History of the Muddy Children Puzzle

[Submitted on 8 Jun 2026]

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Abstract:The Muddy Children Puzzle is a puzzle about knowledge and ignorance that has been inspiring for the development of epistemic logic. Who came up with it first? This is unclear. We trace the origin of the Muddy Children Puzzle through logical and literary publications over the past two centuries. The puzzle inspired a numerous variations such as involving numbers or coloured hats. We also present a novel hats puzzle involving self-reference.

Submission history

From: Hans van Ditmarsch [view email]
[v1] Mon, 8 Jun 2026 07:45:05 UTC (2,701 KB)