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Tue 16 Nov, 2004 09:57 am
A farmer has one rock weighing 40 pounds. Using this rock and a balance scale, he can measure 40 pounds of wheat, which he sells at the market. One day a neighbor comes by and borrows the rock. The next day, the neighbor returns and tells the farmer that he has some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that he dropped the 40 lb. rock and it broke into 4 pieces. The good news, he says, is that the farmer can now use these 4 fragments to measure any amount from 1 to 40 pounds, to an accuracy of 1 pound.
How much does each fragment weigh?
This is just a guess: 1,3,9 and 27 pounds.
Well, just to be awkward:
You can have any 4 weights totalling 40 provided one of them is 1.
Then to weigh any amount from 1 to 40, just multiply the 1 by whatever number you want!
Can it be that simple?
Bizarre, how can you measure out 20lb with one rock weighing 1lb?
easy, just measure out 1lb
but measure it out 20 times and add them all together!
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