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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 1, 2017 8:50:22 GMT -5
Another classic riddle that people will probably know. So if you already know it, give somebody else a chance first:
The Pirate Puzzle
After capturing a ship at heavy losses, 5 pirates survive without their captain. The pirates find a chest aboard the ship with 100 golden coins.
So the pirates will divide the spoils according to pirate tradition:
The oldest pirate will propose a way to divide the spoils (just for sake of clarity, the pirates are aged 21, 25, 30, 34 and 40. They don't need to give all pirates an equal share and can even select to give some pirates no gold at all). The other pirates can agree or disagree.
If 50% or more pirates agree, the spoils will be divided. If less than 50% agree, the pirate who makes the proposal will be killed and the next pirate can make an offer. (on and on, till the money gets divided).
Rules:
Pirates are clever and know that the others are clever as well, so they will make decisions based on their interests and are smart enough to reason out which course of action would be in their best interest:
Their interests:
- Pirates like gold. They all want to make the most gold they can.
- Pirates like to live.
- Pirates like others to die, but they prefer gold.
So the riddle has two questions:
- Which pirate would be the best to be in this case?
- Which offer would you make?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 21:57:25 GMT -5
I think I wanna be 25 and propose that I get all the gold.
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Feb 1, 2017 23:11:05 GMT -5
I think I wanna be 25 and propose that I get all the gold. Dang it, you beat me to it. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 2, 2017 5:04:44 GMT -5
I think I wanna be 25 and propose that I get all the gold. You're on the right track, but keep this in mind: 21 knows that if it comes down to 25 and himself, he won't be getting anything, so if 30 makes him an offer... (and work your way back from that.) This is a similar riddle: The King and the ChairmanRiddletania is a small country in Europe with a massive population of 66 people (1 King and 65 peasants). After a revolution, the King agrees to reforms. In the new system, every citizen has a vote except for the King, who will now have the title of Chairman. The Chairman does have the power to propose laws, but citizens need to vote on it. The King received 66 gold per week in taxes, but has agreed to divide this evenly amongst all citizens. In the new system, every citizen, including the Chairman will get a salary of 1 gold piece per person per week. (This is the budget, so the Chairman can't suggest proposals that will spend more than 66 gold/week. No deficits allowed.) - Citizens will vote for any plan that gets them more gold. - Citizens will vote against any plan that gets them less gold. - Citizens won't bother to vote if a new law won't affect them personally. - Citizens are short-sighted and not vindictive, they will vote for any law in isolation based on the previous 3 principles. In this perversion of communism, what is the maximum amount of money the Chairman can get for himself? |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 2, 2017 5:15:48 GMT -5
Name the only performer to play the Superbowl halftime show 3 times
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 19:40:35 GMT -5
Name the only performer to play the Superbowl halftime show 3 times Are you counting Grambling State band or are you looking for an individual? |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 3, 2017 0:58:26 GMT -5
Name the only performer to play the Superbowl halftime show 3 times Are you counting Grambling State band or are you looking for an individual? An individual and without using your google-fu skills |
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Post by berkley on Feb 3, 2017 1:38:37 GMT -5
I can think of a few of the ones who played the last few years but that's about it. No idea who they had back in the 60s, 70s, 80s. But I've never been a big fan of American football.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 3, 2017 10:49:12 GMT -5
Answer: Gloria Estefan performed for the Superbowl Halftime show a record number of 3 times. She did so in 1992, 1995 and 1999
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 6, 2017 18:57:45 GMT -5
RAY: A chicken and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half. TOM: I want to see that half egg! RAY: I want to see that half chicken! The question is very simple: How long will it take two chickens to lay thirty-two eggs? The answer: RAY: I'm going to tell you how to think about this kind of problem, so you'll never get stymied again. If a chicken and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, let's double the number of chickens, to three chickens. Because one and a half chickens laid one and a half eggs, three chickens laid three eggs in how long? TOM: In a day and a half. RAY: Exactly. So if we have three chickens laying three eggs in a day and a half, then clearly one chicken lays one egg in a day and a half. How about two chickens, what do they do? Two chickens lay two eggs. And two chickens will lay four eggs in three days. So, if two chickens can lay four eggs in three days, then two chickens can lay 32 eggs in 24 days. TOM: I think most people are mystified by problems like this. RAY: Well, I'm glad that for once I was able to demystify. And the new Puzzler: RAY: This puzzler was sent in by Bill Kojuck, who writes: Last year, a friend of mine and his wife went on vacation to Key West. They spent most of their time either sport fishing on the high seas or carousing on Duval Street. My wife and I, however, prefer a very different kind of vacation. We like hiking and camping and using stone-age toilet facilities. So, we spent most of our vacation in the woods in California and the Pacific Northwest. When we returned from our trips, we compared notes. I said to my friend that on our vacation we saw something that, when written down, has all five vowels -- and the vowels make up five of the seven letters in the word. TOM: You mean, A-E-I-O-and-U were all in the same seven-letter word? RAY: Right. Bill goes on: In fact, we saw not just one, but a few of these things. My friend said, 'When we got to Key West, we also saw something that when written down has all five vowels in its seven letters. In fact, we saw quite a few of these as well.” Each of us wrote down our seven-letter word, and then exchanged papers. They were the same word. But what I saw and what he saw were very different things. The question is, what did each of us see? |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 6, 2017 19:09:19 GMT -5
Sequoia
The Pacific Northwest is known for their giant sequoia trees. Since Rob's from that area, he might pass them every day
The guy in Florida might have seen a Toyota Sequoia. I'd rather ride the tree
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 6, 2017 19:20:24 GMT -5
SequoiaThe Pacific Northwest is known for their giant sequoia trees. Since Rob's from that area, he might pass them every day The guy in Florida might have seen a Toyota Sequoia. I'd rather ride the tree That's my guess too. The word was easy to think of because I worked for Sequoia Systems for six years. There were two sequoias in my neighborhood but a developer cut them down about ten years ago. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 8, 2017 6:23:12 GMT -5
It's been a week, so
Solution to the Pirate Puzzle:
I number the pirates by their ages: 21, 25, 30, 34 and 40, to make this easier.
The youngest pirate (21) knows that when it comes down to just him and 25, he will get nothing.
30 realises this as well, so he will offer 21 1 piece of gold and keep the rest himself (21 rather has the 1 piece of gold than get nothing, 25 will disagree but is outvoted.)
34 knows this as well and takes it a step further: if he gets 25 on his side, he can get the votes to stay alive. So he offers 25 1 gold and takes the rest himself.
Finally 40 figures out that he needs 21 and 30 on his side, he offers both of them 1 gold. 21 and 30 realise that they rather have 1 gold than the situation where 34 and 25 get the gold, so they accept.
So the final answer is: Make sure you're first in line and give the rest just the minimum, which is more than they would get from the next person in line.
Solution to The King and the Chairman:
The Chairman wants to get more money, but realises that he needs to initially sacrifice his own wages. He offers 33 people 2 gold/week (33 including the chairman, will get nothing, but the chairman does not get to vote so 32 votes against) > motion is passed.
Basically continue from there, half+1 will get double their wages, the other half gets nothing. (17 for, 16 against; 9 for, 8 against; 5 for, 4 against, 3 for, 2 against and finally 2 in favour, 1 against.)
The Chairman's final motion will be to offer 1 gold/week to 3 people who at that point will be getting nothing, 0 gold/week to the final 2 and the rest to himself (63 gold/week).
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Post by berkley on Feb 9, 2017 23:44:19 GMT -5
Thanks for the solutions to the Pirate and King/Chairman puzzles. Is there a name for that kind of puzzle? I haven't seen many like those before and wasn't getting very far with them!
Is there a version of the King/Chairman puzzle where the voters aren't short-sighted, but like the Pirates make their decisions based on the future consequences of later votes?
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Post by Dizzy D on Feb 10, 2017 7:24:28 GMT -5
I don't know if they have a special type of name. It's basically just maths with a small story around it. I haven't seen any version like the one you describe, but I have seen the pirate puzzle with far more pirates than there is gold, at which point you no longer want to be first in line, because there is no offer the first X pirates can make that will please 50% of the pirates, even if they don't take any gold themselves. (For instance 10 gold pieces and 25 pirates, than 4 pirates are getting killed and the next one will chose no gold for himself and 10 pirates get 1 gold, just to stay alive).
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