bonanova
-
Posts
6975 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
66
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Blogs
Everything posted by bonanova
-
Great ideas all - nice going. I want to respond to what's come in while keeping it open for more replies. So I'll put it into a couple spoilers. I kind of liked this puzzle - it sparked some creative responses even though it didn't relate to probability or infinity in any way! In grading the replies I looked for creativity that nevertheless respected the parameters laid out in the OP, which, briefly are these: Attic bulb connected to one of 3 switches downstairs. Do whatever you want with the switches. THEN One trip upstairs Determine which switch controls the bulb Don't use heat as a criterion
-
You've heard this one before. There's a light bulb in the attic connected to one of 3 switches on the wall downstairs. You can do anything you want with the switches, make one trip to the attic and determine which switch controls the bulb. It's impossible to choose among three options with only 1 bit [on/off] of information, so you add another bit [warm/cold] to the mix: turn switch 1 on, turn switch 2 on, leave switch 3 off. Wait five minutes and turn switch 2 off. Go to the attic. Bulb on - it's switch 1. Bulb off and warm - it's switch 2 Bulb off and cold - it's switch 3 Cute solution. That's the old problem. Here's the twist: the bulb is out of reach. You can't feel it, and you don't have infrared telemetry. So you can't distinguish off and warm from off and cold. Can you still determine which switch controls the bulb?
-
Take your analysis to the limit, and see if you still go with it. There are now 1 million doors: one car and nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine goats. You will pick a door, then you will be shown 999,998 goats. Finally you will be given a chance to swap your choice with the 999,999th door. You reason that you know that 999,998 goats will be eliminated. There are only two doors where the car can be - the one you choose and the 999,999th door. So they both have 50% chance of winning. So you choose a door, stick with your choice and expect to win 50% of the time. Right?
-
-
Just a question... Corners A & B are on the same face, right??? If this is true, Corner C should be on the opposite face of where A & B are located? Corners A and B are on the same face - perhaps the top face. Corners A and C would then share a side face.
-
Re-read line two of the OP.
-
This problem can be done without resorting to pencil and paper. Mentally mark one of the corners of a cube as A. Mentally draw a line from A diagonally across a face of the cube to corner B. [Edit] Mentally draw a line from A diagonally across a different face of the cube to corner C. [Edit] How many degrees are there in the angle BAC?
-
You purchase a card on which there is a number of scratch-off squares. One square is marked LOSER; two other squares have identical symbols. If both symbols appear before the loser square appears, you win a prize. The odds against winning are 2:1 against. How many squares are there on the card?
-
Oh oh... now I get 39 lashes with a wet noodle ... Thread is locked.
-
There are several dozen ways to arrange the letters of "New Door" into two words. The challenge is to arrange them into one word. Have a try.
-
Yup.
-
I'm tied up today but will have time to work on this tomorrow. No further clues please.
-
Hats on a death row!! One of my favorites puzzles!
bonanova replied to roolstar's question in New Logic/Math Puzzles
Hi dtreddevil and welcome to the Den. A solution that makes no assumptions of the color distribution has been posted. It guarantees the freedom of all but one of the prisoners. Your method guarantees only half. Yet you say the correct answer has not been submitted. Care to share your thoughts on that? - bn -
Jackpot.
-
No bag has the same number of one color that is has of the other color
-
Marbles again, but now of colors only two. Bags of marbles, yes two or more. Every bag has more than one marble of each color. Each bag has the same number of marbles as all the others. No bag has marbles in equal quantity of the two colors. If I told you the total number of marbles, you'd know the number of bags. So I'll just say: the number of marbles is between 200 and 300. Now you know how many bags. Or you will, after a little thought.
-
Hey ... ltns
-
-
Did he also come up with the formula by chance ?
-
-
Great hint. Thanks. Now to get my thinking outside my self-imposed box. This is a great puzzle ...
-
Thirteen non-red herrings?
-
I'll accept all of that, of course, in which case you should be able to solve at least one of my hard cases. Can you solve at least one of my hard cases? Or was your OK a yes?
-
Right. The function, tho not horribly complex, isn't totally obvious. Or given that you know the answer, maybe you can construct it.
-
No, it's something else.