Nine weights: Difference between revisions

From Math Puzzle Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Oscarlevin (talk | contribs)
Created page with 'A classic logic puzzle. ==Puzzle== On the table sit nine identical looking nuggets of gold. However, you know that one of the nine is a clever forgery. The only difference be…'
 
Oscarlevin (talk | contribs)
No edit summary
 
(7 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
A classic logic puzzle.
A classic logic puzzle.
 
[[File:Eo-scale of justice.gif|right|150px]]
==Puzzle==
==Puzzle==


Line 7: Line 7:
[[Category: Comparison puzzles]]
[[Category: Comparison puzzles]]
[[Category: Weighing puzzles]]
[[Category: Weighing puzzles]]
[[Category: Logic]]
[[Category: Logic puzzles]]
[[Category: Pigeonhole principle]]
[[Category: Pigeonhole principle]]
==See also==
[[Twelve weights]] - you can use the scale three times to find a weight that is either lighter or heavier.  Quite a challenge.
[[Six weights]] - you can use the scale twice to locate the heavy weight in each of three colors.

Current revision as of 08:45, 7 July 2013

A classic logic puzzle.

Puzzle

On the table sit nine identical looking nuggets of gold. However, you know that one of the nine is a clever forgery. The only difference between the fake and the real nuggets is in weight: the fake gold weighs slightly less than the true gold. Unfortunately, this weight difference is not great enough to be noticed in human hands. Fortunately, you have a standard balance scale. Unfortunately, you may only use the balance scale twice. Fortunately, there is a way to find the fake gold even with these restrictions. How?

See also

Twelve weights - you can use the scale three times to find a weight that is either lighter or heavier. Quite a challenge.

Six weights - you can use the scale twice to locate the heavy weight in each of three colors.