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Topic: The Amazing Sand Counter (Read 920 times) |
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Yuniko
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The Amazing Sand Counter
« on: Mar 26th, 2005, 5:21pm » |
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There is a man who claims he is the Amazing Sand Counter. He says he can count all sands in a large sand pile with one glance and then able to tell you the exact amount. To prove if he is telling the truth or not, you have to come up with a test to see test him. However, it will take way too long to count all the sands in the sand pile in order to check his answer. So, how do you test him?
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markr
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #1 on: Mar 26th, 2005, 10:30pm » |
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You could have him state how many grains of sand are in a given pile, then add an easy to count number of grains, and ask him again. If the difference between his two answers doesn't match the number of grains you added, then at least one of his answers is wrong.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 26th, 2005, 10:31pm by markr » |
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Yuniko
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #2 on: Mar 27th, 2005, 10:08pm » |
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Good answer, but this is not the only solution of this problem. 
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #3 on: Mar 27th, 2005, 10:26pm » |
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on Mar 27th, 2005, 10:08pm, Yuniko wrote:| Good answer, but this is not the only solution of this problem. |
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Does your solution, unlike markr's, always detect wrong answers?
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| « Last Edit: Mar 27th, 2005, 10:35pm by ThudnBlunder » |
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THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.....................................................................er, if that's all right with the rest of you.
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The_Godfather
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #4 on: Mar 29th, 2005, 8:37am » |
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I agree with THUDandBLUNDER, There's something a little strange about the other ways I can think of....... Every one ends up with the Amazing Sands Counter being wrong no matter what......
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The Godfather
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #5 on: Apr 4th, 2005, 6:49am » |
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Perhaps you could weigh n grains of sand, divide that by n, then weigh a pile of sand to find about how many grains of sand are in the pile.
If his guess is within a resonable amount, then you could still test that by adding a different number of grains to the pile then ask again.
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::The Godfather::
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #7 on: Apr 4th, 2005, 8:25am » |
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Just in case you're wondering, the question didn't state what equipment could/couldn't be used.
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rmsgrey
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #8 on: Apr 4th, 2005, 9:08am » |
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I would try: taking a cone and covering it with a relatively thin layer of sand, and providing a pile of sand that looks about the same, and seeing whether his replies differ significantly.
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Icarus
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Re: The Amazing Sand Counter
« Reply #9 on: Apr 4th, 2005, 6:11pm » |
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on Apr 4th, 2005, 8:25am, Avo wrote:Just in case you're wondering, the question didn't state what equipment could/couldn't be used.
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Are you suggesting weighing the pile, then dividing by the weight of an individual grain? This method of counting light, small objects is commonly used in industry for inventory control (I've done it many, many times). But it requires that the sand particles all be the same weight, which is highly unlikely. You can of course improve your accuracy by finding the average weight of a countable number of particles, but the greater the variance in weight between individual particles, the less accurate your final result will be.
This would be enough to find out that he makes good estimations, but not enough to determine if his values are accurate.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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