You are blindfolded before a table. On the table are a very large number of pennies. You are told 128 of the pennies are heads up and the rest are tails up.

How can you create two subgroups of pennies, each with the same number of heads facing up?

I showed this puzzle to some people I know.  At first, they thought it was impossible.  "With a blindfold?" they asked incredulously.  But after a little while, they eventually figured it out, and the solution is quite clever and elegant.  It's a neat trick to show to friends.

Sometimes I wish we would have more simple and clever puzzles like this...  But I like plenty of other types of puzzles too.

Posted by Tristan on 2005-06-27 20:21:34