Riddles and Brainteasers

After a major loss of situational awareness, foul winds aloft, and a shameful episode of fuel exhaustion you find yourself locked up in an inhospitable foreign prison. At this particular prison, capacity and compassion are in short supply so all the new inmates are forced to play a round of Russian roulette.

The guard produces a six shooter and loads two bullets into adjacent chambers. He locks the revolver, gives it a spin, and hands the weapon to your new friend sitting across the table. Click. Your turn.

With one empty chamber expended, you are given the choice of re-spinning or simply pulling the trigger. What should you do and why?
 
FlyerQ said:
After a major loss of situational awareness, foul winds aloft, and a shameful episode of fuel exhaustion you find yourself locked up in an inhospitable foreign prison. At this particular prison, capacity and compassion are in short supply so all the new inmates are forced to play a round of Russian roulette.

The guard produces a six shooter and loads two bullets into adjacent chambers. He locks the revolver, gives it a spin, and hands the weapon to your new friend sitting across the table. Click. Your turn.

With one empty chamber expended, you are given the choice of re-spinning or simply pulling the trigger. What should you do and why?
Click to expand...

Point it at the guard and pull, pull, pull, pull?

Spinning gives you a 2 out of 6 (or 1/3) chance of getting a splat.

Not spinning, the last guy got one of empty chamber 1 through 4. Next one will be either empty 2,3,4 or not empty 1. 1/4 chance of it going bad.

Don't spin.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Point it at the guard and pull, pull, pull, pull?

Spinning gives you a 2 out of 6 (or 1/3) chance of getting a splat.

Not spinning, the last guy got one of empty chamber 1 through 4. Next one will be either empty 2,3,4 or not empty 1. 1/4 chance of it going bad.

Don't spin.
Click to expand...

Correct
 
Point it at my new friend across the table and pull, pull, pull... :D
 
You survived the game of Russian roulette and are immediately faced with a new challenge. The guard explains there are 1000 buckets, one filled with poison the rest water. The poison takes 30 minutes to kill, err, an inmate. The guard informs you to determine, using inmates, which bucket contains the poison in no more than 1 hour. Looking into the spiteful eyes of your fellow prisoners you can see your future well-being is tied to using as few inmates as possible for this experiment. What is the minimum number you need find the poisoned bucket?
 
FlyerQ said:
You survived the game of Russian roulette and are immediately faced with a new challenge. The guard explains there are 1000 buckets, one filled with poison the rest water. The poison takes 30 minutes to kill, err, an inmate. The guard informs you to determine, using inmates, which bucket contains the poison in no more than 1 hour. Looking into the spiteful eyes of your fellow prisoners you can see your future well-being is tied to using as few inmates as possible for this experiment. What is the minimum number you need find the poisoned bucket?
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I only have to kill one guy if I have 1000 inmates to work with and you do not say that I don't.
 
alfadog said:
I only have to kill one guy if I have 1000 inmates to work with and you do not say that I don't.
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And 999 will remember you selecting them for a life risking experiment.

Your job isn't to maximize survival (except perhaps your own), but instead to minimize the number who become sworn enemies. And for the purpose of this puzzle, enemies are made by pulling someone from the population to taste for poison.
 
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FlyerQ said:
If you drop the first letter the are spelled the same forward and back?
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Very close. The answer I was looking for is if you put the first letter at the end they all are the same word spelled backwards. I award full credit though!
 
upstateny said:
1 3 2 4 = 2

6 3 5 5 1 = ??????
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Btw, nicely done. I'd rate this a 5 star riddle. Very abstract in the printed form. I won't give it away as I assume you were testing me with your question.
 
Captain said:
Okay, if someone figures out the Chicken thing please share. Moving on, here's another. (I do know the answer too. I won't let THAT happen again!)

I am in a river, but not in a lake, I am in computer, but not in a T.V, and I am in rain, but not in snow, what am I?
Click to expand...
The letter R.
 
Captain said:
Btw, nicely done. I'd rate this a 5 star riddle. Very abstract in the printed form. I won't give it away as I assume you were testing me with your question.
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6 3 5 5 1 = 10 Correct!!

Not a test, just carrying on the riddle without giving it away.

Any one else? 1 4 3 6 5 = ????
 
upstateny said:
6 3 5 5 1 = 10 Correct!!

Not a test, just carrying on the riddle without giving it away.

Any one else? 1 4 3 6 5 = ????
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1 4 3 6 5 = 6

of course playing in text one could argue that

11 17 8 = 26

or

7 6 4 = 6
 
FlyerQ said:
1 4 3 6 5 = 6

of course playing in text one could argue that

11 17 8 = 26

or

7 6 4 = 6
Click to expand...


I see how you're doing it but I don't think I buy it. Remember without a rose you can't have a pedal and without a sun you can't have a planet. But, I've never been into Dungeons & Dragons so what do I know.
 
Captain said:
I see how you're doing it but I don't think I buy it. Remember without a rose you can't have a pedal and without a sun you can't have a planet. But, I've never been into Dungeons & Dragons so what do I know.
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Fair enough. The form factor creates a constraint, but the rule seems generalizable. However, the riddle and data should be kept tightly coupled so your objection is legit. I was simply pointing out that someone studying the data in text could reach that conclusion.
 
FlyerQ said:
Fair enough. The form factor creates a constraint, but the rule seems generalizable. However, the riddle and data should be kept tightly coupled so your objection is legit. I was simply pointing out that someone studying the data in text could reach that conclusion.
Click to expand...

Another issue is using the extra numbers takes away a major clue. Sticking with my original numbers shines a pretty bright light down the road to solving. Like I said before, this one is pretty abstract.
 
FlyerQ said:
And 999 will remember you selecting them for a life risking experiment.

Your job isn't to maximize survival (except perhaps your own), but instead to minimize the number who become sworn enemies. And for the purpose of this puzzle, enemies are made by pulling someone from the population to taste for poison.
Click to expand...

Does the poison work if diluted, i.e. if I take a bit from each, is the mixture deadly?
 
It may not be the minumum number needed, but since you've got 1 hour to find the poison bucket and the poison works in half an hour, have 500 prisoners take a bucket and have them take a drink. If they're all still alive after half an hour, give them the second 500 buckets to drink from.
 
upstateny said:
It may not be the minumum number needed, but since you've got 1 hour to find the poison bucket and the poison works in half an hour, have 500 prisoners take a bucket and have them take a drink. If they're all still alive after half an hour, give them the second 500 buckets to drink from.
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That is where my "diluted" question comes in - can you take one prisoner and have him drink a mixture.
 
upstateny said:
It may not be the minumum number needed, but since you've got 1 hour to find the poison bucket and the poison works in half an hour, have 500 prisoners take a bucket and have them take a drink. If they're all still alive after half an hour, give them the second 500 buckets to drink from.
Click to expand...

500 is certainly going to get the job done, but alternatives exist using well under 20...
 
alfadog said:
That is where my "diluted" question comes in - can you take one prisoner and have him drink a mixture.
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You have hit on a solution to a different problem - prison over crowding. Since even a diluted portion is deadly, mix a little from every bucket together and have 1000 prisoners drink it. (Plus nobody's left to be mad at you.)
 
upstateny said:
You have hit on a solution to a different problem - prison over crowding. Since even a diluted portion is deadly, mix a little from every bucket together and have 1000 prisoners drink it. (Plus nobody's left to be mad at you.)
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Hmmm. Problem is, and the other reason to use as few as possible, is the GDP of this lousy republic is 50% prison labor. No labor, no decadent imports for the supreme leader... Unhappy leader, unhappy guards.
 
Captain said:
I see how you're doing it but I don't think I buy it. Remember without a rose you can't have a petal and without a sun you can't have a planet. But, I've never been into Dungeons & Dragons so what do I know.
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FTFY.:rolleyes:
 
While you're contemplating the poison a guard approaches you to suggest a card game.

The rules are simple, you'll go through a standard deck of cards one at a time. Red you win, black he wins. If you bet a dollar and win you get a dollar fifty so one dollar becomes two fifty. If you bet a dollar and lose, well, the dollar is gone.

Your getting excited, finally a break! What a great game!

Then he adds, "by the way one last rule. You have to start with a pot equal to all the money on you (which happens to be 1000) and you have to bet 1/2 your pot on every card".

Should you still play? Extra credit, how much of your pot should you suggest betting?
 
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Sure. That is one heck of a "house advantage" though nowhere near the advantage the state takes in the lottery. :yikes:
 
alfadog said:
Sure. That is one heck of a "house advantage" though nowhere near the advantage the state takes in the lottery. :yikes:
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Anyone want to take the other side and be the guard to alpha's inmate? (If not, I will)
 
FlyerQ said:
Anyone want to take the other side and be the guard to alpha's inmate? (If not, I will)
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I start with 1000 and bet 500.
I lose and now have 500 and bet 250.
I win and am now up to 875.

Is that how it works?

I start with 1000 and bet 500.
I win and now have 1750 and bet 875.
I lose and am now down to 875.

Hmmmm
 
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alfadog said:
I start with 1000 and bet 500.
I lose and now have 500 and bet 250.
I win and am now up to 875.

Is that how it works?
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Exactly.
Or you could bet 500, win 750 so now you have 1750.
You then bet 1/2 and lose and your at the same 875.

Now we can see you can have a positive expected return in a game (or investment), but if you bet too much you risk a negative return.

So how much should you bet?
 
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