You have two identical eggs, and are given the task of figuring out the highest floor of a 100-story building from which an egg can be dropped safely (meaning that it doesn't break). You have no prior information about this matter, so for all you know a fall from the first floor might break the egg, but then again, it might be strong enough to survive a 100-story drop.

You need to conduct experiments by dropping the eggs from various levels in the building to solve the problem. You are allowed to break both eggs as long as you come up with an answer.

Find a strategy to minimize the maximum number of drops you would have to do. What is this number? (For example if your strategy is dropping an egg from first, then second, then third floors, and so on until it breaks, the maximum number of drops is 100.)

Cheradenine's answer seems to be correct, but I get a different total. Shouldn't it be 14 drops?
For example, Egg 1: 14 (breaks), Egg 2: 1-13.
By doing Egg 1 (Egg 2 if Egg 1 breaks): 14 (1-13), 27 (15-26), 39 (28-38), ..., 99 (96-98), 100 (no Egg 2), it takes up to 14 drops.
Still, much better than my 19!

Posted by Ender on 2002-10-01 12:38:47