ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Originally posted by: sirjonk
What if their throats are quietly slit? I didn't see anything about gun shots.
Originally posted by: brikis98
hehe, ok, let me try:
Engineer #50, the first guy to answer (the one at the back of the line) looks at the 49 people in front of him and counts the number of black hats he sees. If this number is even, he says "black". If this number is odd, he says "red". This guy's chance of survival is 50/50.
Engineer #49 now looks in front of him and counts the number of black hats. There are 4 possibilities:
1. #50 had said "black" (even) and #49 still sees an even number of black hats in front of him. This means #49's hat MUST be red.
2. #50 had said "red" (odd) but #49 now sees an even number of black hats in front of him. This means #49's hat MUST be black.
3. #50 had said "black" (even) and #49 now sees an odd number of black hats in front of him. This means #49's hat MUST be black.
4. #50 had said "red" (odd) and #49 still sees an odd number of black hats in front of him. This means #49's hat MUST be red.
So, #49 can figure out the color of his own hat and yell it out. #48 also counts the number of black hats in front of him and repeats the procedure #49 did. The only difference is that he needs to "update" #50's answer. That is:
1. If #50 said "black" (even) and #49 said "black", there are now an odd number of black hats.
2. If #50 said "black" (even) and #49 said "red", there are now an even number of black hats.
3. If #50 said "red" (odd) and #49 said "black", there are now an even number of black hats.
4. If #50 said "red" (odd) and #49 said "red", there are now an odd number of black hats.
This procedure continues down the line: each engineer tracking whether there should be an even or odd number of black hats in front of him and answering accordingly.
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
That explaination is a ton better. Mainly the clarification that every engineer doesn't repeat playing the role of the parity bit. Only one plays the parity bit role (the last guy) and everyone else can determine what they have and just yell it out (passing on the information of what they have and not necessarily the "odd" or "even" number of hats in front of him)
Originally posted by: coldmeat
Originally posted by: FDF12389
Originally posted by: JTsyo
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Originally posted by: merlocka
The last guy has a 50-50 to live.
But he counts the remaining hats. If it's even, he says red. If it's odd, he says black.
The second guy counts the hats. He knows what color he has. He then repeats the above.
98% survival rate.
This was in CS101, it's a parity check.
That makes no sense.
B <--- front of line
R
B
R
B
R <--- back of line
So let's say he's counting the number of black hats remaining and if it's odd he says black and if it's even he say red.
So guy #6 says Black (cuz he sees 3 black hats) and dies.
Guy #5 knows that he has a black hat but to follow the rules, he has to say red because he needs to pass on the information that there are an even number of blacks remaining. He dies too.
Guy #4 gets stuck in the same boat, dies too
....etc...
and soon everyone is dead.
Only the last guy might die. He says odd or even for the 49 in front, now the next guy can see if it's odd or even in front of him so he can tell what his is. Everyone else just has to keep count of how many hats have gone behind them.
I would say it's 99% system since the last guy has 50/50 chance of being alive
I still don't get it.
Lets say the guy at the back says there is an even number of black hats. When the next guy goes, if he counts an even number of black hats, then he knows his is red. If the 3rd guy goes and count an odd number of black hats, then he knows he is black.
They would stand in a straight line, back to front, all facing the same direction, so each man sees just the backs of the men in front of him. The king's soldiers would then put, at random, either a red or black hat on each engineer.
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Get 51 miles away and let the lab assistant handle it. That's what a lab assistant is for.
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Originally posted by: hypn0tik
But grinding them into a power would significantly increase the rate of reaction.
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Originally posted by: Killmenow
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Can't you just follow the same logic and break the bars into 10 equal parts... should require less effort...
Originally posted by: Killmenow
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Can't you just follow the same logic and break the bars into 10 equal parts... should require less effort...
Originally posted by: merlocka
That explaination is a ton better. Mainly the clarification that every engineer doesn't repeat playing the role of the parity bit. Only one plays the parity bit role (the last guy) and everyone else can determine what they have and just yell it out (passing on the information of what they have and not necessarily the "odd" or "even" number of hats in front of him)
Ahh. I see why it was confusing. No, the purpose isn't to force people to answer incorrectly (kinda the opposite). Once the first guy calls the black hat parity on the N-1 remaining set, the others just answer accordingly based on the existing (and accruing) data.
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: Killmenow
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Can't you just follow the same logic and break the bars into 10 equal parts... should require less effort...
if the powder is fine enough, grinding them up would probably work. the solution i had in mind:
layout the 20 sticks on a table. carefully cut each stick in 10 equal pieces, leaving 20 piles of 10 pieces each. every 10 minutes, grab 1 piece from each pile (20 pieces total) and toss them in.
i'm out of puzzles. someone else post some
Originally posted by: sirjonk
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: Killmenow
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: brikis98
ok, one more puzzle from me. after this, someone else please post something interesting for us to figure out
In your laboratory, you are mixing up a huge batch of very dangerous chemicals. The reaction is so dangerous, that if you don't do your job properly, it will explode and take out a 50 mile radius. Fortunately, your job is simple. You have two chemicals - chemical A and chemical B - which come in the form of small sticks. All you have to do is toss in exactly 1 stick of chemical A and 1 stick of chemical B every ten minutes. The reaction lasts 100 minutes, so you have 10 sticks of each chemical. Unfortunately, your foolish lab assistant dropped all 20 sticks on the floor, and they all got mixed up! Worse yet, chemical A and B are virtually indistinguishable: they look, taste, smell, feel, and weigh the same!
The question: what strategy can you use to be sure to toss in exactly 1 stick of each chemical every 10 minutes for 100 minutes? Remember, if you put in too little during a 10 minute interval, you die. If you put in too much, you won't have enough alter, and you die.
Grind them up into a super-fine powder, mix thoroughly, and put in equal amounts of the powder every 10 minutes.
Can't you just follow the same logic and break the bars into 10 equal parts... should require less effort...
if the powder is fine enough, grinding them up would probably work. the solution i had in mind:
layout the 20 sticks on a table. carefully cut each stick in 10 equal pieces, leaving 20 piles of 10 pieces each. every 10 minutes, grab 1 piece from each pile (20 pieces total) and toss them in.
i'm out of puzzles. someone else post some
<--------dumb
How do you know you're not throwing in only Chem A?
Originally posted by: sirjonk
Originally posted by: brikis98
if the powder is fine enough, grinding them up would probably work. the solution i had in mind:
layout the 20 sticks on a table. carefully cut each stick in 10 equal pieces, leaving 20 piles of 10 pieces each. every 10 minutes, grab 1 piece from each pile (20 pieces total) and toss them in.
i'm out of puzzles. someone else post some
<--------dumb
How do you know you're not throwing in only Chem A?
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Here's a puzzle that was told to me that I kinda liked (and probably retold numerous times in this forum)
100 pirates stumble across a box with 5050 coins in it. Someone came up with a game with these rules:
They would write the numbers 1,2,3...98,99,100 on separate pieces of paper and toss them in a hat. They would randomly line up and each pick out a number without replacing and secretly look at it. That number would represent the number of coins they would take out of the box.
After the round completed, everyone who was unhappy with their number could toss their number back in the hat and they would randomly line up and pick a new one from the ones tossed in. Those who were happy would keep the number and the corresponding number of coins.
What is the best strategy of the game assuming everyone there was a logic mastermind?
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Here's a puzzle that was told to me that I kinda liked (and probably retold numerous times in this forum)
100 pirates stumble across a box with 5050 coins in it. Someone came up with a game with these rules:
They would write the numbers 1,2,3...98,99,100 on separate pieces of paper and toss them in a hat. They would randomly line up and each pick out a number without replacing and secretly look at it. That number would represent the number of coins they would take out of the box.
After the round completed, everyone who was unhappy with their number could toss their number back in the hat and they would randomly line up and pick a new one from the ones tossed in. Those who were happy would keep the number and the corresponding number of coins.
What is the best strategy of the game assuming everyone there was a logic mastermind?
interesting question. just to make sure i understand it correctly, is this what's happening?
1. In random order, all 100 pirates pick out a number from the hat.
2. AFTER everyone has picked, any of the pirates not happy with their numbers return JUST their numbers to the hat, get in line (in random order?), and pick again.
3. This continues until all numbers are used up.
4. Can a pirate choose to sit out one round of picking and jump in at a later one?
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Here's a puzzle that was told to me that I kinda liked (and probably retold numerous times in this forum)
100 pirates stumble across a box with 5050 coins in it. Someone came up with a game with these rules:
They would write the numbers 1,2,3...98,99,100 on separate pieces of paper and toss them in a hat. They would randomly line up and each pick out a number without replacing and secretly look at it. That number would represent the number of coins they would take out of the box.
After the round completed, everyone who was unhappy with their number could toss their number back in the hat and they would randomly line up and pick a new one from the ones tossed in. Those who were happy would keep the number and the corresponding number of coins.
What is the best strategy of the game assuming everyone there was a logic mastermind?
interesting question. just to make sure i understand it correctly, is this what's happening?
1. In random order, all 100 pirates pick out a number from the hat.
2. AFTER everyone has picked, any of the pirates not happy with their numbers return JUST their numbers to the hat, get in line (in random order?), and pick again.
3. This continues until all numbers are used up.
4. Can a pirate choose to sit out one round of picking and jump in at a later one?
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Here's a puzzle that was told to me that I kinda liked (and probably retold numerous times in this forum)
100 pirates stumble across a box with 5050 coins in it. Someone came up with a game with these rules:
They would write the numbers 1,2,3...98,99,100 on separate pieces of paper and toss them in a hat. They would randomly line up and each pick out a number without replacing and secretly look at it. That number would represent the number of coins they would take out of the box.
After the round completed, everyone who was unhappy with their number could toss their number back in the hat and they would randomly line up and pick a new one from the ones tossed in. Those who were happy would keep the number and the corresponding number of coins.
What is the best strategy of the game assuming everyone there was a logic mastermind?
interesting question. just to make sure i understand it correctly, is this what's happening?
1. In random order, all 100 pirates pick out a number from the hat.
2. AFTER everyone has picked, any of the pirates not happy with their numbers return JUST their numbers to the hat, get in line (in random order?), and pick again.
3. This continues until all numbers are used up.
4. Can a pirate choose to sit out one round of picking and jump in at a later one?
actually, if they are all logic masterminds and assuming they are maximally greedy, wouldn't the following happen:
1. They all pick their numbers.
2. The pirate who got 100 is happy, he won't put his number back in the hat.
3. The pirate who got 99 knows that someone else got 100 and that guy won't put it back in the hat. Therefore, the pirate who got 99 can't do any better and he holds on to his number.
4. The pirate who got 98 knows #2 and #3 above, and for the same reasoning holds on to his number.
5. This continues on down the line. No one would put their number back in the hat, what you got on the first try is what you keep.
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: brikis98
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Here's a puzzle that was told to me that I kinda liked (and probably retold numerous times in this forum)
100 pirates stumble across a box with 5050 coins in it. Someone came up with a game with these rules:
They would write the numbers 1,2,3...98,99,100 on separate pieces of paper and toss them in a hat. They would randomly line up and each pick out a number without replacing and secretly look at it. That number would represent the number of coins they would take out of the box.
After the round completed, everyone who was unhappy with their number could toss their number back in the hat and they would randomly line up and pick a new one from the ones tossed in. Those who were happy would keep the number and the corresponding number of coins.
What is the best strategy of the game assuming everyone there was a logic mastermind?
interesting question. just to make sure i understand it correctly, is this what's happening?
1. In random order, all 100 pirates pick out a number from the hat.
2. AFTER everyone has picked, any of the pirates not happy with their numbers return JUST their numbers to the hat, get in line (in random order?), and pick again.
3. This continues until all numbers are used up.
4. Can a pirate choose to sit out one round of picking and jump in at a later one?
actually, if they are all logic masterminds and assuming they are maximally greedy, wouldn't the following happen:
1. They all pick their numbers.
2. The pirate who got 100 is happy, he won't put his number back in the hat.
3. The pirate who got 99 knows that someone else got 100 and that guy won't put it back in the hat. Therefore, the pirate who got 99 can't do any better and he holds on to his number.
4. The pirate who got 98 knows #2 and #3 above, and for the same reasoning holds on to his number.
5. This continues on down the line. No one would put their number back in the hat, what you got on the first try is what you keep.
And that would be the right answer.