There is a small town situated by a barbarian colony. The population in this town is very small, but they live well. Upon seeing the villagers in this town so happy, a group of thirty two barbarians sneak up and position themselves around the city. All the barbarians fired at exactly the same time, and every bullet went over 3 villager's heads before it killed another person, including anyone who may have been shot already. If no villager was at the same place at the time (and all villagers were in the town) when the simultaneous shooting occurred, what is the fewest amount of villagers in the town? (Note: "Around" means actually around. A line going around the city would work, but one going out of the city would not.)

The answer is 7.

Facts:
There is a town.
There are 32 barbarians.
Fire exactly at the same time.
Bullet must go over 3 villagers heads before "contact", dead or alive.
No one was at the same place at the same time (IE: Standing on someones head)

Immediate Assumptions (possibly not reality):

Town is round.
Barbarians line up single file side ways.
Arrows hit different individuals.

My thoughts:

The definition of around is as follows; "On all sides of; encircling; encompassing; so as to make the circuit of; about." dictionary.com
So the assumption that the town is round can possibly be inaccurate. For instance if the town were square or rectangular then 4 barbarians, Could be "around" the city covering all 4 sides. So if the barbarians lined up single file, 8 to a file, on all four sides then they would be around the town. Here is a illuastration.

B's represent barbarians and T's townspeople.

B
B
B
B
B
B
B
...........
. T .
BBBBBBBB. TTTT .BBBBBBBB
. T .
. T .
...........
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B

Posted by Jesse on 2004-01-31 20:24:17