[Guest]

One king was waiting so long to have a son and when this happened he was so happy,that he published a new law.According to it the sentences to all prisoners were decreased to half.For the courtiers were easy to count for these who had some years,but how to do it for those who had life sentanses.The order is order and they started to think till they found the solution every prisoner with life sentence to serve exactly the half of it.How this happend?

[Guest]

Could be they executed all those with life sentences. Technically, zero time is half of the rest of their lives if they're dead!

Or... they waited until each prisoner was in jail for half their life. For example, a 40 year old man would be in jail for 20 years, a 30 year old man would be in jail for 15 years, etc.

Or... they let half the life sentence prisoners go right away and let the other half die in jail. That way it averages to about half, but I guess the OP did say "every prisoner."

[Guest]

Unable to understand the logic or fund the catch !!!

[grey cells]

The courtiers had to do nothing . They just had to wait for the prisoners serving life sentence to die a natural death.

This is because nobody would know the exact number of years the prisoner would have lived.

[Guest]

One king was waiting so long to have a son and when this happened he was so happy,that he published a new law.According to it the sentences to all prisoners were decreased to half.For the courtiers were easy to count for these who had some years,but how to do it for those who had life sentanses.The order is order and they started to think till they found the solution every prisoner with life sentence to serve exactly the half of it.How this happend?

some countries..

Life is till the end of the sovereign's life (based on sovereign at point of encarceration.

Others say that life has a set term 30 - 40 yrs

Some till they are no longer a threat

others say till death of the prisoner.

So could depend on age of prisoner....

However I suspect that there is a logical answer, execute life prisoners or use one of the above rules that apply to that country.....

I suspect this is not the answer... TBC

[Guest]

some countries..

Life is till the end of the sovereign's life (based on sovereign at point of encarceration.

Others say that life has a set term 30 - 40 yrs

Some till they are no longer a threat

others say till death of the prisoner.

So could depend on age of prisoner....

However I suspect that there is a logical answer, execute life prisoners or use one of the above rules that apply to that country.....

I suspect this is not the answer... TBC

In this puzzel life sentance mean till you die,but there is solution to the problem.

[Guest]

In this puzzel life sentance mean till you die,but there is solution to the problem.

Do yo know something I don't know ash013? When does my licence to live expire - just joking!

until the prisoner dies

Trivia - Barnes Wallis (Designer of the bouncing bomb), was able to calculate the length of his life, he died at 92... Normal life span is 4 score and X (4x20+10 = 90)

Sorry wrong math - looked it up...

The days of our years are threescore years and ten;

and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,

yet is their strength labor and sorrow;

for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Edited April 10, 2008 by Lost in space

[Guest]

If it is india then they all will come out in 7 years. if they are in other countries like UK or US where u get to serve one two or three life sentence, they will get half.

the catch is they are sentenced to life, not to death.

So depending upon the respective country they belong to, they will come out after certain period of time. :D

[grey cells]

If it is india then they all will come out in 7 years.

Hey! That isn't true.

This holds true for only our honorable politicians and millionares.

And Ash013 ,with all due respect , what's wrong with my answer.(post #4)

[Guest]

Hey! That isn't true.

This holds true for only our honorable politicians and millionares.

And Ash013 ,with all due respect , what's wrong with my answer.(post #4)

Hey u didn't get my point, in india life sentence is for 14 years; so any one would come out in 7 years.

[grey cells]

Hey u didn't get my point, in india life sentence is for 14 years; so any one would come out in 7 years.

Sorry , I didn't know that . Anyway just wanted to have a poke at our politicians.

[Guest]

Sorry , I didn't know that . Anyway just wanted to have a poke at our politicians.

Well we all know in India politicians can never be prisoned for more than few months. :D

[Guest]

Hey! That isn't true.

This holds true for only our honorable politicians and millionares.

And Ash013 ,with all due respect , what's wrong with my answer.(post #4)

Your answer is wrong,because doesn't give solution how to decrease life sentance to half and there is a way how to do it.

[Guest]

Sorry , I didn't know that . Anyway just wanted to have a poke at our politicians.

I thought millionaires paid someone else to do their sentance (joking)

In Arabia they can pay a sum to the offended relatives and go free!

[Guest]

beat them half to death and let them go.

[Guest]

Well I think this could be possible

Let say a person XYZ has spent 5 years in jail then he can be set free. If he is still alive after five more years he will be put in jail for next let say n years and again set free after n years.

For persons who have just started their sentences or have spent a little time so far a number of years or months can be fixed and then follow the above strategy.

[Guest]

Do yo know something I don't know ash013? When does my licence to live expire - just joking!

until the prisoner dies

Trivia - Barnes Wallis (Designer of the bouncing bomb), was able to calculate the length of his life, he died at 92... Normal life span is 4 score and X (4x20+10 = 90)

Sorry wrong math - looked it up...

The days of our years are threescore years and ten;

and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,

yet is their strength labor and sorrow;

for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

I don't know if Barnes Wallis could calculate the normal (natural)lenght of his life,maybe he really could,but I doubt that he could calculate the probability one brick to fall over his head and kill him,when he was making this calculations.Obviously,he was lucky and this didn't happen,but could.

[Guest]

Well I think this could be possible

Let say a person XYZ has spent 5 years in jail then he can be set free. If he is still alive after five more years he will be put in jail for next let say n years and again set free after n years.

For persons who have just started their sentences or have spent a little time so far a number of years or months can be fixed and then follow the above strategy.

You are on the right path.Just think little bit more for those 5 years.Don't forget,that has to be the half.If he dies through those 5 years this won't be the half,but you are almost there.Continue thinking and I believe you'll find out the answer.

[Guest]

beat them half to death and let them go.

Where is yours humanity.Even for these on death penalty people surching painless way for them to die and you wanna beat somebody who has "only" life sentance almost to death!Where is going the world today!Ts,ts,ts..

[Guest]

You are on the right path.Just think little bit more for these 5 years.Don't forget,that has to be the half.If he dies through these 5 years this won't be the half,but you are almost there.Continue thinking and I believe you'll find out the answer.

Edited April 10, 2008 by ash013

[bonanova]

On commuting half of a life sentence ....

Set them free for a day and have them come back to prison for a day.

Repeat until dead.

[Guest]

Where is yours humanity.Even for these on death penalty people surching painless way for them to die and you wanna beat somebody who has "only" life sentance almost to death!Where is going the world today!Ts,ts,ts..

My humanity is intact. If someone gets the death penalty, why does it need to be painless? If someone commited a crime against me or my family that warranted the death penalty I'd hope that they would suffer a little before the punishment was complete. I'm all about feeding them to hungry animals (preferably lions or crocodiles) or dropping them off in the middle of the Sahara.

Besides I'm not saying that someone should beat them almost to death, I said "beat them half to death, and then release them". I've heard a variation of this riddle with that answer.

[Guest]

On commuting half of a life sentence ....

Set them free for a day and have them come back to prison for a day.

Repeat until dead.

Just being a little nit picky (especially cause you always do it to me)

What if he went out on Day 1, Came back day 2, Left Day 3, and died. He was out for 2 days, and 1 day was inside. Not exactly half.

However, without going to 1 second in, 1 second out (quite pointless, since checking in and out would take longer than that, my assumption would be this probably the best solution.

[Guest]

A little more thought to this;

Wherever the first time is spent cannot be the place where he dies, because then it will not be 50%

ie; Day 1 - Outside

Day 2 - Inside

Day 3 - Outside, dies

However,

If he dies in the opposite place of where he starts it will be perfect halves.

So thus my answer is; Start the inmates on the inside. They should know if they die on the outside, they will have 50% in & out. If they die inside, then they won't. Since the inmates would rather have a tie than the jail have the advantage most would die on the outside, and thus also reduce the workload of the jail for dealing with the bodies.

Just being a little nit picky (especially cause you always do it to me)

What if he went out on Day 1, Came back day 2, Left Day 3, and died. He was out for 2 days, and 1 day was inside. Not exactly half.

However, without going to 1 second in, 1 second out (quite pointless, since checking in and out would take longer than that, my assumption would be this probably the best solution.

Edited April 10, 2008 by PolishNorbi

[Brandonb]

At Noon schedule them all for death at 8:00. Then kill them at 4:00.

[itachi-san]

A little more thought to this;

Wherever the first time is spent cannot be the place where he dies, because then it will not be 50%

ie; Day 1 - Outside

Day 2 - Inside

Day 3 - Outside, dies

However,

If he dies in the opposite place of where he starts it will be perfect halves.

So thus my answer is; Start the inmates on the inside. They should know if they die on the outside, they will have 50% in & out. If they die inside, then they won't. Since the inmates would rather have a tie than the jail have the advantage most would die on the outside, and thus also reduce the workload of the jail for dealing with the bodies.

But this has the same flaw, because if they died on the inside they'd spend more than half their life-sentence in jail.