Backcountry Weights and Measures
Here's the solution to the challenge below: 1 lbs, 3 lbs, 9 lbs, and 27 lbs. Think about it. No winner. Cadet Ferguson came close, but no cigar.
As you may know, as a young man Abraham Lincoln was a clerk at a country store (kind of like working at a Cumberland Farm today). He had a balance scale and a 40 pound weight he used to weigh grain, feed, and other goods for his customers, the trouble was it could weigh only one weight (40 lbs). One day he loaned the 40 pound weight to a farmer. A couple of days later the farmer, whose name was Fedorka, returned and, apologizing, said he broke the weight into four pieces. Lincoln, being smarter than the average MHS cadet, discover that it wasn’t so bad since now, using just the four pieces and the balance scale, the weight of any item between 1 and 40 pounds could be determined to the nearest one pound. Question: What were the weights?
As you may know, as a young man Abraham Lincoln was a clerk at a country store (kind of like working at a Cumberland Farm today). He had a balance scale and a 40 pound weight he used to weigh grain, feed, and other goods for his customers, the trouble was it could weigh only one weight (40 lbs). One day he loaned the 40 pound weight to a farmer. A couple of days later the farmer, whose name was Fedorka, returned and, apologizing, said he broke the weight into four pieces. Lincoln, being smarter than the average MHS cadet, discover that it wasn’t so bad since now, using just the four pieces and the balance scale, the weight of any item between 1 and 40 pounds could be determined to the nearest one pound. Question: What were the weights?
Good luck. This challenge will expire at 0730, Monday, 31 October.
How 'bout that ugly baby contest? Where are the inputs?
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| "One day I'll be a cadet!" |
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