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Put your thinking caps on...

R

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member
Visited a high school classroom the other day, and found a paper with the following problen laying on one of the desks --- Got me stymied. Can you figure it out? Must be something I'm overlooking. (Only been into electronics for about 50 years - son with a brand new degree in computer engineering came up scratching too).

"Imagine two rooms, one with three switches and the other with three light bulbs. Each switch controls one of the light bulbs. However, because the light bulbs are in a different room, you can't see immediately which switch controls which light bulb.

Your task is to figure out which switch controls which light bulb. You can spend as much time as you like in the room with the light switches, but eventially you must go into the room with the light bulbs. Once you enter the room with the light bulbs, you can't return to the room with the light switches. What's more,after entering the the room with the bulbs, you have only thirty seconds to figure out which switch controls which bulb.

How do you do it?"

WHAT'S YOUR SOLUTION, I HAVEN'T FIGUTRED IT OUT!
 

Switch on two of the three light switches for 30 seconds. Then switch off one of the two switches that you had earlier switched on.
Then, move into the room with the light bulbs. The bulb that is still lit corresponds to the switch that is on. Of the two unlit bulbs, see which one of them is hotter. The hotter one must correspond to the switch you just turned off.
 
I'm sure that's the answer they were looking for. But like many riddles you need to make an assumption of some missing information. Where does it say the bulbs are within reach so you can check their temperature?
 
That was the missing link I didn"t come up with.
Was wondering if I could get to the next room after the light was switched off, and get there before the light went out! (Come to think of it, I tried that when aI was a kid - couldn"t make it from the switch to the bed before the light went off!)
 

OK, I hadn't taken into account the new styles of teaching for you folks with youngsters.

This was a problem put to us when I was in Jr. High in the 60's and we spent an entire class solving it.

It was also a problem put to my oldest brother in the 50's.

I'd be real interested if the answer has changed after all these years. I'd say it's presented verbatum from my days, but I never heard the idea of being restricted from entering the light bulb room.

Lemme know.
 
First, I would have a couple of beers! That gets my brain warmed up. LOL
Seriously, I think Ron/PA has the most logical solution. But that brings another question. If you are not allowed to return to the room containing the switches, how are you going to know which switch is which next time? Or am I the only one with memory problems? I mean, it WOULD be logical, would it not, to mark the switches once the solution was found? Or is that a problem for another day? (I think I need another beer.)
 
Right. But if that's the case I can connect 400 volts to one switch and blow up the bulb, can't I? Or pull real hard on the wire and see which bulb is ripped out of place. You get the idea, some assumption is needed to solve the riddle.

Ever see the famous Monty Hall Riddle? The answer depends on what assumption you make. Even expert mathematicians will debate it endlessly:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1 [but the door is not opened]. Instead, the host opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?
 
I would set up a large mirror in the room with the switches-but have the mirror posistioned so that I could stand by the switches and yet be able to use the mirror to "see" into the room with the light bulbs. *You would have to keep in mind that you are seeing a mirror image...so sort of reverse what you are seeing.

OK, wait a minute... sounds like there are also switches in the room with the bulbs -- so I would just use THOSE switches. *Must be 3 way switches (I think that is what it is called) - we have one in our house... can turn on/off both a light in the upstairs hall and at the bottom of our stairs from either the upstairs or downstairs switch.
 
Reminds me of another quiz...
4 men are asked "what is the fastest thing they can think of"
1st man says "a thought...It happens as you think...!"
2nd man "a blink of an eye... Nothing is any faster"
3rd man" electricity...just flick the switch and the light comes on"
4th man "Diahorrea....(at which point the others look at him in disbelief!) Sure when I have diahorrea I have no time to think, blink or turn on the light....!"
Doesn't solve the problem, but it might make you smile!!!!
Sam
 
It doesn't matter, as long as one of the lights is on when you get there, you can still see what you're doing.

In any case, I'd flick all three on at once, just to make sure.

I like brightly lit rooms. And if I were blind, it wouldn't even matter.
 
Since the doors are independent of each other, your odds are 50-50, so no point in changing your choice. Unless you get to go up to the door and say "Hey, Goat!". Never seen a goat yet that wouldn't bleat back at you.
 
Turn one switch on for about 5 minutes. Turn the second switch on and walk into the room. One bulb will be hot one will be on and one will be cold.
 
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