Timeline for 11 cyclists in a race
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 28, 2023 at 6:44 | comment | added | Dmitry Kamenetsky | @SextusEmpiricus actually I was thinking of making a new puzzle where groups of any size are allowed. But I think the solution is quite boring - just put all 11 cyclists into a single group for an average of 15 minutes. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 12:05 | comment | added | Sextus Empiricus | @Sneftel where did I brake these rules of computing race times? I use the (a+b+c)/3 rule and am not changing it. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 12:01 | comment | added | Sextus Empiricus | This is a common problem with mathematics based puzzles that try to convert a purely mathematical problem into a fun story, but on the way loose the purity of the original mathematical problem. The mathematical puzzle can be: find a partitioning of the set {10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20} into subsets that each have size 1 or 3 such that the highest arithmetic mean of the subsets is minimised. The story with the cyclists does not say that the subsets are restricted to size 1 or size 3. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 12:01 | comment | added | Sneftel | There's no loopholes to close. The rules of how race times are determined are given in the question, and your answer doesn't follow them. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 11:54 | history | edited | Sextus Empiricus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 30 characters in body
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| Jan 27, 2023 at 11:47 | comment | added | Sextus Empiricus | @Rubio I get that, but there's also a gray area. Not closing all loopholes is different from leaving all open. I don't consider this so much as lateral-thinking. I am using the information and am not 'making up information'. Assuming that the cyclists can ride as a single group of 11 is not more assumption than that they can ride as independent groups of 3. (If this would be track cycling, then the different groups will be interfering with each other in the bends) Anyway, I won't mind if my answer is classified as 'clever, but not what the question intended', but more than that is exaggerated. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 11:33 | comment | added | Rubio♦ | Even for lateral-thinking puzzles—which this is NOT—the solver is not given free license to invent their own rules or scenarios. Especially for puzzles not tagged "lateral thinking", the right answer to a puzzle will be the one that uses what the puzzle gave you or hinted at, without inventing facts, rules, or interpretations out of thin air to make a "solution" work. Puzzle posters can't close every loophole… and shouldn't have to. | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 10:26 | comment | added | Sextus Empiricus | A better way to pose the question, to avoid this ambiguity, might be, "find a combination to divide the group of 11 cyclist into groups of size 3 and/or 1 that minimises the amount of time needed to have every cyclist finish the race." | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 9:48 | history | edited | Sextus Empiricus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 120 characters in body
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| Jan 27, 2023 at 9:45 | comment | added | Sextus Empiricus | @Criggie it is always nice to see different interpretations and the puzzle presented is not clear about that limitation (is it a riddle or a straightforward math puzzle?). The puzzle provides information about an energy saving trick and does not say that this works strictly only for a group of 3. It is not too weird to interpret the question as allowing for bigger groups. With this answer I was very minimal in making further assumptions, it is not like I am extrapolating for further speed improvements when they drive in larger groups (they might even go faster than 10 minutes) | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 9:32 | history | edited | Sextus Empiricus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 344 characters in body
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| S Jan 27, 2023 at 8:57 | history | edited | Mithical | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
minor copyediting - you don't drive a bike.
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| S Jan 27, 2023 at 8:57 | history | suggested | Criggie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
minor copyediting - you don't drive a bike.
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| Jan 27, 2023 at 8:54 | comment | added | Criggie | I was tempted to write something like this too, but puzzling.SE is about the puzzle, not about modelling reality. The boost from riding in a large bunch is unbeliveably astounding, but the puzzle presented here doesn't go that far. Please don't be put off by the downvotes here - for real riding there's bicycles.stackexchange.com | |
| Jan 27, 2023 at 8:49 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jan 27, 2023 at 8:57 | |||||
| Jan 26, 2023 at 16:08 | history | answered | Sextus Empiricus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |