Puzzles about extracting the maximum insight from the minimum data. How few tests, measurements, or observations do you need to guarantee a result?
Instructions
Each puzzle is about strategy and information efficiency. Explain your approach and why it guarantees the answer in the fewest steps. Show your reasoning for full credit.
Question 1 of 6
A prisoner must identify one of two pills. One pill is harmless and the other is fatal. He knows a glass of water beside them is poisoned, but he can survive by taking the harmless pill without the water. Yet the prisoner takes the harmless pill with the water and dies. What killed him?
You have two ropes. Each rope takes exactly one hour to burn from end to end, but they do not burn at a constant rate — some sections burn faster than others.
There are 100 doors in a row, all initially closed. You make 100 passes. On pass 1 you toggle every door, on pass 2 every 2nd door, on pass 3 every 3rd door, and so on until pass 100.