Timeline for Finding the larger number with a minimal number of questions
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
36 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S Jul 28, 2023 at 2:48 | history | bounty ended | Will.Octagon.Gibson | ||
| S Jul 28, 2023 at 2:48 | history | notice removed | Will.Octagon.Gibson | ||
| Jul 26, 2023 at 6:50 | comment | added | Will.Octagon.Gibson | @jowd What do you think about Loopy Walt’s answer: puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/121736/80061 | |
| Jul 26, 2023 at 5:38 | answer | added | loopy walt | timeline score: 11 | |
| Jul 25, 2023 at 16:22 | comment | added | new Q Open Wid | @JLee oh god, not sometimes... | |
| Jul 24, 2023 at 23:53 | comment | added | JLee | crazy twist: one of them always tells the truth. one of them sometimes lies. :) | |
| Jul 24, 2023 at 5:39 | comment | added | justhalf | @newQOpenWid the latest answer by issacg seems like a good evidence that 1012 looks plausible. | |
| Jul 23, 2023 at 14:31 | comment | added | new Q Open Wid | Are you sure this isn't a Fermat's "marvelous proof"-style trick? Or do you actually have a solution that doesn't involve somewhat cheeky lateral thinking? | |
| Jul 23, 2023 at 9:39 | answer | added | isaacg | timeline score: 11 | |
| Jul 23, 2023 at 0:14 | answer | added | RobPratt | timeline score: 4 | |
| S Jul 22, 2023 at 4:56 | history | bounty started | Will.Octagon.Gibson | ||
| S Jul 22, 2023 at 4:56 | history | notice added | Will.Octagon.Gibson | Draw attention | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 23:02 | answer | added | Tim C | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 22:04 | comment | added | z100 | Optimal strategy should be to turn to other person each time when the answer is "no". And the number asked for other person should be calculated in some clever way e.g. to equaly split the last binary search interval. | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 18:09 | comment | added | jowd | @daroo Yes that's right. | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 15:45 | comment | added | daroo | Yet another clarifying question. Is it true that literally the only two questions we can ask are: 1) Bob - is your number greater or equal to <some numerical value>? 2) Charlie - is your number greater or equal to <some numerical value>? Based on all the other questions and the question text itself, it seems like the answer has to be yes, but ..... | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 14:10 | history | edited | msh210 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
editing in clarification from OP's comments
|
| Jul 21, 2023 at 14:08 | answer | added | msh210 | timeline score: -2 | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 14:08 | comment | added | jowd | @msh210 Not sure I understand your question, but I didn't mean to trick with the wording. | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 14:04 | comment | added | msh210 | Do you mean "How can we" find the larger number? I'm just checking that there's no trick in the wording, that by "How can we achieve this" you don't mean the immediately previously mentioned achievement, merely asking. | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 12:45 | answer | added | David G. | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jul 21, 2023 at 4:18 | comment | added | Dmitry Kamenetsky | So is this even possible? Finding just a single number takes 999 guesses in the worst case. So now we have just 13 guesses left to find the second number. The second number can one away or far away. I feel that we need to ask questions comparing the two numbers. | |
| Jul 19, 2023 at 18:34 | comment | added | jowd | @theozh They might have leading zeros. You may assume the numbers are not equal. | |
| Jul 19, 2023 at 6:45 | comment | added | theozh | could your possible 300 digit numbers include leading zeros or not? Is the assumption that the numbers are different or could they also be equal? | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 23:58 | comment | added | Dmitry Kamenetsky | is this 1012 on average or in worst case? | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 15:40 | comment | added | jowd | @Nautilus No, that would be equivalent (I think) to any yes/no question. You can solve it first like that if you want though. | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 11:39 | comment | added | Nautilus | Can $x$ be (the result of) a function of their own number? | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 11:36 | comment | added | jowd | Oh, no. You must specify $x$ every time. If you don't know the other's number you can't ask that question. | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 10:29 | comment | added | Nautilus | I wanted to know if one of them could be asked if his number is greater than the other's, or multiples of it or whatever. | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 10:23 | comment | added | jowd | No, but how would that change the question? | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 10:17 | comment | added | Nautilus | Does the "secretly" allow them to know each other's number? | |
| Jul 18, 2023 at 7:33 | comment | added | jowd | It counts as two questions. | |
| Jul 17, 2023 at 23:45 | comment | added | fljx | Welcome to Puzzling. Does asking Charlie and Bob the same question count as one question or two? | |
| Jul 17, 2023 at 23:05 | answer | added | Dominic Isaia | timeline score: -2 | |
| S Jul 17, 2023 at 21:56 | review | First questions | |||
| Jul 17, 2023 at 21:58 | |||||
| S Jul 17, 2023 at 21:56 | history | asked | jowd | CC BY-SA 4.0 |