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An assassin was discovered slipping a dangerous poison into one of the king's barrels of wine, but unfortunately, after he was captured, no one could remember which barrel he had been poisoning.
It's known that the poison is a slow acting one, which kills its victims within a week, and there are thirty possible barrels which might contain the poison. The king, eager to restore his wine supply, has decided that the poisons should be tested out on the 5 prisoners arrested in connection with the incident.
Your job is to figure out the best way to test all 30 barrels of wine by giving samples of them to the prisoners and observing the results.You should be able to get the entire job done in the space of one week.
For example, you could give each of the prisoners a sample of one of the first five wines, wait a week to see the results, and give them the next 5 wines and so on, but that could take 6 weeks to do in the worst case.
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Give the prisoners numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, number each barrel, give prisoners drink from each barrel so as the number of each prisoner given drink added up equals the barrel number. After a week add the numbers of the prisoners who die up and that's the poisoned barrel.
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The trick to that is to number the barrels with a binary code (00001 - 11110) and number each prisoner with a bit number (1 - 5), then give each prisoner samples of barrels with his bit number. The prisoners that die obviously share a bit in the contaminated barrel number.
This trick is likely aimed at VB programmers, because if you begin numbering with 0, you could actually have 32 barrels and figure it out, so that if all prisoners die it's the 11111 barrel and if none die it's the 00000 barrel.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Or better still, make the VB programmer drink from every barrel as well? 
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Assuming a week is 7 days instead of 5...
With one prisoner, he could drink from one barrel, and if not dead after five days, drink from a second barrel. That would test 2.
With two prisoners, one prisoner could drink from one barrel and the other prisoner could drink from another, and if not dead after five days, both could drink from a third barrel. That would test 4.
Continuing this, you could test 32 barrels with five prisoners.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Show me a community that obeys the Ten Commandments and I'll show you a less crowded prison system." - Anonymous
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Not Clear..Could you explain a bit more ?
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What a useless king. Did he never hear about waterboarding? One of the five is bound to weaken. 
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learner'sbug wrote: One from another interview...Your job is to figure out the...
No that isn't part of any job that I accepted.
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I think that's a "please leave so we can interview a real candidate" question.
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If the Kessel Run is 14 Parsecs long, how much shorter is it if you are a smart-arse, shoot-first-ask-questions-later-until-history-is-revised, smuggler with a teddy bear as your best friend?
---------------------------------
Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur .
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Less than 12 parsecs, with a following wind.
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2 pints.
Makes as much sense as using a distance as a time measurement. Unless you can retro-fit some BS reason why you'd use that rather than an actual time measurement.
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He's a lot shorter in real life.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
me, in pictures
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I can tell you that you can buy his blaster at auction if you want. I'm concerned that he's trying to pass off a weapon that he's used to commit a crime and that you'll end up with a record in his place.
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Sitting here, typing away, with my usual pint of water sitting close to hand (I don't like it too close in case I knock it over) and I notice out the corner of my eye that the cat has jumped up on my desk, stuck his head in the glass, and is slurping away at it.
The nonchalant way he did it implies he does it quite often, but I've never seen it before...so how long have I been sharing a water bowl with the cat? 
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Probably around the same time you licking your hands and using them to clean behind your ears!
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I imagine the cat is thinking the same thing.
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That's funny, I wonder what else he thinks he should share with him?
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You should be happy the cat allows you to drink his water. 
Politicians are always realistically manoeuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.
Buckminster Fuller
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Count your blessings.
I am having to execute life moments (work with code) with a 5 month old Lab puppy around. They have all the audacity of a cat with the deft and precision of a dog.
- Wasn't my idea but I love her and she wanted a lab........
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At that age, it's less "Black Lab", or "Chocolate Lab" and a lot more "Meth Lab"... 
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Labs are what is best in life.
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gad, someone else drank the coolaid too? 18 yo daughter wants a Golden Retriever. Mind you, we ALREADY have a full blooded full size rough coat Collie, a lab/husky mix (who is ancient and won't die), 3 cats, 2 birds, and the odd critter in the attic.
So, when daughter goes to work/school, we're left tending the puppy. I told her I wanted no part. Cute and smart pup, but damn that thing pees everywhere!
Charlie Gilley
<italic>You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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My cat used to do that to so I started putting a coaster over it when I was away from the desk.
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