Puzzle 2

Level 1: Basu goes to a temple where he needs to put flowers to four deities. Before putting a flower to a deity he needs to dip the flowers in a magic pond which doubles the number of flowers. He has to do this before putting flowers to each deity. Basu plucks the flowers from his home before leaving for the temple. He wants to put equal no of flowers to each deity and be left with no flowers at the end of the fourth deity. How many flowers should he pluck from his garden and how many should he put to each deity.

Level 2: There are 6 friends(A,B,C,D,E,F) who need to cross a bridge. A torchlight is required while crossing the bridge. They have one torchlight amongst themselves. A maximum of two people can walk on the bridge at a time. A takes 1 minute to cross the bridge, B takes 2, C takes 5, D takes 8, E takes 12 and F takes 20 minutes. If A and F walk together then they’ll walk with the speed of the slower person, meaning that they’ll take 20 minutes to cross the bridge. Find out the shortest time in which all of them can cross the bridge.

Level 3: Three couples are to cross a river with the help of a boat that can carry a maximum of two people. The number of females should not outnumber the number of males at any point of time. How do you work this out?

Level 4: You are standing at the centre of a circular field of radius R. At the circumference of the field is a hungry lion which can run only around the circumference of the field, since the field is fenced. The lion runs four times faster than you. Can you somehow make it out of the field alive?(Assume that you do not have to jump over the fence, which would otherwise be time-taking, and once you are out of the field the lion will not chase you.) You have tools to make accurate measurements.

Level 5: There are 12 identical looking rings given to a groom by the bride’s father. The bride’s father tells the groom that there is only one of those rings which is pure gold and the rest are fake. The ring which is pure weighs differently(he doesn’t know whether its heavier or lighter) from the other ones.He is then given a beam balance and further instructed that he can use the beam balance only for three measurements to find out the pure ring and also whether its heavier or lighter than the rest. Only then will he be eligible to marry the bride. Help the groom.

Enjoy solving these puzzles and find your name in the 'Hall of Fame'
Regards,
Quizzing Club
DMS, IIT Delhi