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

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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.
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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 ?
 
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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
 

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