Mattcrampy
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Dammit, so I am.

Oh, and it was such good reasoning, too.

Matt

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RoboBob3000
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And I give this one to Schik.

The simplest way to look at it is by observing whether or not Alice and the 98 passengers before Bob choose Alice's seat first or Bob's seat first. If Alice's seat gets chosen first, the chaotic order of events gets corrected (since the number of displaced people still waiting to board gets reduced to zero). If Bob's seat gets chosen first, well, then he's out of luck. Each of these events are equally likely to occur on any given random seating.

Whenever the seat of any other passenger gets chosen, the random decision gets put on hold until their turn comes up, and they essentially become the new Alice. Choosing the seat of someone other than Bob or Alice, then, does not affect the probability of the other two events.

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Oneiromancer
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Well, since it's been answered before I got here, whether or not this question is pure math is a moot one. The way Schik answered it, it's pretty much a math problem. But the way that RoboBob intended it to be answered, it's more of a logic problem. I'd say this puzzle falls more on the side of "math needed, but it's not very rigorous so it could be deduced logically as well" which has happened on a few occasions (such as the easier numerical series).

Game on,

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Schik
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Okay, next puzzle:

You're in a 100 story building, and you have two eggs. You want to figure out the highest story that you can drop an egg from without breaking it. An egg might break if dropped from the first floor, or it might even survive if dropped from the 100th floor - you have no a priori information - but both eggs will act the same from the same height.

What is the largest number of drops you would have to make to find the highest floor you can drop an egg from without it breaking? You are allowed to break both eggs, as long as you know the answer after doing so.


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Doom
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50 drops?

Explanation:

Drop the first egg from 50th floor.

If the egg doesn't break go to floor that's halfway between you and the 100th floor. If it breaks, go to previous floor that didn't break the egg+1. You can only go 1 floor up at a time because you can't know when the egg breaks.

The largest amount of drops is following:

Drop from floor 50 [break]
Drop from floor 1 (If it breaks you've found the solution. If not, try floor 2 etc...)
...
Floor 49 [break]

[Edited by Doom on 09-14-2004 at 04:06 PM GMT]

Astronaut
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Tough one, Schik. I think I can top Doom, though.

First drop one egg from 10th floor. If it breaks, work your way up from 1st with the second one.

If the first egg doesn't break, try with the same one from 20th floor and so on.

Max. number of drops is reached if the correct answer is 99th floor, in which case you have to make 10 drops with first egg(until it breaks at 100th floor) and then 9 more(from 91st, moving up one at the time) with egg number 2.

My best guess sofar is therefore 19 drops.

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Schik
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Astronaut wrote:
Tough one, Schik. I think I can top Doom, though.

You did indeed top Doom, but it's still not the optimal solution.


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Doom
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I thought about it a little more and found a better solution.

14 Drops. Always add 1 less than you added last time.

1 - 14 (+14)
2 - 27 (+13)
3 - 39 (+12)
4 - 50 (+11)
5 - 60 (+10)
6 - 69 (...)
7 - 77
8 - 83
9 - 88
10 - 92
11 - 95
12 - 97
13 - 99 [break]
14 - 98

Schik
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14 is the answer I was looking for, you're up!


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Doom
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(It's very difficult to find out if a certain puzzle has been posted before if there are 41 pages... At least I don't have patience to check them all just to post a single puzzle.) Anyway, here's the puzzle:

It's always 1 to 6,
it's always 15 to 20,
it's always 5,
but it's never 21,
unless it's flying.

What is this?

[Edited by Doom on 09-14-2004 at 06:04 PM GMT]

wackhead_uk
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This is going to sound really bad, and I know that someone will rank me down for this, but Schik's puzzle is why I changed my signature.

Is it something to do with a clock, or the time in some way shape or form?

Oneiromancer
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wackhead_uk wrote:
This is going to sound really bad, and I know that someone will rank me down for this, but Schik's puzzle is why I changed my signature.

My god...it's like the epitome of passive-agressive flaming.

Game on,

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[ITA]mich
Level: Goblin
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Hi all,
ok, this is not the complete solution but the thing closest to it I can imagine (unless I'm totally wrong, of course )

The answer is 10 and this is a partial explanation why (maybe this will help someone...):

of course this is a game about hours so, if we start from 1 to 6 (AM) we're moving clockwise by 5, then we move clockwise by 9 reaching 15 (or 3 PM).
Then we move again clockwise by 5 reaching 20 (8 PM).
If we move again clockwise by 9 we arrive at 5 AM.

So next move should be: going clockwise by 5 reaching 10.

Still, I don't know the meaning of "flying 21" because if this is the solution is not true...
Continuing this sequence we touch every hour only once before one gets repeated and also the sequence is still the same because we get to 1 AM after adding nine hours clockwise from 16 (4 PM)...

Even if this is not a solution I hope it will help someone.
Bye.
--
[ITA]mich.

[Edited by [ITA]mich on 09-14-2004 at 10:30 PM GMT]

eytanz
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I googled for the answer, so I can't participate - but I'll give a general hint: all the answers so far have been looking in the wrong place.

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wackhead_uk
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This tag has been dead for a long time, and someone who already knew it told me the answer... it's a die! I've forgotten the exact reasoning, but it is to do witht he faces of the dice showing..it's always 1 to 6 because of the numbers on the faces, 15 to 20 because of the faces showing when you roll it, and 21 when it is flying refers to all of the numbers on all of the sides added together when it is still in the air (flying).

Here is my puzzle:

In India, why can someone from America not take a picture of someone with a turban? It's not all that hard to figure out...

DiMono
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Because the American would forget to take the lens cap off

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eytanz
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Because turbans can't be used to take pictures?

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gamer_extreme_101
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No, no, no, DiMono. Since everything in the States from refridgerators to cars is connected to the 'net, the person from America would go mad and take the quickest plane back so he can get the latest CNN news and DROD.net forum posts.

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Mattcrampy
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Because "America" isn't a place? It's the United States, not "America".

Similarly, it could be because Indians know the US by a different name.

Matt, enough guesses and someone will get it

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eytanz
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Um, America is a place. It's a rather big place, comprising of two continents and some assorted islands.

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Tim
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Hey, the puzzle is solved, isn't it? Where's the new puzzle?

Americans can only take pictures with a camera, not with a turban. I can also take a picture with my hands as well

[ or with a plastic bag, when the pictures are put into that, or with a turban, when the pictures are wrapped in a turban ... ]

-- Tim

[Edited by Tim on 09-19-2004 at 09:27 AM GMT]

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wackhead_uk
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That's right! You can't take a picture with a turban, only with a camera. Or a fancy phone.

Tim
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As Eytan isn't in here yet, I can probably snake a simple anagram in here in the meantime

MR. SNAKE IN HERE

What is his real name?
(And please, don't spoil the answer to the rest of the forum, as this is a unofficial question )

-- Tim

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DiMono
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Wow, it's pretty freaky that his name anagrams to that. Should we all be worried now?

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Tim
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I've only got one PM telling me what the correct answer was. Was that anagram so difficult, or you don't know this person? (If you really don't know, post here, or PM me, and I will see what I will do.)

By the way, Eytan, it's your turn to pose a question.

-- Tim

[Edited by Tim on 09-19-2004 at 01:58 PM GMT]

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eytanz
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Ok - give me a few hours to come up with one and I'll post it here.

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wackhead_uk
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What a strange anagram indeed...for more, look at this site.

pour example:

Michael Boulton (my name) = A BUN CELLO OH TIM

too many to read through individually though

Tim
Level: Smitemaster

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wackhead_uk wrote:
pour example:

Michael Boulton (my name) = A BUN CELLO OH TIM

That is also the place I found mister snake as well. There's also a advanced option to filter most of the non interesting ones though, and gives you the better ones:

pour example:

COLUMBIAN HOTEL
MR. SKI CRASH

-- Tim

[Edited by Tim on 09-19-2004 at 06:39 PM GMT]

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DiMono
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My name Christopher Marks gives Hacker Prom Shirts and Crisp Shark Mother

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Watcher
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My name, Martin Wedel Jacobsen, got me jolted Arabic newsmen and abandon metric jewels.

And while we're at it, here are my two favorite anagrams:
Eleven plus two - Twelve plus one
Ronald Wilson Reagan - Insane Anglo warlord

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