Gabriel is correct, and so is his explanation.
Printable View
Gabriel is correct, and so is his explanation.
I dont think he... aa by the way does anyone know Wfrank's gender... okay...
I don't think Wfrank can explain it... But I pretty much wan you to... or on second thought let's give Wfrank time till tommorow to explain it. Then if he/she ( ;) ) hasn't done it you, Elrond, will is this ok?
didn't see that :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally posted by Gabriel Fleseriu
First of all, none of the pairs (husband - wife) can enter the room one after the other, or else they would have to shake the same number of hands. Except the captain and his wife, because he is allowed to shake the same number of hands as someone else. The only pattern that leads to the correct condition (different answers) is that all men enter first and all wives after that or vice-versa. However, the two persons in the middle will shake the same number of hands, that is 299 -- one of them must be the captain.
who gets the point now?
Gabriel explained it well. Actually the same question will have the same logical answer whatever number of firefighters, but using a big number like 300 makes it impressive. You can apply the same logic starting with NF = 2 (including the captain) and always find (NF-1)/2 as an answer.
You'll find it much easier to find with a small number, and can check that the value is always right when the number grow up.
I'd give it to Gabriel, as he really solved the riddle.
What about when 4 firefighters enter:
F1 : 0 hands
F2 : 1 hands
F3 : 2 hands
F4 : 3 hands
The captain could be anybody, as any F1 to F4 would count different numbers of handshakes.
No, you're forgetting their wives!Quote:
Originally posted by Simon666
What about when 4 firefighters enter:
F1 : 0 hands
F2 : 1 hands
F3 : 2 hands
F4 : 3 hands
The captain could be anybody, as any F1 to F4 would count different numbers of handshakes.
F1 : 0 hands
F2 : 1 hands
F3 : 2 hands
F4 : 3 hands
FW1: 3 hands
FW2: 4 hands
FW3: 5 hands
FW4: 6 hands
The captain must be F4, and that gives the 7 other answers all different!
If you start with two, the are plenty of solutions, but the captain must ALWAYS shake one hand exactly to have all other answers differents (C and CW, the captain and his wife, F and FW the firefighter and his wife):
---
F : 0
CW : 1
C : 1
FW :2
---
F : 0
C : 1
CW : 1
FW :2
---
FW : 0
CW : 1
C : 1
F :2
---
FW : 0
C : 1
CW : 1
F :2
---
CW : 0
FW : 1
C : 1
F : 2
---
CW : 0
F : 1
C : 1
FW : 2
ANY other solution implies that two will give the same answer!
OK, checks out.
And what if the bad guy who shot the barman throws his cigar into the town's granary and causes a great fire?
What a disaster!! the town in fire while the firemen are wasting their time shoking their hands. !!!!
:D :D ;)
Here's a question:
The police are responding to a 911 call. They come to an office building and see a man (lets call him Davey just for the heck of it) with a bullet in his head (he's dead) and a cassette tape player. They rewind the tape that's in it and play it. "I don't want to live anymore... *BAM*" says Davey on the tape. A coworker (lets call him Johnny) at the scene says, "I heard the gunshot and ran over to the cubicle here, and I immediately called 911." A short while later, they knew he was lying. How did they figure this out?
How come Johny's call wasnt on the tape. And who pressed 'stop' to stop the recording...Quote:
Originally posted by solarflare
Here's a question:
The police are responding to a 911 call. They come to an office building and see a man (lets call him Davey just for the heck of it) with a bullet in his head (he's dead) and a cassette tape player. They rewind the tape that's in it and play it. "I don't want to live anymore... *BAM*" says Davey on the tape. A coworker (lets call him Johnny) at the scene says, "I heard the gunshot and ran over to the cubicle here, and I immediately called 911." A short while later, they knew he was lying. How did they figure this out?
;)
May be the tape reached its end. In this case a lot of recording device will just stop by themselves.Quote:
Originally posted by SeventhStar
How come Johny's call wasnt on the tape. And who pressed 'stop' to stop the recording...
;)
But the fact the Johnny's call is not on the tape is a good clue, and probably the fact that they don't hear him arrive (He was already there), or say anything like "OH NO!!!".
We will probably have to wait for solarflare to confirm, but I think you'll have the point.
Whoops, I guess I wasn't clear enough on that. The phone call is on the tape. It is clearly Johnny's voice. When Johnny saw the tape recorder he stopped it himself.
Clue: the police didn't know immediately. They must have done something first, right?
Is it REALLY davey's voice that says "I don't want to live anymore... "?
If not, Johnny may have recording the "BAM" and the phone call, then rewinded to record the "I don't want to live anymore..." (masking his voice) and then forwarded it until after the phone call.
That's really a problem when the asker is not here to clarify some misunderstandings (like me this week end or Solarflare now). :)
Yep.
There could be thousands of reasons that could've lead the police to this conclusion.
I suggest that tomorrow solarflare gives us the answer and if we like it we decide whether we give him a point or not.