Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Oh, I almost forgot to post the answer to yesterday's puzzle. If your answer is 22, then Congratulations! You are part of the 10%. :-)

Well, it goes like this:

15 chocolates for Rs 15.
These 15 wrappers will get 5 chocolates. So total is 15 + 5 = 20.
Out of these 5 wrappers, 3 can be exchanged for 1 chocolate. So total is 20 + 1 = 21.
The wrapper of this chocolate with 2 remaining wrappers gives one more chocolate. So total is 21 + 1 = 22.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Number of chocolates grows nearly as 3N/2 where N is the initial cash. If x is the number of chocolates you get, then x satisfies

x = floor(N + x/3)
Ignoring the floor operation.
x ~ 3N/2.
For 15 Rs, you get ~ 45/2 = 22 chocolates+1 wrapper.

If you are allowed to borrow by running a credit then for every 2 Rs, you can get 3 chocolates exactly.

(1) Day 1: Borrow 1 chocolate. Will pay you day after.
(2) Day 2: Pay 2 Rs, buy another 2.
(3) Day 3: Return 3 wrappers to pay for the first.

Rinse and repeat.