Problem number 1

Step 1: Understand the problem

We are given a scenario where three people are wearing hats that they cannot see. The hats are either
blue or red, and there are more blue hats than red hats. The tallest and middle person are able to see
the hats of the people in front of them but not their own hat. They both claim to know the color of their
own hat, and we are asked to determine how the middle person was able to figure out the color of their
hat and what color it was.

Step 2: Devise a plan

We can use logic to consider the possible scenarios and eliminate the ones that don't fit the given
information. We will use the fact that the tallest and middle person both know the color of their hat to
determine which scenario is correct.

Step 3: Carry out the plan

To get the answer, we will carry out the possible scenarios one by one.

The tallest person sees two blue hats: In this case, the middle person would see a blue hat and a red hat.
The shortest person would then see two blue hats. But since the tallest person and the middle person
both answered that they know their hat, this scenario is not possible.

If the tallest person is wearing a red hat, the middle person would see two blue hats. But the middle
person would not know which of the two blue hats they were wearing, so they could not claim to know
the color of their hat. Therefore, this scenario is also impossible.

If the tallest person is wearing a blue hat, the middle person would see one blue hat and one red hat. In
this case, the middle person would know that they were wearing a blue hat. This is because if the middle
person were wearing a red hat, the tallest person would have seen two blue hats and would have
known that they were wearing a blue hat. But since the tallest person did not claim to know the color of
their hat, the middle person must be wearing a blue hat.

Step 4: Evaluate the solution

We have determined that the middle person must be wearing a blue hat, and they knew this because
the tallest person was wearing a blue hat. As a result, the logic used confirming the answer and problem
is correct.