Spike ,'Sleeper'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
And I feel like I have pretty good skills at actually solving problems. Except when presented with a logic puzzle which makes me feel like I'm defective and lucky to have gotten anywhere in life.
It me! I remember thinking I was awful at math until I started doing real life math at my job with an investment management co. I can actually do that shit when the numbers have life stuff attached to them!
I still like my method, which is to magically get it right on the first try.
This is like the time I got asked "Why are manhole covers round?" in a job interview. You either know it already, or you're not likely to figure it out in 30 seconds.
But 3 piles of 3 is nine pennies. The question was about 8 pennies. That technique won't work with 8.
Sure it will - you start out the same, weighing 3 vs 3 (2 left out). If they're the same, weigh the 2 pennies you left out. If they're not, weigh 2 of the pennies from the lighter side.
Dang, I was totally unable to make that leap. Logic is not my strong suit.
Guys, if you want to point and laugh, my first instinct was that one of the pennies was a lighter color and I was all like Picard - How the fuck...?????
You're all on the floor laughing rn, aren't you?
And Jessica's right again! I hate logic problems.
Funny thing is, the two-weighing solution will also work with nine pennies.
The puzzle says eight pennies to trick you into thinking in terms of powers of two.
But 8 still can't be divided equally into 3s. I'm pretty sure. But who knows? It's unknowable!
I'd fail, because I'd think it was a trick question; my answer would be "I'd delegate this question by contacting a person who's more proficient in statistics."