A Number Theory Problem....
There is a desert which is 1000 miles across. There is a camel who can carry 1000 bananas maximum. The camel eats 1 banana per mile travelled. The camel has a total of 3000 bananas to begin with. What is the maximum number of bananas that the camel can get across to the other side uneaten? ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- -------------------------------------------------------------------- A: 533
At 5:16 PM -0700 10/2/98, Jim Choate wrote:
There is a desert which is 1000 miles across. There is a camel who can carry 1000 bananas maximum. The camel eats 1 banana per mile travelled. The camel has a total of 3000 bananas to begin with. What is the maximum number of bananas that the camel can get across to the other side uneaten?
A: 533
Some say 533 and a third. What was your point in posing this with the answer at the bottom. This problem shows up in the math newsgroups and is not an interesting CP topic. --Tim May Y2K: A good chance to reformat America's hard drive and empty the trash. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.
Tim writes:
Some say 533 and a third.
This is correct if the camel eats bananas continuously, as opposed to discretely. Starting with 3,000 bananas, the camel can deposit 2,000 bananas 200 miles from his starting point. He can then deposit 1,000 bananas another 333 1/3 miles from that point. There now remain 466 2/3 miles to go, and bananas to eat, leaving the camel with 533 1/3 bananas upon reaching the other side. If the camel eats bananas in discrete quanta, we lose the fractional banana. -- Sponsor the DES Analytic Crack Project http://www.cyberspace.org/~enoch/crakfaq.html
What was your point in posing this with the answer at the bottom. This problem shows up in the math newsgroups and is not an interesting CP topic.
--Tim May
Y2K: A good chance to reformat America's hard drive and empty the trash. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.
participants (3)
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Eric Cordian -
Jim Choate -
Tim May