Subject:
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Badly Abridged
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Wed, 18 Feb 2004 21:59:44 GMT
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Viewed:
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1021 times
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Here’s a fun little thought experiment hatched in my heat-oppressed brain.
Please comment.
Given a rope bridge over a chasm, assume the following:
1. The strength of the bridge cannot be determined precisely.
2. A fall from the bridge will certainly be fatal.
3. The chasm cannot be traversed by any means except the bridge.
4. A group of people must cross the bridge:
a. No two people weigh the same amount.
b. No two people together weigh less than the heaviest single person.
c. One cannot leap from any part of the bridge to the other side of the
chasm
5. If the bridge collapses under a person’s weight, it will collapse while the
too-heavy is still crossing, and that person will fall.
6. The damaging effect of multiple crossings is cumulative; one person’s
successful crossing does not guarantee another person’s success.
The goal is to get as many people across the bridge as possible. What is the
best strategy to ensure this? Is there a “best” way? Is enough information
given to make a determination?
Thanks for your input.
Should this be FUT'ed to ot.geek?
Dave!
Sire of a New Generation
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Badly Abridged
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| (...) Hmmm. I would do this: I'd first send the heaviest guy and the lightest. If the bridge collapses, at least the loss of life would be kept to a minimum:-/ If they survived, I'd send across the ones whose sum weights were the closest to the sum (...) (20 years ago, 18-Feb-04, to lugnet.off-topic.fun, FTX)
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