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Topic: Desert Delivery (Read 1264 times) |
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melimel
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Desert Delivery
« on: Dec 4th, 2006, 4:52pm » |
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You are at a desert oasis with 600 liters of gasthat is sorely needed at an outpost 1000km away. Your small jeep can only carry 200 liters at a time, and burns one liter for every 5km it travels. How many liters of gasoline can you deliver safely to the outpost? How?
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flamingdragon
Uberpuzzler
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #1 on: Dec 4th, 2006, 5:45pm » |
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Hmm, by the time the truck gets there, it will have used all the fule it's carrying. 
So the only thing I can think of is:
All of it, because a plane could come and get it all. 
Or: Get a better Jeep. 
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"The fool doth think he is wise, yet the wise man knoweth himself to be a fool"
"He who commands the past, commands the future. He who commands the future, commands the past."
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Noke Lieu
Uberpuzzler
pen... paper... let's go! (and bit of plastic)
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #2 on: Dec 4th, 2006, 6:27pm » |
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Interesting that you chose a quick reply, rather than sit and think about it. I find it great how this forum allows people to contibute their part, no matter how small.
And one litre for 5km, driving across sand with a heavy load... that's not an unexpected value- i'd definately have the air conditioning off.
Flamingdragon (that has a funny meaning here, now I think about it- Alf Stewart)
what if you assume that the jeep has a series of containers like jerry cans- a long range sub tank might get you upto 160 litres, but that's pushing it.
So the jeep can carry for (a first step) 100L in its tank, and 100L in the jerry cans. Drive 250km out, and store the jerry cans somewhere (with a beacon for later recovery) and drive back, fill up again. So you've burnt up 100L, have 200L in jerry cans, and 100L in the tank.
Drive 250km, refuel at your beaconed depot, and push on, getting to the station with 50L (and leaving 50L in the desert...)
But surely YOU could do better than that?
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a shade of wit and the art of farce.
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flamingdragon
Uberpuzzler
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #3 on: Dec 4th, 2006, 6:48pm » |
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on Dec 4th, 2006, 6:27pm, Noke Lieu wrote:Interesting that you chose a quick reply, rather than sit and think about it...
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I do the quick reply first and then think about it afterwards and get a better answer.
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"The fool doth think he is wise, yet the wise man knoweth himself to be a fool"
"He who commands the past, commands the future. He who commands the future, commands the past."
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Three Hands
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #4 on: Dec 5th, 2006, 3:22am » |
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on Dec 4th, 2006, 6:48pm, flamingdragon wrote:
I do the quick reply first and then think about it afterwards and get a better answer. |
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Fools rush in where uberpuzzlers fear to tread? 
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Grimbal
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #5 on: Dec 5th, 2006, 6:16am » |
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What are the sizes of the recipients you can use? Because if you leave a pool of gas on the sand in the middle of the desert I wonder how much you can recover. 
Maybe you should rent that camel from the other riddle that drinks 1 liter water each 10 kilometers and be careful how much you carry of the various liquids.
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towr
wu::riddles Moderator
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Some people are average, some are just mean.
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #6 on: Dec 5th, 2006, 6:57am » |
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on Dec 5th, 2006, 6:16am, Grimbal wrote:| What are the sizes of the recipients you can use? Because if you leave a pool of gas on the sand in the middle of the desert I wonder how much you can recover. |
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Well, you can always hope to strike oil while trying to dig it back up.
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Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
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Grimbal
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #7 on: Dec 5th, 2006, 7:06am » |
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anyway, 157.46?
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| « Last Edit: Dec 5th, 2006, 7:17am by Grimbal » |
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Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Desert Delivery
« Reply #8 on: Dec 5th, 2006, 6:37pm » |
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on Dec 5th, 2006, 3:22am, Three Hands wrote:
Fools rush in where uberpuzzlers fear to tread? |
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Ha! Nice to know that at least one person gets the reference (several people haven't when I've mentioned it to them).
(To give credit where it's due, I lifted the quote from an old Infocom game.)
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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