Well, it seems like if we don’t assume something (Tom has a flame-retardant suit, the dragon is a heavy sleeper, Tom knows a wizard) then Tom is pretty much stuck. Since the first words of the teaser are “one day” it seems like a pretty minor assumption that Tom’s fantasy world still has night and day.
Anyway, as far as knowing what is behind which door. Tom feels each door. Assuming (again) that the dragon isn’t blasting away indiscriminately, the glass room door should be warmer than the dragon door. When the door cools down, Tom concludes that the sun has set and the door is safe to open.
You have 100lb of potatoes that are 99% water, by weight (OK, they’re strange potatoes). You let them dehydrate until they’re 98% water. How much do they weigh now?
[spoiler]Originally, they have 99 pounds of water to 1 pound of non-water-potato-substance.
Subsequently, they are 98% water, or 49/50; they still have 1 pound of NWPS, so therefore they have 49 pounds of water, and weigh a total of 50 pounds.[/spoiler]
Brian didn’t know how long it took him to go home from Amy’s house, but he knew how long it took to go to Amy’s house. When he left, one of his clocks had the time 9:00 (because it restarted, or because he set it to 9:00). When he got to Amy’s house, which took him 10 minutes, he knew his clock would be saying 9:10. But Amy told him it was 11:30. He knew that when he got back, he would have to move that clock ahead by 2 hours and 20 minutes, and then make all the other clocks match the correct clock.
They would weigh 9900 pounds since you started with 100 pounds of potatoes! (100/0.01)*0.98 [this is the final weight of water] + 100 [this is the weight of potatoes] = 9900
Waterman, I think you misunderstood the problem. You start with 100 pounds, then you lose weight due to drying. There’s not separate water and potatoes; the water is part of the potatoes.
Those of you familiar with mediaeval history may have noticed that Louis VII became king of France in 1137, and that Edward I ascended the English throne in 1272, both of which years have digits that add up to twelve. As it happens, there are three other historical monarchs whose reigns also began in years whose digits add up to twelve, one of whom ascended the throne in the year 1155. Let’s call them Queen N, King S, and King R. The queen’s reign began 45 years before King S, and his reign began 135 years before R’s.
Do you have any idea how long it took me to find actual monarchs for whom that worked?
The monarchs really are N., S., and R. I leave their identities as an exercise for the reader.
I was always tickled by that puzzle in its original form, but the dates didn’t match up with what historians now think. The version I presented here at least matches what Wikipedia says.
