You own a goldmine with 50 employees...

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Wrong means incorrect. Simple as that. It doesn't necessarly mean "not good enough" because that phrase can mean not a small enough number or not a large enough number.
 
Tkwiget said:
Wrong means incorrect. Simple as that. It doesn't necessarly mean "not good enough" because that phrase can mean not a small enough number or not a large enough number.
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It can't mean "not a large enough number" because he asked for the lowest. I effectively showed how it could be done in six and he said that was not the answer. Therefore there must be a lower answer.
 
Jason_C said:
Right. Darnit.

From 50, two groups of 25.
From 25, a group of 12 and a group of 13.
From 13, a group of 6 and a group of 7.
From 7, a group of 3 and a group of 4.
From 4, two of two.
From that, two of one.
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*sigh* I'm sorry, but your answer isn't six.

Two groups of 25 is 2 weighs.
12 and 13 is 2 weighs.
6 and 7 is 2 weighs.
3 and 4 is 2 weighs.
2 and 2 is 2 weigh.
1 and 1 is 1 weigh.

2+2+2+2+2+1 = 11

Sorry, not six. Each pile of bags is a measurement. Exiledforcefreak explained this with this comment.

Exiledforcefreak said:
worst case senario your making more measurements then jason. FYI, weighing 17 and 17 is the equivilent of making 2 measurements
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Only 1.

Take one Bag from employee #1,
Take two bag from employee #2,
Take three bags from employee #3
Take four bags from employee #4 etc


(Edit: Fixed numbers to line up (change #4, #5 to #3, #4)
Then:
Expected weight - actual weight = the number of the employee whose bag was one ounce less full.

ETA: Expected weight means 16 ounces times the number of bags. Actual weight is the readout.

The one ounce difference will be multiplied by the number of bags from that employee. So

This only works if the employee steals every day.

ETAA:
Expected weight: {50+1} x 25 x 16 = 20,400 ounces
 
Alright. I see how this is going to turn out then. According to that it alters my answer a lot. Btw, I don't even care about the half billion points he's going to give out.

Step 1: Divide the 50 bags into three piles. Two of those piles contain 16 bags and the other containing 18. You weight each of them. The two piles that contains 16 bags should weigh 256 oz each. The other pile should weigh 288 oz. The pile that doesn't match either of those weight numbers contains the bag of the culprit. Lets say it's a pile that has 16 bags in it.

Note: Total of 2 weighs

Step 2: Now divide the pile of 16 bags into two equal halves. Meaning two piles of 8 bags. Each pile of 8 bags should way 128 oz. The pile that weighs less has the bag of the culprit.

Note: Total of 3 weighs

Step 3: Divide that pile of 8 bags into two equal piles. Meaning 4 bags in each pile. Each of these 4 bag piles should weigh 64 oz. The pile that ways the less has the bag of the culprit.

Note: Total of 4 weighs

Step 4: Divide that pile of 4 bags into two equal piles. Meaning 2 bags in each pile. Each of these 2 bag piles should weigh 32 oz. The pile that ways the less has the bag of the culprit.

Note: Total of 5 weighs

Step 5: All you need to do is weigh one of the remaining bags. If the bag you weigh matches 16 oz. then the other bag is the culprit's bag by default and there is no reason to weigh it. If the bag you weigh happens to be less than 16 oz. then the other bag isn't the culprit's bag by default.

Note: Total of 6 weighs.
 
I know how often these kinds of puzzles don't involve logic, but here the logic is as simple and as good as it can be. How is it less than 6?


Do you make zero measurements, and instead check the workers' pockets to find the missing gold?
 
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the point of the riddle, but wouldn't the whole process be easier if you just weighed one bag from each employee, instead of doing all this lifting?
 
Digital Jedi said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the point of the riddle, but wouldn't the whole process be easier if you just weighed one bag from each employee, instead of doing all this lifting?
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It's probably not a real-life situation.
 
Tkwiget said:
What I'm failing to understand is where DaGuy got a 1 and 25 from for his math.
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He phrased it in a way with which you may not be familiar.

This is arithmetic sequence addition here. It will make more sense in this form:

[50 X (50 + 1) / 2] X 16 = 20,400
 
Tkwiget said:
That explains where he got 25 but not 1.
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Okay, I can understand the confusion here.

Let's look at the equation:

{[(50 + 1) / 2] X 50} X 16 = 20,400

Now in word form. The first 50 is the fiftieth term in the arithmetic sequence of "an=1+n". The 1 is the first term in that sequence. As you'll recall from your high school math, the sum of all terms in a sequence is the average of the first and last term multiplied by the total number of terms. So the "X 50" is the total number of terms. The "X 16" factors in the ounces.
 
DaGuyWitBluGlasses said:
Only 1.

Take one Bag from employee #1,
Take two bag from employee #2,
Take three bags from employee #3
Take four bags from employee #4 etc


(Edit: Fixed numbers to line up (change #4, #5 to #3, #4)
Then:
Expected weight - actual weight = the number of the employee whose bag was one ounce less full.

ETA: Expected weight means 16 ounces times the number of bags. Actual weight is the readout.

The one ounce difference will be multiplied by the number of bags from that employee. So

This only works if the employee steals every day.

ETAA:
Expected weight: {50+1} x 25 x 16 = 20,400 ounces
Click to expand...

you are correct sir

500000000.00 points donated to DaGuyWitBluGlasses successfully!
 
Umm. There's only 50 bags total though. One bag for each employee. I still don't understand where this one is coming from.

The only valid math equation I see is 50 x 16 = 800. There must me something I'm not seeing.
 
Tkwiget said:
Umm. There's only 50 bags total though. One bag for each employee. I still don't understand where this one is coming from.
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It didn't say you would only use one day's bags. So for the last employee you would have to take 50 days worth of bags.

The only valid math equation I see is 50 x 16 = 800. There must me something I'm not seeing.
Click to expand...

1+2+3+4+5"¦ +49 +50 = (50+1)*25 so you would be weighing a total of 1275 bags.
 
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