12 December 2007

Barber Paradox

Suppose there is a town with just one male barber, and that every man in the town keeps himself clean-shaven. It seems reasonable to make this statement:

The barber shaves all and only those men who do not shave themselves.

Under this scenario, we can ask the following question: Does the barber shave himself? Asking this, however, we discover that the situation presented is in fact impossible.

1) If the barber does not shave himself, he must abide by the statement and shave himself.

2) If the barber shaves himself, according to the statement, he will not shave himself.

So, who shaves the barber?

Source: wikipedia.org
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