Riddles and Puzzles

[Andrew_Culture]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/botany/question349.htm

Darn it, I should have known it was grafting!

 

[mr_cellophane]

Mutiny Or Maybe
Five pirates have obtained 100 gold coins and have to divide up the loot. The pirates are all extremely intelligent, treacherous and selfish (especially the captain).

The captain always proposes a distribution of the loot. All pirates vote on the proposal, and if half the crew or more go "Aye", the loot is divided as proposed, as no pirate would be willing to take on the captain without superior force on their side.

If the captain fails to obtain support of at least half his crew (which includes himself), he faces a mutiny, and all pirates will turn against him and make him walk the plank. The pirates start over again with the next senior pirate as captain.

What is the maximum number of coins the captain can keep without risking his life?

34
33 to two pirates and they vote Aye

 

[benb]

Mutiny Or Maybe
Five pirates have obtained 100 gold coins and have to divide up the loot. The pirates are all extremely intelligent, treacherous and selfish (especially the captain).

The captain always proposes a distribution of the loot. All pirates vote on the proposal, and if half the crew or more go "Aye", the loot is divided as proposed, as no pirate would be willing to take on the captain without superior force on their side.

If the captain fails to obtain support of at least half his crew (which includes himself), he faces a mutiny, and all pirates will turn against him and make him walk the plank. The pirates start over again with the next senior pirate as captain.

What is the maximum number of coins the captain can keep without risking his life?

It's 98.

You need to work backwards from what would happen if all votes had been rejected, and only pirates D and E remain. As D is senior to E he would simply distribute 100 coins to himself and 0 to E.

Therefore C only needs to propose 1 coin to E to get his support, so C:99 and E:1
For the same reason B only needs to propose 1 coin to D to get his support (as D knows that if B is defeated and thrown overboard he gets nothing); B:99, D:1
In which case A need only offer 1 coin to C and E for them to offer him their support which is enough to win the vote; A:98, C:1, E:1

 

[Katherine]

Murder Suspect
Acting on an anonymous phone call, the police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer. They don't know what he looks like but they know his name is John and that he is inside the house. The police bust in on a carpenter, a lorry driver, a mechanic and a fireman all playing poker. Without hesitation or communication of any kind, they immediately arrest the fireman.
How do they know they've got their man?

The others are women.

 

[classic33]

34
33 to two pirates and they vote Aye

No!

 

[classic33]

34
33 to two pirates and they vote Aye

No!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Getting Philosophical
One day three Greek philosophers settled under the shade of an olive tree, opened a bottle of Retsina, and began a lengthy discussion of the Fundamental Ontological Question: Why does anything exist?

After a while, they began to ramble. Then, one by one, they fell asleep.

While the men slept, three owls, one above each philosopher, completed their digestive process, dropped a present on each philosopher's forehead, the flew off with a noisy "hoot."

Perhaps the hoot awakened the philosophers. As soon as they looked at each other, all three began, simultaneously, to laugh. Then, one of them abruptly stopped laughing.
Why?

He was the first to realise he'd been pooped on too.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Operate Or Die
A man and his son are in a car crash. The father is killed and the child is taken to hospital gravely injured. When he gets there, the surgeon says, 'I can't operate on this boy - for he is my son!!!'
How can this possibly be?

Surgeon is mother

Edit - TMN

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Post the answer

Attempting to. Decoded bits (so to speak). I'm going to be a while.........

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Attempting to. Decoded bits (so to speak). I'm going to be a while.........

Done it (the binary). Do you want the whole decode @classic33 ? I now understand @classic33 and @AndyRM's cryptic posts above.

 

[classic33]

Done it (the binary). Do you want the whole decode @classic33 ? I now understand @classic33 and @AndyRM's cryptic posts above.

Post your answer to the question.

 

[classic33]

@Katherine there's this one!
To answer.......

 

[Katherine]

@Katherine there's this one!
To answer.......

Umm?? ... will have to sleep on that!!

 

[AndyRM]

Done it (the binary). Do you want the whole decode @classic33 ? I now understand @classic33 and @AndyRM's cryptic posts above.

My answer to the question is correct, I was just stumbling a bit with the exact question, and your man @classic33 likes precision with these things.

However, I reckon I've nailed it.

As this is a very difficult puzzle, I thought it would help if I asked a simple question: What is one plus one?

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Umm?? ... will have to sleep on that!!

Try a weeks worth of wallpapering for concentrating the mind

Starter for 10?