After 1001 nights, the Great King of Persia, Shahryar, decided not to execute Queen Sheherazade if she passed one final test. The King had 24 children under the age of 10 with an even number of children for each age.

He ordered that 24 chairs be put along the wall. Each time he put a child in an empty chair, Sheherazade was to put a child in any other empty chair. After all the children were placed, the 24 digit number formed by their ages had to be divisible by 1001.

Can you help Sheherazade to stay alive?

Divide the chairs into groups of 6. Then, each group of 6 consists of two groups of 3.  When the King places a child in one of the groups of 3 within a given group of 6, Sheharazade should place another child of the same age into the corresponding position within the other group of 3 in the same group of 6.  At the end, each group of 6 will have the schema abc,abc, assuring divisibility by 1001.

Posted by Charlie on 2007-02-06 10:38:05