• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:05
CEST 13:05
KST 20:05
  • 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 2915Serral 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
GSTL Returns in 2026!16Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out7RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-2212Weekly Cups (July 27-Aug 2): SHIN's big week0SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-611
StarCraft 2
General
GSTL Returns in 2026! SC4ALL: II Talent Announcement! Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Protoss AoE skill expression Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) 2026 KungFu Cup Announcement Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 538 Media Blackout The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 537 Hostile Territory Mutation # 536 Railroad Switch
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Best Games Kespa era StarCraft 64 is coming to Philly at SC4ALL II ASL22 General Discussion [Personal Project Share] Terran Defense v0.60
Tourneys
Escore Tournament - Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-6
Strategy
Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Fighting Spirit mining rates Any training maps people recommend? Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Anyone here play Quakeworld back in the day? Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank TL Mafia Community Thread NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Letting Off Steam Thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Chinese Gen Z: Between Dream…
TrAiDoS
Cathedral Of CS And NY pizza a…
FuDDx
Please support my new stand…
Peanutsc
Hello guys!
LIN1s
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5799 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
Escore
10:00
Season 3 Week 7
escodisco1274
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Lowko384
StarCraft: Brood War
Mini 1013
Jaedong 859
Pusan 563
actioN 223
EffOrt 193
Light 145
Snow 143
Soma 124
Mong 65
ZerO 61
[ Show more ]
Yoon 50
Rush 49
ToSsGirL 39
Sharp 36
sorry 35
Sacsri 33
HiyA 31
Barracks 30
hero 28
Free 20
Noble 18
Zeus 16
soO 15
Sexy 15
scan(afreeca) 14
yabsab 13
Terrorterran 12
Icarus 3
Britney 1
Dota 2
The International56643
Gorgc14319
Fuzer 311
KheZu64
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1725
shoxiejesuss1319
kRYSTAL_39
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King131
Other Games
singsing876
crisheroes291
DeMusliM147
B2W.Neo121
Hui .16
ZerO(Twitch)8
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 17
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 32
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1295
League of Legends
• Jankos1331
• Stunt577
Upcoming Events
PiG Sty Festival
56m
ByuN vs HeRoMaRinE
ShoWTimE vs Zoun
Big Brain Bouts
4h 56m
Nicoract vs Neeb
TriGGeR vs ShoWTimE
CranKy Ducklings
22h 56m
PiG Sty Festival
1d
herO vs Krystianer
Solar vs Cure
IPSL
1d 4h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 22h
PiG Sty Festival
2 days
Maru vs Shameless
Reynor vs TriGGeR
IPSL
2 days
OSC
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Rush vs Hm
Bisu vs Shuttle
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
The Patches Monday
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Sharp vs Shinee
Action vs Shine
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
BeSt vs Paralyze
Jaedong vs Speed
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
KCM Race Survival
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-08-13
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
Acropolis #5
Escore Tournament S3: W7
RSL Revival: Season 6
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Esports World Cup 2026
Esports World Cup 2026: LCQ
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026

Upcoming

CSLAN 4
ASL Season 22
Escore Tournament S3: W8
Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Acropolis #5 - GSA
Acropolis #5 - GSB
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1
META DYMY #4
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Thunderpick World Champ.
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
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.