perplexus.info :: Weights and Scales : Sorting Coins II

Sorting Coins II (Posted on 2012-03-28)

This is in continuation of Sorting Coins.

You have 18 coins. They are completely identical in every other respect except five of them weigh 24g, six of them weigh 25g and, the remaining seven weigh 26g. You have only a balance scale to sort them out.

What is the minimum number of weighings which guarantees all the coins to be sorted?

Submitted by K Sengupta

Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)

Solution: (Hide)

It will take at least 16 weightings in general to guarantee all the coins to be sorted.
Fewer than 16 weightings will only work under specific circumstances, BUT untenable in other situations.

For an explanation, refer to the comprehensive analytic solution submitted by Brian Smith in this location.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)

Subject	Author	Date
re(2): Full Solution	broll	2016-06-05 12:30:23
re: Full Solution	Steve Herman	2016-06-05 10:32:15
Full Solution	Brian Smith	2016-06-05 00:11:37
weighing in with the theoretical minimum--no solution offered	Charlie	2012-03-28 09:44:53

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