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?

Answer: Considering you are blindfolded and not allowed to see what you are doing ... you feel or run your finger nail in crossing motion over the surface of each penny. If smooth and no rough vibration that is the heads up side and if you get a rough surface like a ladder or rail road track those are tails up. Once you have the smooth surface separated then you count the number of tails up and subtract the smaller amount from the lager amount. Example Only: 128 smooth side up (Heads) and 114 rough side up (tails) then you bring 7 smooth side up to the rough side up and then flip the rest of the rough side over one at a time. thus you would have two groups of 121 coins to the smooth side up.

Again the Key: when you scratch cross ways on a tail up penny you feel the same effect as a tire on a ripple median on the highway breakdown lane which is there to wake up a nodding driver.

Gary

Posted by gary on 2003-11-14 18:50:46