Thursday, November 14, 2013

5 pirates of different ages have a treasure of 100 gold coins puzzle

5 pirates of different ages have a treasure of 100 gold coins. 

On their ship, they decide to split the coins using this scheme: 

The oldest pirate proposes how to share the coins, and ALL pirates (including the oldest) vote for or against it. 

If 50% or more of the pirates vote for it, then the coins will be shared that way. Otherwise, the pirate proposing the scheme will be thrown overboard, and the process is repeated with the pirates that remain.

As pirates tend to be a bloodthirsty bunch, if a pirate would get the same number of coins if he voted for or against a proposal, he will vote against so that the pirate who proposed the plan will be thrown overboard.

Assuming that all 5 pirates are intelligent, rational, greedy, and do not wish to die, (and are rather good at math for pirates) what will happen?

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

2 Boys and train puzzles

Suppose 2 boys are walking in the woods and they decide to take a shortcut through a railroad tunnel. They had walked 2/3 of the way through the tunnel, but then something horrible happened: a train was coming in the opposite direction towards the 2 boys, and it was coming close to the other entrance of the tunnel. Each boy ran in a different direction to get out of the tunnel and avoid the incoming train. Each boy ran at the same exact speed of 10 miles per hour, and each boy managed to escape the train at the exact instant in which the train would have hit and killed him. If the train was moving at a constant speed and each boy was capable of instantaneous acceleration, then how fast was the train going?