You are outside a well known restaurant, waiting in queue, with 18 couples in front of you. You know there are forty tables inside, and you think an average meal will take one hour.

How long will you have to wait, on average?

PS. This problem comes from queueing theory, but you don't have to know anything about it to find the answer!

(In reply to Solution (Maybe) by Juggler)

I agree with 28.5 minutes if the first table becomes free after 1.5 minutes. But couldn't the first table free up any time in the next 1.5 minutes. So the wait would be between 27 and 28.5 minutes.  So the average between those times would be 27.75 minutes. 

Posted by Nosher on 2004-08-08 22:22:51