It merely assumes that the light switch is labelled on and off, like most light switches are, and that they’re accurate (which they typically are).
Can I solve the 3-switches problem? That’s an easy one:
No.
The touch-it-to-see-if-it-is-warm solution has so many problems I don’t see how that could be an acceptable answer. I think the tie-strings-to-the-switches or get a helper are far better solutions.
In Ireland, on is down, and off is up. When I lived there for a couple years, it TOTALLY threw me off.
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When I saw the problem the first thing I thought was “if two of those are 3-way (SPDT) and the middle one is a 4-way (DPDT wired as a crossover), you’re out of luck!”
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Yeah, unless you live in a house where up is on and down is off.
Ireland is so backward, even their backwards conventions have started to run backwards.
One day they might get some things to go forward.
Good point. And if the attic light was already on, the original solution doesn’t work.
Canonical solution!
The problem does not provide enough information to determine how the switches are wired. As stated, it says “One of them controls the lamp in the attic.” It does not say only one of them controls the lamp in the attic, dictum de om ni et nullo. Furthermore, the illustration shows the labels above and below the switches, so we don’t even know if they are single-pole single-throw or something more complex (if they are SPST the on/off is molded into the switch lever).
Therefore, you wait until nightfall, flip one of the switches, go outside and look up at the attic window or soffit vent. If there’s no light showing, go back and try a different combination of settings until you find one that works. If none of them works, some clever gubbins has put blackout curtains up. No problem! You only get one trip to the attic, so send a confederate (not you) up to the attic with a cell phone, and flip switches until she reports that the light is on, then take a bottle of champagne and two glasses and join her.
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