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.)

(In reply to re: Possible solution by Brian Wainscott)

Here's how you do it with only three villagers (and 12 barbarians).

The barbarians line up on either side of the town on a hill... with three villagers lined up with them. Each barbarian shoots the barbarian on the other side at the same height. To have more barbarians, just have them line up further up the hills.

B                   B
 B  <----------->  B
  B               B
   B  <------->  B
    B           B
     B         B
         VVV

Posted by SilverKnight on 2004-02-05 13:23:21