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Re: Interesting trivia - anybody has a different answer than I keep getting - zero
Posted:
Nov 27, 2012 6:57 PM
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Thanks Jussi, yours and Mike's answer have me thinking on those lines.
Thanks for your input. They will help for a nice evening of more
analysis on those lines. appreciated.
s
On 27 Nov 2012 23:21:37 +0200, Jussi Piitulainen
<jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> wrote:
>Stone Bacchus writes:
>
>> My daughter and I were solving a math trivia and I could not come up
>> with any answer other than zero. Would be interesting to see if
>> somebody has a different opinion. The problem follows:
>>
>> You are at the start of a 1000 mile road with 3000 gummybears and a
>> donkey. At the end of the road is a supermarket. You want to find
>> the greatest number of gummy bears you can sell. Unfortunately, your
>> donkey has a disease and can only carry 1000 gummybears at 1 time.
>> Also, the donkey must eat 1 gummybear per mile.
>>
>> - You can drop off gummybears anywhere on the road
>> - You can't carry gummybears while walking
>> - No loopholes
>>
>> Again, this was a math trivia question and I could not ask anybody for
>> clarification about what some the caveats meant or what the "no
>> loopholes" meant, therefore I got zero.
>
>Take 900 bears on the donkey, walk it 300 miles and back, leaving 300
>bears at that milepost. The donkey will have eaten 600 bears. You and
>the donkey and 2100 bears are standing where you started.
>
>Take 1000 bears, walk the 300 miles. The donkey will have eaten
>another 300 bears and has room for the pile of 300 bears that are
>waiting there. (Take them.)
>
>The donkey is again carrying 1000 bears. Walk the remaining 700 miles.
>You will have taken 300 bears to the market (and left 1100 behind).
>
>Therefore, the answer is at least 300. Probably more, of course.
>
>(I don't see how to get the donkey back, though.)
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