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Pumpkins 6 (Posted on 2016-01-22) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Much like the third Pumpkins puzzle six pumpkins, each having a different weight, are weighed two at a time in all 15 sets of two. This time exactly four pairs of duplicate values occurred. Those four values are 60, 100, 110, and 120 pounds.

How much did each individual pumpkin weigh?

See The Solution Submitted by Brian Smith    
Rating: 4.0000 (1 votes)

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Solution computer solution | Comment 1 of 11
The following set of weights works:

35 45 75 85 25 15

The counts of the numbers of weighings that come out to the various totals are, by total:

40 1
50 1
60 2
70 1
80 1
90 1
100 2
110 2
120 2
130 1
160 1

The logic is based on the fact that any one of the duplicated totals involves four of the pumpkins, so in going from one of these duplicated totals to another, either two or three of the pumpkins are shared between the two totals. I chose to use 120 and 60 to base this upon.

To cover all bases I had the program choose each of the 6 possible pairs within any possibility for the 120 totals to check out as being a possible set for inclusion in the pumpkins for the totals of 60. The possibility of a third would be included in the trials of the other numbers in the 60 set.

The two chosen weights from the 120 set could possibly be one of the pair that add up to 60, if they are in the lower weight part of each of the weighings that add to 120. The other possibility is that each is part of a separate weighing each of which has a total of 60.

There's a final check for duplicate weights and proper counts for totals of 100 and 110.

DefDbl A-Z
Dim crlf$, wgt(6), t1, t2, totct()


Private Sub Form_Load()
 Form1.Visible = True
 
 Text1.Text = ""
 crlf = Chr$(13) + Chr$(10)
 
 t1 = 120: t2 = 60
 For a = 1 To Int((t1 - 1) / 2)
   d = t1 - a
   wgt(1) = a: wgt(4) = d
 For b = a + 1 To Int((t1 - 1) / 2)
   c = t1 - b
   wgt(2) = b: wgt(3) = c
   
   
   For i = 1 To 3
   For j = i + 1 To 4
     try wgt(i), wgt(j)
   Next
   Next
   
 Next
 Next


 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf & " done"
  
End Sub

Sub try(tr1, tr2)
 DoEvents
 If tr1 < t2 And tr2 < t2 Then
  If tr1 + tr2 = t2 Then
    For x = 1 To Int((t1 - 1) / 2)
      y = t2 - x
      wgt(5) = x: wgt(6) = y
      check
    Next
  Else
    wgt(5) = t2 - tr1: wgt(6) = t2 - tr2
    check
  End If
 End If
End Sub

Sub check()
  good = 1
  For i = 1 To 5
  For j = i + 1 To 6
    If wgt(i) = wgt(j) Then good = 0
  Next
  Next
  
  If good Then
    ReDim totct(600)
    For i = 1 To 5
    For j = i + 1 To 6
      totct(wgt(i) + wgt(j)) = totct(wgt(i) + wgt(j)) + 1
    Next
    Next
    
    If totct(100) <> 2 Or totct(110) <> 2 Then good = 0
    
    If good Then
      For i = 1 To 6
        Text1.Text = Text1.Text & Str(wgt(i))
      Next
      Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
      For i = 1 To 600
       If totct(i) > 0 Then
        Text1.Text = Text1.Text & i & Str(totct(i)) & crlf
       End If
      Next
      Text1.Text = Text1.Text & crlf
    End If
  End If

End Sub


  Posted by Charlie on 2016-01-22 15:26:29
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