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Topic: Jewel Transfer (Read 1584 times) |
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B Mayes
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Here's a little riddle that my friend told me the other day had been asked of him in one of his interviews he has had in the past. It's a pretty easy one. I checked around on ths site and didn't see this one anywhere so ...It goes something like this...
Suppose you are stranded on an island and you want to send a precious jewel such as a diamond to another person on another island. You cannot communicate with this person except for the fact that you both have a box and a lock. The two locks are different with two different keys and the only way to transfer the box is to send it across the water by way of a ferryman, whom neither of you can trust. You cannot send your key across or the ferryman will copy it. How do you transfer the jewel to the other person without anything being stolen or copied?
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raven
Senior Riddler
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" ~M. Hatter
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Re: Jewel Transfer
« Reply #1 on: Feb 23rd, 2004, 11:05pm » |
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I could assume that I have the key to his lock and v/v...
But I could also have the other person send me his lock ( whick I doubt the ferryman would steal ) in his box, and I would send back the jewel in his box with his lock...
If the ferryman steals his lock, let me know and I'll go from there 
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towr
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Jewel Transfer
« Reply #2 on: Feb 23rd, 2004, 11:55pm » |
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you put on your lock, send the box over]
the other guy put his lock on the same box, send it back
you remove your lock, and send it over again
he removes his lock and open the box.
(it's also already on the site somewhere, it's a classic cryptography puzzle)
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BMayes
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Well thanks for spoiling all the fun towr!  I tried finding it on the site and didn't see it so I thought I'd post it. That answer is correct though.
Also yes, it is a common cryptography solution (lock, lock, unlock, unlock).
Now let's just hope I get this question or any of the others on here that I know how to solve when I go interview at Tivoli...
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towr
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Jewel Transfer
« Reply #4 on: Feb 25th, 2004, 5:21am » |
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on Feb 25th, 2004, 4:20am, BMayes wrote:| Well thanks for spoiling all the fun towr! |
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you're welcome
Quote:| I tried finding it on the site and didn't see it so I thought I'd post it. |
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It is rather difficult to find most threads.. We really should find a better way to locate them, maybe a '20 questions' approach
here's the thread, in case you're wondering: ghetto encryption 1
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| « Last Edit: Feb 25th, 2004, 5:21am by towr » |
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