At the company I work, we have a Friday Quiz, in which the boss
sends out to his team a logic puzzle. There are specific rules and his
answer is the final answer. I felt that I answered the puzzle
successfully first, but he did not agree.
I am posting the puzzle (and the rules) here and I’d like to hear other’s
answers…
Thanks!
Cupcake
——————
Here are the rules for today (and they?re different from last time):
1. You may NOT use the Internet NOR may you ask for help from
anyone else; you MUST do your own work.
2. You may ask questions for clarification of the first two paragraphs
of the problem. However, I will only reply to questions that you have
asked by ?replying to all?. In other words, if you want to ask a
question, everyone gets to know the question; and when (if) I provide
an answer, everyone gets to know the answer too. When you have
your answer, submit that directly to me ? you don?t have to copy the
whole team on that one.
3. As usual, the question has been meticulously researched, although
the answer has not. Sticklers for the truth should start their own
game (although I don?t what you?d offer as a prize).
4. I will respond to emails in the order in which they are received.
5. Players who have won recently should sit on their hands and let
someone else have a chance for a change.
6. Ask as many questions for clarification as you want, BUT you may
submit ONLY ONE answer, and the first answer you submit is the one
I?ll go with, even if you submit a second, better answer later. You may
submit questions up until 10:30, and then I will answer all of them (in
other words, I have meetings until then). The game ends at 12:30 at
which time I will declare a winner.
So, here?s the problem for today:
You have 50 white marbles and 50 black marbles. You also have two
large opaque jars that rotate constantly. You may place any number
of marbles of either color in the jars in any fashion you want.
Once you have placed them to your satisfaction, I randomly determine
a jar, and randomly pick a marble from the jar. If the marble is white,
you win a prize. But, if it?s black . . . bad things happen.
So, how do you distribute the marbles between the two jars to
maximize you chance of winning? And, having done that, explain why
(bonus points if you can also give me the probability of winning based
on your solution).