One Half Pill Problem
You have a prescription to take one half of a pill per day for 12 days, but the pharmacist (who is too busy to divide pills for you) gives you 6 whole pills in a bottle. On day 1, you remove a pill from the bottle, break it into two half-pills, take one, and return the other half-pill to the bottle. On all subsequent days you shake the bottle thoroughly and pour something out - whatever comes out first - either a half pill or a whole pill; if it's a half pill you take it and you're done for that day; if it's a whole pill, you split it into two half-pills, take one, and put the other back in the bottle, exactly like you did on day 1.
On day 12 there can be only one half pill left in the bottle, but on day 11 there are two possibilities: either there is one whole pill or there are two half-pills left in the bottle. What is the probability that there are two half-pills in the bottle on day 11?
On day 12 there can be only one half pill left in the bottle, but on day 11 there are two possibilities: either there is one whole pill or there are two half-pills left in the bottle. What is the probability that there are two half-pills in the bottle on day 11?
Labels: funphysics





11 Comments:
after a LOT of maths i get the result of 27.2375...of course after u get the pattern aka alogaritam its quite easy with a computer...but i wanted to do it myself so a mistake(but not a big one) is quite possible
didnt do much calculation, neither did i WANT to. but i think... 50%?
38/71
brain hurts
wtf im in 8th grade... lol i dont know wtf u guys r talking about! lol i probrobly should know this but im on summer vaca. so i dont care!
lol im such a dick! lol
There are so many combinations possible to calculate, but I would asume that you are slightly over 50%
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This post has been removed by the author.
Last Anonymous. The idea is to solve the problem using mathematics. Not just to chuck out a blind guess - what is the point of that, especially this far down the page!
You are allowed to make funny answers though.
No wonder this is a very tough problem, after all it was created by the legendary mathematical physicist Jim Farned. Anyway,I know the correct answer is 116/162, although I don't know how!
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