Cartalk Puzzler of the week

started by PseudoIntellectual 5 mnths ago
An Eccentric Billionaire's Riddle of Fours
RAY: This puzzler is from my horticultural and mathematical series. It was sent in by Daniel Reiss. And, of course, I couldn't resist the temptation to mess with it a little bit.

Here it is.

An eccentric billionaire decided to interview landscapers for his newly constructed estate. Part of the interview was a simple test. He said:

"Four is my lucky number. I made my fortune working four hours a week, just like those two knuckleheads on Car Talk!

"So, I want every tree and bush and shrub you plant to be in groups of four. Got it? But in addition, I want each of these four things that you plant, to be the same distance from one another.

"For example, if you plant four rhododendron, I want them all to be equidistant, i.e., each one is the same distance from each of the other three."

The question is, can it be done?

Reply



Flat Nested

Replies


  flimflam2 posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago

for each group of four trees/plants, build a mound; plant three trees on the ground at the corners of an equilateral traingle (e.t.), and one on top of the mound, so that the four trees are at the vertices of a tetrahedron (which, by definition, has four faces which are identical e.t.s).

flimflam

p.s. i avoided looking at anyone's post except yours.

ff

  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
Your answer is same as mine.

  deep purple posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
wd u have attempted to solve the puzzle if it were posted by a NI?


  (va-gal) posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
YES  - (2 equivalent triangles back to back )

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
  (va-gal) posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
oops! sorry for the half pic above...

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
Your answer is same as mine.  Does anybody have an alternate answer?
  Aftaab posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
but it does not seem to be correct, the distance between the ends is 2X and not X.

seems it cannot be done, unless planting in air is allowed, where they can plant in the shape of a pyramid.
  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
He is a billionare. He can afford to make small hills and plan there.
  Aftaab posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
then a regular tetrahedron should be correct.

  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
It's a tetrahedron. So all vertices are equidistant.
  Aftaab posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
at least got one right! :))
  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
Offlate cartalk puzzlers have been super simple. We should post some tougher puzzles here.
  Aftaab posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
first one i participated in ... what's cartalk though?
  PseudoIntellectual posted Re:Cartalk Puzzler of the week on 5 mnths ago
Cartalk is a show about cars on NPR hosted by 2 brothers. The Site











© 1998-2008 Copyright Sulekha.com Connecting Indians Worldwide, All Rights Reserved.

Embed Videos

TipTip: To embed video from YouTube or others, copy the embed URL given and click insert button.

Title:             

Embed script:

Insert