posted 04-03-2001 18:38            

alrus says to bott, "can you figure outhow many schlockels i have in my pockets?" he then gives bott three clues:

1) if hte number of schlockels i have is a multiple of 5, it is a number between 1 and 19

2) if the number of schlockels i have is not a multiple of 8, then it is a number between 20 and 29

3) if the number of schlockels i have is not a multiple of 10, it is a number between 30 and 39

HOW MANY SCHLOCKELS DOES ALTUS HAVE IN HIS POCKETS?

posted 04-03-2001 19:28         

oops forgot to show work...

start with 1-39

if it's a multiple of 5 than it must be less than 20. this remove all 5x greater than 19. so we have 1-19,21-24,26-29,31-34, and 36-39 left.

the next rule says if it's not an 8x it is between 20 and 29. this leaves us with 8,16,21-23,26-29, and 32.

finally it says if it's not a multiple of 10 it's in 30-39. there's only one number left in the range that's not a multiple of 10 and is > 29. 32.

it can't be anything else outside this range since it would have to be a multiple of 10 to pass the third rule and all multiples of 10 are multiples of 5, which are restricted by rule 1 to 1-19.

edit #2: oops again. fixed a mistatement in first part of my proof.

posted 04-03-2001 20:25            

i will soon have a hard riddle and i will give out a prize

posted 04-26-2001 05:09            

Then I had a beer and said "Congratulations Crickets!!" They didnt' really respond to me though. Maybe they wanted a beer too!