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Amoebas! (Posted on 2002-06-20) Difficulty: 1 of 5
An amoeba propagates by simple division; each split takes three minutes to complete. When such an amoeba is put into a glass container with a nutrient fluid, the container is full of amoebas in one hour.

How long would it take for the container to be filled if we start with not one amoeba, but two?

  Submitted by carlina    
Rating: 3.3000 (10 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
Don't rush to say "half an hour!". Think about it.

In the original scenario we are starting with one ameoba. But in three minutes, this will become two ameobae, which then take the remaining 57 minutes of the hour to fill up the container.

Thus, it will take 57 minutes to go from two to full.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Some ThoughtsFor 2^n amoebas ......K Sengupta2008-12-14 07:07:00
SolutionPuzzle SolutionK Sengupta2008-03-09 12:20:24
answerK Sengupta2007-03-24 12:09:42
Good riddleElectricfur2005-09-13 02:56:01
Pretty easyJonathan Fletcher2004-10-05 12:25:11
Some Thoughtsre: SolutionXen2004-05-25 11:38:51
SolutionSolutionXen2004-05-25 11:36:07
easyJonathan Waltz2003-04-01 03:25:45
re: very easyAlan2003-01-09 13:25:25
Solutionvery easyAlan2003-01-09 13:24:12
Quick and Easycges2002-12-13 06:08:13
simpleAmanda2002-10-08 09:36:33
SolutionDivisionTomM2002-06-20 19:36:56
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