Author
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Scott
Entrenched
Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 1140 Location: 390 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Rochester NY, 14624, USA
[Puzzle] #075 - Yellow - Poison Pill On week five of the hit Perplex City reality show, 'The Lab', the labmates awakened to a surprise challenge involving five full jars of pills.
Information:
Four of the jars had pills weighing 10g in them, with the remaining jar having 'poisoned' 9g pills. The labmate who could work out which jar contained the 9g pills with just a single weighing, using the least number of pills, was given an extra week to prepare for their vital research presentation (not something to be sniffed at!).
Can you solve the challenge?
All the pills are shaped identically, and you're not allowed to weigh a pill and then keep adding more while still checking the weight. Only one weighing of as few or as many pills as you want, at once - is allowed.
signed by kurt
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:13 pm
lummox
Greenhorn
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 6 Location: UK
OK, I think I got this.
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
You weigh 5 of jar A, then 4 of jar B, 3 of C, 2 of D and 1 of E, the total weight will tell you which jar is the poison. If it is five grams below 150g then A must be poison, four grams B, so on and so fourth.
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:46 pm
alaranth
Decorated
Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Rochester, NY / Albany, NY
And another Googled solve here . Search engines are the h0ttness.
_________________* PFCMacWalker > grope: !attach Alaranth
<Alaranth> kinky
<PFCMacWalker> success
***
<Cns_strifey> So I technically enhottenated Alaranth?
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:51 pm
lummox
Greenhorn
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 6 Location: UK
whoops 5 pill off
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:00 pm
icklemelly
Boot
Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Norwich, UK
Just seen an episode of Columbo where he solves a variation of this puzzle.
Now all I need to do is sit back and wait for the episode where he tracks down a mysterious cube!
_________________A careful man tries to dodge the bullets, while a happy man takes a walk
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:29 pm
Bradius
Kilroy
Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 2 Location: london
First ever post and I dont mean to be pedantic ...but
Just thought as the labmates were meant to do it with the minimum of pills
you only pick pills from four jars i.e 4 from red, 3, from yellow 2 from blue and 1 from green if they weigh exactly 100g you know the jar you havent weighed contains the poisoned pills. If it weighs less then you know 96g=red, 97g= yellow.... etc are the poisoned pills.
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:34 pm
iwozframed
Boot
Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 15 Location: Cleveland, UK
Of course spot on bradius!!
how come we completely forgot about weighing the LEAST amount of pills
I dont know about everyone else....
but im guilty of just saying that's what i got, card finished lets get onto the harder ones.
Back to ishihara (plus it'll give my shuffled card time to cool!)
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:18 pm
Bennage
Greenhorn
Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 3
Has anyone tried to input this into the site? I'm slightly confused as to how you solve it using the interface they suply you with!
b
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:56 pm
oliverkeers13
Entrenched
Joined: 23 May 2005 Posts: 917 Location: London, UK
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Actually, the answer is 4. You enter the answer in the site as follows:
Pills the first: 4
Pills the second: 3
Pills the third: 2
Pills the fourth 1
pills the fifth 0
If it is not underweight, then it is the jar from which you took no pills
[/spoiler]
_________________
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"To be in opposition is not to be a nihilist" CH
"im iver an idiot or a genus" Dekuprince
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:59 am
eric
Greenhorn
Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 4
Bennage wrote:
Has anyone tried to input this into the site? I'm slightly confused as to how you solve it using the interface they suply you with!
b
Me too, and now the card is locked (too many unsuccessful attempts)
How do I enter the answer via the site interface?
I don't understand your answer, oliverkeers...
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:50 pm
Seej
Unfettered
Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 614
Ditto. Just tried that and it says "Bad luck. You haven't entered all the answers" or something like that. Don't wanna lock any further attempts at this card just because I can't figure out the seemingly simple task of entering 5 numbers.
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:56 pm
eric
Greenhorn
Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 4
Do you know when the cards unlock, if they do so?
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:11 pm
BrianEnigma
Entrenched
Joined: 05 Oct 2003 Posts: 1199 Location: Pacific Northwest
All I can say is that it worked for me. I entered the numbers in ascending (lowest to highest) order and it gave me the points.
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:13 pm
Hunting4Treasure
Unfettered
Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 385 Location: Tampa Bay Area, FL USA
OK, I'm trying this again, after getting locked out yesterday.
I entered:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
A 4
B 3
C 2
D 1
E 0
Then I tried it the other way:
A 0
B 1
C 2
D 3
E 4
And I was WRONG! What more do they want from me?
_________________
E=MC˛
Energy (Power) = Mind Candy's Cube
PerplexCityTrades - Hunting4Treasure
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:52 pm
Hunting4Treasure
Unfettered
Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 385 Location: Tampa Bay Area, FL USA
eric wrote:
Do you know when the cards unlock, if they do so?
I thought, at first, that we get 3 guesses within any day (beginning GMT?) But, since I'm allowed to try again now, after being locked out yesterday, I now believe we have to wait 24 hrs, after being locked out, before trying again.
_________________
E=MC˛
Energy (Power) = Mind Candy's Cube
PerplexCityTrades - Hunting4Treasure
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:57 pm
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