>>Incorrect. First, there could be any number of black abd white hats (e.g. they all could be in white - the hats color are random). Secondly, he should say only color Black or White (he is not allowed to say something else). However, "Black" or "White" could be a code for other. You correctly guessed, that 99 will survive and the last one has 50% probability of survival. Now you should find out the strategy.
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>The 100th calls out the color of the hat of the 99th sage, so his survival chance is 50/50. The 99th calls out his hat color correctly but does so in a way that tells the 98th sage what color his is. Since they were allowed to discuss a strategy, I would inflect my voice so it sounds like a question or a statement. If the color sounds like a question, this means the hat color in front of me is the opposite of my hat color. If I inflect my voices to sound like a statment, then the hat color in front of my is the same as mine.
I like this solution. It sounds really human. My own solution, though, is more "programmic".
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
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