know that b, c, and d are not in the correct boxes making a properly labeled one.”