Here goes my first puzzle...
There are five pirates. They are arranged by seniority, pirate 5 being the most senior and pirate 1 being the most junior. They have 100 gold coins and need to divide these coins between them.
The pirates follow certain rules to divide the loot. The most senior pirate proposes a solution specifying the number of coins each pirate gets. Then all the pirates, including the one proposing, vote on it(Assuming the proposing pirate votes for himself). If the proposal gets atleast 50% votes, it is accepted. Else, the seniormost pirate is killed and the same procedure is followed with the remaining pirates.
Bear in mind that these are no ordinary pirates. They possess exceptional analytical skills and are well aware of the thought process of all the other pirates in addition to being extremely greedy.
By these rules, since pirate 5 is going to propose a solution first, what should he say so that a) he gets atleast 50% (i.e. 3) votes thus staying alive and b) he gets the maximum possible coins?
Solution: Consider the case where there are only 2 pirates. This is what pirate 2 proposes:
Pirate 2: 100
Pirate 1: 0
He votes for himself and stays alive.
If there are 3 pirates, this is what pirate 3 proposes:
Pirate 3: 99
Pirate 2: 0
Pirate 1: 1
Pirate 1 thinks that 1 coin is better than 0(which is what he will get if pirate 2 is in charge) and votes in favour. Pirate 3 gets 2 votes and stays alive.
With 4 pirates, this is what pirate 4 proposes:
Pirate 4: 99
Pirate 3: 0
Pirate 2: 1
Pirate 1: 0
Pirate 2 thinks that 1 coin is better than 0(which is what he will get if pirate 3 is in charge) and votes in favour. Pirate 4 gets 2 votes and stays alive.
With 5 pirates, this is what pirate 5 proposes:
Pirate 5: 98
Pirate 4: 0
Pirate 3: 1
Pirate 2: 0
Pirate 1: 1
Pirates 3 and 1 think that 1 coin is better than 0(which is what they will get if pirate 4 is in charge) and vote in favour. Pirate 5 gets 3 votes and stays alive.
Subodh Singh provided the correct solution. Two in a row!!
Note: Don't forget to visit us again. Answer to the puzzle will be posted tomorrow.
These pirates must have been chinese(cantonese speaking).
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say so?
ReplyDeleteI would vote to be #1 or #2 (I get 3 votes total). After someone gets the gold, I will kill them all to collect the gold (getting maximum number of coins).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere may be missing constaints here, say, the proposer should have at least such such coins to be accepted. Otherwise, preserving life will outweigh greediness for coins... thus eventually this becomes a courage issue rather than a psychological and mathmetical puzzle though, i.e. whoever is lucky will kill all others and get 100 coins for himself:)
ReplyDeleteSpoiler: There is no bloodshed involved..
ReplyDeleteFirst consider the case with only 2 pirates and build up from there.
Several stereotypes should be addressed here:
ReplyDeleteTRUE statements
1. All chinese people are greedy
2. All chinese people are good at math
3. All chinese people are violent and know kungfu
FALSE statements
1. Chinese people have small body parts
2. ALL chinese people have bad eyesight.(most do)
3. Chinese people cannot drive.
preserving once life comes ahead of once greed,for sure
ReplyDeletea pirate should preserve his life and get something.something is 0-100
The first pirate would propose the solution as follows:
ReplyDelete1. 98 (Obviously he wants the most)
2. 0 (He has no choice, but to vote for the first pirate, or gets killed, so why waste even a single coin on him?)
3. 1 (His vote is needed and he can't hope for more than this anyway)
4. 0 (As punishment for having the maximum advantage if the first pirate is killed)
5. 1 (He can't get more than 0 anyway in all other cases)
Any challenges?
I liked Austin's approach. Go Austin....
ReplyDeleteok agreed for chinese but why did you mention Mandarin specifically ?
There will be no consensus anyway on any given answers. Here are some ground thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. #5 has no chance to live as he can only give other two 50 coins each as max, but at least one of three remaining than #2 has chance to have more than that.
2. #1 has no chance to have more than 1 coin, thus is the objective to bribe by others.
3. #4 might die soon after #5 for the similar rationale.
4. #3 most likely bribe #1 successfully if $4 is died.
5. #2 has almost no chance to make #3 die as otherwise #1 will never get 1 coin.
6. the answer becomes obvious...
Gaurave: ask Frank....
ReplyDelete@Aus dude you wrote it? ask Frank to help you?
ReplyDelete@Gaurave: It's a very sensitive topic for me. Frank will be able to passionately explain the situation.
ReplyDeleteAus: then I will ask him personally. I do not want to make it public ;)
ReplyDeleteIn order to answer the question the following are necessary:
ReplyDelete1. Were they Mexican? Chinese? White? Indian? Nigerian? Italian?
2. Where did they get the gold from?
3. Why did they only steal 100 gold coins? What kind of pirate would only steal 100 gold coins?
4. What did they eat that day? Depending on the answer they could have left evidence of their dirty deed.
5. How tall was the 5th pirate? Was he/she a midget? Did they need a stool to shoot the other pirates?
@Aus:
ReplyDelete1. They considered themselves caribbean. Any ways dude they were pirates- no country will take them as citizens.
2. They got gold from a silver mine :)
3. They stole only 100 as they knew counting till 100 only.(Illiterate kinda pirates)
4. They all ate crow brain that day.
5. Tall enough....
Now you have to tell how this information changes your strategy to solve this problem
Ok, lemme get this straight. Caribbean midget pirates stealing gold from a silver mine that can only count to 100 and who eat crow brains.
ReplyDeleteThere is only on solution for this. They were never pirates, they in actuality were kids scammed into stealing money from their parents that they thought were gold coins by a Nigerian prince. They ate a crow that had mad crow disease which had caused them to think that they were pirates stealing gold. They concocted the predicament of splitting the gold because the Nigerian prince had promised only one of them tickets to see the newest Spongebob Squarepants movie. And furthermore, they were chinese kids yielding wooden swords with horrible Caribbean accents.
Thank you very much case solved and thank you for the 100 gold please.