• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:03
CEST 19:03
KST 02:03
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)25Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format16[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!5Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back12BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) [D] Wireframe Casting Removed Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard" Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format Is the larve respawn broken?
Tourneys
Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Recent recommended BW games Recommended FPV games (post-KeSPA) Etiquete rules in Asl? Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map)
Tourneys
Escore Tournament - Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend! [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Beyond All Reason Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8575 users

Nerdy Math Problem - Page 4

Blogs > Byo
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 All
Monoxide
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Canada1190 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-04-21 23:34:23
April 21 2009 23:18 GMT
#61
On April 22 2009 04:54 kingjames01 wrote:
Ah, I just got home and saw these. I got the same answer as above too.
I'll work on the integers one.

Here's one I just remembered when I was on my way home.

A shipwreck strands 10 people on a desert island whose surrounding waters are filled with the world's most deadliest man-eating sharks. These 10 people think using perfect logic. On the island they find a treasure chest filled with a 1000 gold pieces. They decide to divide the gold. Here is the process that they come up with. They each drew straws to figure out the order in which they will attempt to divide the gold. Whoever goes first can share the gold however that person chooses. The catch is that after the person has finished sharing the gold there is a vote. If the majority (greater than but not equal to 50%) of the people are not happy they can vote to have that person tossed off the island. It would then fall onto the person who was selected to be number 2 to attempt to share the gold, and so on.

Now the conditions are:
1) These people will choose life over death.
2) These people will choose more gold than equal or lesser amounts.
3) These people are perfect logicians.

Question: Can person one divide the gold in such a way that he survives the vote? If so, what is the maximum amount of gold that he can get? If not, show why.


Here is my answer
+ Show Spoiler +
This is how the first person should propose the distribution of the coins.
994 , 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0

with the person getting 994 and then second getting 0 and so on.
kingjames01
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada1603 Posts
April 22 2009 01:29 GMT
#62
On April 22 2009 08:18 Monoxide wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 22 2009 04:54 kingjames01 wrote:
Ah, I just got home and saw these. I got the same answer as above too.
I'll work on the integers one.

Here's one I just remembered when I was on my way home.

A shipwreck strands 10 people on a desert island whose surrounding waters are filled with the world's most deadliest man-eating sharks. These 10 people think using perfect logic. On the island they find a treasure chest filled with a 1000 gold pieces. They decide to divide the gold. Here is the process that they come up with. They each drew straws to figure out the order in which they will attempt to divide the gold. Whoever goes first can share the gold however that person chooses. The catch is that after the person has finished sharing the gold there is a vote. If the majority (greater than but not equal to 50%) of the people are not happy they can vote to have that person tossed off the island. It would then fall onto the person who was selected to be number 2 to attempt to share the gold, and so on.

Now the conditions are:
1) These people will choose life over death.
2) These people will choose more gold than equal or lesser amounts.
3) These people are perfect logicians.

Question: Can person one divide the gold in such a way that he survives the vote? If so, what is the maximum amount of gold that he can get? If not, show why.


Here is my answer
+ Show Spoiler +
This is how the first person should propose the distribution of the coins.
994 , 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0

with the person getting 994 and then second getting 0 and so on.


Nice! Good answer!
As a prize you receive one Schrute Buck! =)
Who would sup with the mighty, must walk the path of daggers.
Monoxide
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Canada1190 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-04-22 01:57:49
April 22 2009 01:51 GMT
#63
On April 22 2009 04:02 meeple wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 21 2009 23:15 stenole wrote:
On April 21 2009 22:37 Chromyne wrote:
On April 21 2009 22:27 stenole wrote:
On April 21 2009 21:06 meeple wrote:
At a party, a guest asks the age of the host’s three children. The host tells the guest the following information:

Assume each child is a whole number age;

The product of their ages is 72;

The sum of their ages is the same as my house number.

The guest goes outside and looks at the house number. Upon returning, the guest indicates that he still needs additional information. The host then says "Oops, I forgot to tell you that the oldest is the only one that likes vanilla ice cream." You now have all the information to determine the ages of the children. How old is each child?
Spent some time figuring out how the house number thing could help me out...+ Show Spoiler +
72 = 2*2*2*3*3

Possible combinations:
2,2,18 = 22
2,3,12 = 17
2,6,6 = 14
2,4,9 = 15
3,4,6 = 13
3,3,8 = 14

We can assume the guest would have been able to figure it out after seeing the house number - unless more of the age combinations add up to the same house number.
Because there is an oldest child, the two others have to be younger.

Ergo, the answer is 3, 3 and 8.


stenole beat me to it. I Got the same answer.


What is my prize? There has to be a win the internet prize. The difference between this riddle/puzzle and the one in the OP is that this one is carefully worded, it tells you that you have enough information to solve it, and it practically strings you along to a single answer by stating to use whole numbers, and giving you three different clues, all of which you know need to give you some sort of info.

Here is another unsolvable problem:

Assume you have 2 herds of cows that have accidentally joined into one herd, randomly dispersed over a circular area. There are two herder teams, A and B. A tries to herd as many of his cows west of the oval.

What is the fastest way for herding team B to get all their cows to the east:
A) B sits and watches A herd their cows westward.
B) B wants to herd cows towards the east.
C) B likes A's cows.


zizi yo... here's another in the same vein,

Find positive integers a1, a2, ... , an whose sum is 100 and whose product a1a2 ... an is maximal over every possible choice of n and every possible choice of a1, a2, ... , an.

Now this one is a optimization problem.


Here is my answer
+ Show Spoiler +
product = 2^50 then the integers are all 2s


not sure if that is correct...
edit : nvm thats incorrect..
ninjafetus
Profile Joined December 2008
United States231 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-04-22 03:24:56
April 22 2009 03:09 GMT
#64
On April 21 2009 15:28 kingjames01 wrote:If you're familiar with the term POLAR coordinates then you realize that means you're talking about a 2-D circle. I've been describing a 3-D sphere, thus I need spherical coordinates.


I know we're past this, and I understand the point you're making, but I'd like to make a small correction. Yes, 'polar' tends to refer to 2d more often and 'spherical' is specifically for 3d, but for we mathematicians out there (who don't need to have pesky physical situations to justify our work) there is a generalization to n-dimensional polar coordinates. Spherical is just the 3 dimensional case.
kingjames01
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada1603 Posts
April 22 2009 03:44 GMT
#65
On April 22 2009 12:09 ninjafetus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 21 2009 15:28 kingjames01 wrote:If you're familiar with the term POLAR coordinates then you realize that means you're talking about a 2-D circle. I've been describing a 3-D sphere, thus I need spherical coordinates.


I know we're past this, and I understand the point you're making, but I'd like to make a small correction. Yes, 'polar' tends to refer to 2d more often and 'spherical' is specifically for 3d, but for we mathematicians out there (who don't need to have pesky physical situations to justify our work) there is a generalization to n-dimensional polar coordinates. Spherical is just the 3 dimensional case.


haha, you got me there! I rescind my statement. As you said, I was just pointing out that for physical round objects the usual convention is to use polar to refer to 2-D and spherical for 3-D. But yes, you are absolutely correct for the general n-dimensional case.
Who would sup with the mighty, must walk the path of daggers.
Prev 1 2 3 4 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Big Brain Bouts
16:00
#122
SHIN vs Elazer
Percival vs Nicoract
Reynor vs Lambo
RotterdaM966
Liquipedia
Epic.LAN
13:00
Epic.LAN 48 Group Stage
epiclan40
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 966
UpATreeSC 103
Livibee 65
BRAT_OK 47
RushiSC 41
MindelVK 9
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 4793
Rain 2093
GuemChi 1988
EffOrt 979
Mini 572
Hyuk 422
BeSt 354
ZerO 231
Rush 227
Larva 191
[ Show more ]
firebathero 136
Dewaltoss 132
ggaemo 92
hero 77
Sharp 67
Hyun 46
Sexy 40
soO 39
Free 39
Terrorterran 33
sorry 32
Rock 22
Mong 22
Hm[arnc] 19
NaDa 17
Yoon 11
Purpose 8
ajuk12(nOOB) 7
Dota 2
qojqva3696
Trikslyr69
Fuzer 46
Counter-Strike
fl0m1432
ScreaM1213
byalli682
allub339
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor146
Other Games
singsing1934
Beastyqt479
B2W.Neo420
XaKoH 159
ToD147
QueenE70
ZerO(Twitch)15
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2366
StarCraft 2
TaKeTV382
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 4
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade1315
Other Games
• Shiphtur393
• imaqtpie13
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
6h 57m
RSL Revival
15h 57m
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
16h 57m
Epic.LAN
19h 57m
IPSL
22h 57m
Dragon vs Hawk
RSL Revival
1d 15h
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 16h
OSC
1d 19h
IPSL
1d 22h
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
[ Show More ]
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-07-13
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
Escore Tournament S3: W3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026

Upcoming

ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 1
Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.