Re: counting puzzle

amorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Alan Morgan) writes:
In article <87iqhgmqcr.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
10 people are at a party. They each are given 10 post-it notes
by the host. They are told that during the party they must go
to the smallest room, check the number on the topmost post-it
note on the mirror, write one more that value onto one of their
post-it notes, and stick that on top of the stack on the mirror.
The only pen in the house is tied to the phone by the front door,
a long way from the smallest room. Being a good host, there is
a wide selection of very tempting drinks and snacks in the lounge.

By the end of the party, all 100 post-it notes have found their
way onto the stack on the mirror, as instructed.

What's the smallest number that can be written on the top-most
note?

I'm thinking that we can get as low as two (assuming we start
primed at zero).

Imagine if everyone goes to the room in turn and heads off to write
"one". Person A puts their "one" on and then comes back after B, C,
D, etc each put their "one" on, reseting her number to "two" each time.
However, right before her last trip to the bathroom she does tequila
shots for five hours and B-J make all of their trips before she returns,
putting her "two" at the top of the pile.


We have a winner. All that matters is that someone reads a 0 in order
to later place the 1 which resets the final poster into making 2 his
final note.

Phil
--
If GML was an infant, SGML is the bright youngster far exceeds
expectations and made its parents too proud, but XML is the
drug-addicted gang member who had committed his first murder
before he had sex, which was rape. -- Erik Naggum (1965-2009)
.

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