Barrels Full of Pellets
by
Erik Oosterwal
You are presented with 10 barrels each full of small, round pellets. By
looking at the pellets you cannot see or feel any difference between one
barrel's pellets and the next barrel's pellets. You are told that 9
of the barrels contain 1 gram pellets and that the other barrel contains
2 gram pellets. The barrels are too large to move, so you can't try
to push on them to see which seems heavier, but there is a weighing scale
available to you. The problem is that you are only allowed to use the
scale one time.
How can you figure out which barrel contains the 2 gram pellets using the
scale only once?
I give up, show me the Answer
Discuss this and other math logic puzzles at The Puzzle Page Blog Site.
All original puzzles and solutions are © Erik Oosterwal 1993-2008
See all the brain teasers on The Puzzle Page.
Get daily puzzles in your RSS reader at The Puzzle Page Blog Site.
Looking for answers to computer programming problems?
Read what's going on in the Computer Science 101 classroom.