We are told that the container itself weighs half as much as the maximum content it can carry. However, it only leaks one quarter of its original content. The small container is only slightly smaller than the medium container, carrying 2 and 2/3rds units of water. The measure of water is unique to this tribe and we will just call it a unit.Ī large container carries 4 units of water, but its design is so poor that on the trip back, half will be lost by leakage and splashing.Ī medium container carries 3 units of water, and has a better design, so only one third is lost on the return journey. There are three water containers available in adequate quantities, but each woman can only carry one of them. In a remote African village it is traditional for the women to set off early in the morning to walk through the desert to fetch water. How many switch positions need to be changed every night to meet the requirements?Ĭhanging any switch lever from down to up, for example, counts as one position change. The Chief Steward needs to devise a plan to turn the lights on and off every evening so the King isn’t made to look foolish in front of his important guests over the coming weeks. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, electricians seem reluctant to come and fix the problem.
Needless to say the incompetence of the electrician enraged the King so much that the electrician was executed in a gruesome way the same day. In every other switch position all the lights are turned off.
Instead of each of the 8 up/down switch positions turning on one of the banks of lights in the ballroom, each switch has to be in exactly the correct up/down state in order to make all the lights come on at once.
The King of a far off land has just had the ballroom lights in his palace rewired by probably the most illogical and incompetent electrician in the land.