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Scales question. What is the answer?
#1
Scales question. What is the answer?
Let's see who gets it first. Please no cheating. Smile

You have 8 balls that look identical, but one in the group is slightly heavier than the others.  You also have a single balance scale to find the heavier ball.  What is the least amount of times you would have to use the scale to consistently identify the heavier ball?  What method would you use to find that ball each time?

First one to get it wins a stuffed rainbow unicorn.
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#2
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:13 am)T0 Th3 M4X Wrote: Let's see who gets it first. Please no cheating. Smile

You have 8 balls that look identical, but one in the group is slightly heavier than the others.  You also have a single balance scale to find the heavier ball.  What is the least amount of times you would have to use the scale to consistently identify the heavier ball?  What method would you use to find that ball each time?

First one to get it wins a stuffed rainbow unicorn.

Is the weight of the other 7 balls identical?

If so, you would potentially only have to use the scale 1 time to identify the heavier ball
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#3
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
3.

Put four on each side of the scale. You've reduced the candidates to 4.

Put two on each side of the scale. You've reduced the candidates to 2.

Put one on each side of the scale. You've found the ball.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great

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#4
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:16 am)Cherub786 Wrote:
(December 1, 2018 at 12:13 am)T0 Th3 M4X Wrote: Let's see who gets it first. Please no cheating. Smile

You have 8 balls that look identical, but one in the group is slightly heavier than the others.  You also have a single balance scale to find the heavier ball.  What is the least amount of times you would have to use the scale to consistently identify the heavier ball?  What method would you use to find that ball each time?

First one to get it wins a stuffed rainbow unicorn.

Is the weight of the other 7 balls identical?

If so, you would potentially only have to use the scale 1 time to identify the heavier ball

Yes, 7 identical and 1 heavier but looks the same.
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#5
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:21 am)T0 Th3 M4X Wrote:
(December 1, 2018 at 12:16 am)Cherub786 Wrote: Is the weight of the other 7 balls identical?

If so, you would potentially only have to use the scale 1 time to identify the heavier ball

Yes, 7 identical and 1 heavier but looks the same.

Okay then Steel's answer is correct.
But there is a possibility you can identify the heavier ball by using the scale only once if you happen to pick the heavier ball the first time and weigh it against one of the 7.
Potentially the answer is once

So it is possible to identify the heavier ball with a single weighing, though the probability is 1/4 (25% chance)
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#6
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:24 am)Cherub786 Wrote:
(December 1, 2018 at 12:21 am)T0 Th3 M4X Wrote: Yes, 7 identical and 1 heavier but looks the same.

Okay then Steel's answer is correct.
But there is a possibility you can identify the heavier ball by using the scale only once if you happen to pick the heavier ball the first time and weigh it against one of the 7.
Potentially the answer is once

So it is possible to identify the heavier ball with a single weighing, though the probability is 1/8

Right, but you have to be able to use the method consistently, as per the question. There are actually two ways to solve the problem, but they both equal 3 tries.
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#7
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
I don't think it's 25%

You still only have a 1 in 7 chance of picking the heavier ball in the first place.
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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#8
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:29 am)ignoramus Wrote: I don't think it's 25%

You still only have a 1 in 7 chance of picking the heavier ball in the first place.

No, you pick 2 balls at a time, so the probability is increased to 25%
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#9
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:29 am)ignoramus Wrote: I don't think it's 25%

You still only have a 1 in 7 chance of picking the heavier ball in the first place.

2 in 8 is 25%.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great

PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
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#10
RE: Scales question. What is the answer?
(December 1, 2018 at 12:29 am)ignoramus Wrote: I don't think it's 25%

You still only have a 1 in 7 chance of picking the heavier ball in the first place.

You can get lucky and get the ball with one try, but you can't consistently use that method and get it in one try.
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