[AccessD] OT: Friday Puzzles

William Hindman wdhindman at dejpolsystems.com
Sat Apr 24 21:05:51 CDT 2010


...maybe :)

...this is a version of Lewis Carroll's original pensioner's puzzle ...and 
if Arthur had not changed the final question, 10 would be the correct answer

...but he did, as follows:

"The general wants to know how many of his men had lost, at minimum, one 
eye,
one ear, one arm and one leg. He is stingy with the medals so he wants to
reward the fewest number of soldiers. What percentage of the soldiers should
receive medals?

...if the query were what was the minimum % of soldiers who had lost all 4 
body parts, the answer would be 10%

...but the query was "how many of his men had lost, at minimum, one eye,
one ear, one arm and one leg" and that could be anywhere between 10% and 70% 
...there is insufficient data to provide an answer to the query posited 
...imnsho of course :)

William

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kevin" <thewaddles at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 2:23 PM
To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" 
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Friday Puzzles

> OK...
> I would like to revise and extend my remarks...
> Assuming an army of 100, 10 lost all 4
>
> 70 lost an eye
> So 30 did NOT lose an eye
> 75 lost an ear
> So 25 did NOT lose an ear
> 80 lost an arm
> So 20 did NOT lose an arm
> 85 lost a leg
> So 15 did NOT lose an leg
>
> The soldiers that retained at least one of the body parts is 90 
> (30+25+20+15
> = 90) meaning that 10 lost all 4.
>
> Kevin Waddle
> "The time has come," the Walrus said,
> "To talk of many things:
> Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
> Of cabbages--and kings--
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Shamil
> Salakhetdinov
> Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 10:22 AM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Friday Puzzles
>
> That's wrong, and a bit(?)/plain(?) stupid, sorry. Any, takers? (I'm off
> till tomorrow's late evening/Monday).
>
> Thank you.
>
> --Shamil
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shamil Salakhetdinov [mailto:shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru]
> Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 7:30 PM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: Friday Puzzles
>
> 8925 medals.
>
> Correct?
>
> x = size of the army
> y = qty of soldiers who have lost one arm, one leg, one ear and one eye;
>
> y = 0.85*(1-0.8)*0.75*0.7x
>
> Assuming that army size is between 100,000+ and 150,000
> (
> http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/units.html
> http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blchancommand.htm
> )
>
> the anwers would be
>
> foreach (int x in Enumerable.Range(100000,50001))
> {
>    decimal y = 0.85m * (1.0m-0.8m) * 0.75m * 0.7m * x;
>
>    if (y == (decimal)(int)y)
>        Console.WriteLine("// SizeOfTheArmy={0:#,0}+, Medals={1} ",
>            x, (decimal)(int)y);
> }
>
> // SizeOfTheArmy=100,000+, Medals=8925
> // SizeOfTheArmy=104,000+, Medals=9282
> // SizeOfTheArmy=108,000+, Medals=9639
> // SizeOfTheArmy=112,000+, Medals=9996
> // SizeOfTheArmy=116,000+, Medals=10353
> // SizeOfTheArmy=120,000+, Medals=10710
> // SizeOfTheArmy=124,000+, Medals=11067
> // SizeOfTheArmy=128,000+, Medals=11424
> // SizeOfTheArmy=132,000+, Medals=11781
> // SizeOfTheArmy=136,000+, Medals=12138
> // SizeOfTheArmy=140,000+, Medals=12495
> // SizeOfTheArmy=144,000+, Medals=12852
> // SizeOfTheArmy=148,000+, Medals=13209
>
> As we do not have the general's army size defined but we know that general
> wanted to reward teh fewest number of soldiers then we select the minimal
> appropriate army size = 100,000 soldiers, and then the answer will be 8925
> medals.
>
> Correct?
>
> Thank you.
>
> --Shamil
>
> <<< snip >>>
>
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