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A math puzzle aimed at 9 to 12 year olds
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[QUOTE="Office_Shredder, post: 6837398, member: 53426"] How much can we measure with a 1 pound weight? Obviously 1 pound. We can also identify something is 2 pounds by observing that it weighs more than 1. We can't distinguish 2 vs 3 so we need a weight for this. We want the heaviest weight possible (this is me making an intuitive assertion) Obviously 2 pound weight works. 3 pound weight lets us identify that x <3 and x>1 hence x=2. 4 pound weight also works, and takes advantage of the double sided scales. If it's bigger than 1 and smaller than 4, you can compare x+1 against 4 and see if it's equal or smaller. This also lets you check if an object is 5 or 6 pounds (but can't distinguish 6 vs 7). I'll leave it at an exercise to you to figure out what is the heaviest new weight we can add that gives us more continuous coverage. [/QUOTE]
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A math puzzle aimed at 9 to 12 year olds
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