Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Puzzles for Brain - Let it work for a while...

Puzzle 1:

You are given 12 billiard balls that all appear identical in color, size, weight, texture, composition, etc. But one of the balls is either slightly lighter or slightly heavier than the other 11. You have a simple balance scale. Describe the process that will allow you to determine which ball is different, and if it is heavier or lighter. Oh... you can only use the scale THREE times.

Puzzle 2:

A bottle of wine cost 10$. The wine was worth 9$ more than the bottle. How much was the bottle worth?

Puzzle 3:

You have two buckets - one holds exactly 5 gallons and the other 3 gallons
How can you measure out 4 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket ?

(Assume that you have an unlimited supply of water and that there are no measurement markings of any kind on the buckets.)

3 comments:

Reemus Kumar said...

Puzzle 1:
12 billiard balls

group 4 4 4 balls

compare 2 4-ball group

eliminate 8

remaining 4

compare 2 2

swap 1 from each group.

compare 2 2 after swapping

Puzzle 2:

Wine 9$ bottle 1$

Puzzle 3:

5G-can 3G-can
0 <-- 3
3 <-- 3
5 <-- 1
0 (empty) 1
0 <-- 1
1 <-- 3
4

Cogito Ergo Sum said...

puzzle 1:

* Didn't tell us, how are you going to identify the "1" which is
either slightly bigger/smaller?.

puzzle 2:

Is it bottle cost 1$ ,how?.

puzzle 3:

Brilliant..Thanks Reemus.

Cogito Ergo Sum said...

puzzle 3:

5Gc 3Gc

0 3

3 0

3 3

5 1

0 1

1 3

4 0

This makes things very clear, I find you have leapfrogged few steps. Brilliant..thanks.