What Was the Mathematician's Solution for the Princes' Dilemma?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gokul43201
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Boat Row
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a riddle involving a king who wants to determine which of his two sons will be his heir by having them race their boats across a lake to a boathouse, with the first to arrive losing. The princes face a dilemma, as they would benefit from delaying their arrival. They consult a court mathematician for a solution. The mathematician's advice leads to the princes rowing vigorously across the lake, suggesting a clever twist to the problem. The thread also touches on the idea of submitting answers privately to avoid spoiling the challenge for others and hints at the limitations of mailbox sizes for private messages. The conversation concludes with a suggestion for more challenging puzzles in the future.
Gokul43201
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
7,207
Reaction score
25
A King wants to pick his heir from among his 2 sons. They are to row their boats across the royal lake to the boathouse on the other side. The prince whose boat enters the boathouse first loses. Obviously, this puts the princes into a quandary, for they would gain by delaying for as long as practically possible. To resolve this dilemma, they seek the counsel of the court mathematician...who gives them sound advise.

Minutes later, the princes are seen rowing furiously across the lake. What solution did the number cruncher provide ?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
They're rowing each others boats?
 
Ha ha...too easy eh ?

Being the first person with the correct answer... YOU LOSE ! :smile:
 
On such puzzles, wouldn't it make sense to PM solutions to the thread starter ? That way, others would get a crack at it too...and your relative time zone isn't a spoiler.

But there's that finite size of the mailbox...
 
next time try giving something harder
 

Thread 'Status Update by JRMichler'

Just ONCE, I wanted to see a post titled Status Update that was not a blatant, annoying spam post by a new member. So here it is. Today was a good day here in Northern Wisconsin. Fall colors are here, no mosquitos, no deer flies, and mild temperature, so my morning run was unusually nice. Only two meetings today, and both went well. The deer that was road killed just down the road two weeks ago is now fully decomposed, so no more smell. Somebody has a spike buck skull for their...
View full post »
Thread 'RIP George F. Smoot III (1945-2025)'

Thread 'RIP George F. Smoot III (1945-2025)'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smoot https://physics.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/george-smoot-iii https://apc.u-paris.fr/fr/memory-george-fitzgerald-smoot-iii https://elements.lbl.gov/news/honoring-the-legacy-of-george-smoot/ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2006/smoot/facts/ https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200611/nobel.cfm https://inspirehep.net/authors/988263 Structure in the COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer First-Year Maps (Astrophysical Journal...
View full post »

Similar threads

Nynniaw and Peibaw: The Story of Legendary Kings
Replies
5
Views
4K
Is Alan Turing given too much credit when it comes to computers?
Replies
29
Views
5K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top