I call upon all that are brave enough!

[killergamer]

Who here is ready for a brain teaser? Can you stretch your brain far enough to answer this super question? Who here is the Einstien of TBCS!

Point A ----------------------------------------------- Point B
^^^^^^^^^^^^1,000 Miles^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have 3,000 Bananas
The goal is to try to get as many of the Bananas to Point B using your trusty camel! YES A CAMEL! (I'll name him Bob, you can name him what ever you want)
Bob the Camel can only carry 1,000 bananas at any one time.
Bob also must eat 1 banana for every mile he walks.
Ex. Bob walks 10 miles he must eat 10 bananas to get to the spot then 10 more to get the 10 miles back.
Hint: The answer is not 3,000.

+Rep to any one that gets it correct
And for those who are wondering, this is a question that my math class was asked for fun.

[farlo]

hidden answer:
500?

edit: just wrote it down and writing the answer out confuses me so i think im right, but im probably wrong.

[Luke122]

If he eats 1 for every mile, and he walks 1000 miles, and he can only carry 1000, then by the time he gets from A to B, he's got no bananas left. So that means you arrive at point B with 0 bananas with you, and 2000 still sitting at point A.

So here's the tricky part.. can you not eat until you arrive at B? If so, then 1000 bananas arrive at B, and you eat umm.. camel food. Then you take camel food back with you to eat all the way to A, and then repeat.

*Edit* I just realized that you dont necessarily have to go the whole way on each trip.. working it out now.

Answer: 500.

[Airbozo]

So what is the question?

[Luke122]

LOL... I assumed the question to be, "How many bananas can you get from A to B"

[killergamer]

Yes, what is the max amount of bananas you can get to Point B? Its actually not 500! Keep trying!

[rendermandan]

For every 10 miles he moves, he needs to eat double that. or 20. so he needs to eat 2/3 total. so if there are only 3000, he can only have 1000 left over.

So 1000 is my answer.

[x88x]

renderman has the correct answer, but no process. ;) How about this:

We have to assume 1 thing: Bob can store bananas. For example, he eats 10 bananas, then walks 10 miles. If we assume that, we can do the following:
1) Eat 1000 bananas.
2) Pick up 1000 bananas, take them to the 500 mile point, drop them, and come back.
3) Pick up the last 1000 bananas and take them to the 500 mile point, eating one each mile.
4) You now have 500 bananas on Bob and 1000 on the ground in front of you (at the 500 mile point).
5) Eat 500 bananas.
6) Pick up the remaining 1000 and continue to the end.

Of course, you could also just have Bob eat 2000 bananas, carry the remaining 1000 to the end, then walk around for 1000 more miles just for fun... :whistler:

[billygoat333]

Of course, you could also just have Bob eat 2000 bananas, carry the remaining 1000 to the end, then walk around for 1000 more miles just for fun...

although after 2000 bananas your camel won't be walking, he will be busy fertilizing the sand for quite a while. ;)

[x88x]

Then we can grow more bananas! Who wants to leave point A anyways. :D

[dr.walrus]

Okay, a rather complex statistical analysis that really did eat into my Saturday night. After a pint of JD & coke I came up with this answer:


NOTES:

----------x88x, you assume the camel can store bananas. I believe this is a slight twisting of the scenario and we must assume the camel cannot store bananas.

----------Renderman, you've missed the point. He must not only walk from A - B -A, but also back to B. With this correction, the camel eats 100% of bananas.



SOLUTION:

- Carrying 3000 bananas can't be done more efficiently than this:

-----WHERE BANANAS => 2000

-----Pick up 1000 - n bananas
-----Walk 1 mile and deposit 998 - n bananas
-----Walk back to the start point, carrying 1 banana, eating that along the way
-----Pick up 1000 - n bananas
-----Walk 1 mile and deposit 998 - n bananas
-----Walk back to the start point, carrying 1 banana, eating that along the way
-----Pick up 1000 - n bananas


THIS WILL RESULT IN THE CONSUMPTION OF 1000 BANANAS AND A TOTAL COVERAGE OF 200 MI

WHERE BANANAS => 1000
(reset n to 0 when you reach 2000)
-----Pick up 1000 - n bananas
-----Walk 1 mile and deposit 998 - n bananas
-----Walk back to the start point, carrying 1 banana, eating that along the way
-----Pick up 1000 - n bananas
-----Walk 1 mile and deposit 998 - n bananas

THIS WILL RESULT IN THE CONSUMPTION OF 2000 BANANAS AND A TOTAL COVERAGE OF 533 MI

-----Now, pick up the rest of the fkn bananas and just go there. You will eat 467 bananas, meaning you can take 533 to market.

THIS WILL RESULT IN THE CONSUMPTION OF 2467 BANANAS AND A TOTAL COVERAGE OF 1000 MI. DONE!




- The reason for this methodology
-----Think of the maximum number of bananas the camel can carry. Let's call it X. We need to carry the very maximum number of bananas FORWARD, and the minimum BACKWARD. If we split the journey into lots of backward and forward trips, we mean we can hit the point where the number of bananas in the pile (let's call it Y) is a lower multiple of X, where X/Y is rounded to the lowest number. This is done by maximising the number of trips.



In fact, this could be done more efficiently, where the distance of the journey is in an ifinitely small number. If we do that, we will actually have 533.3 recurring bananas to take to market, but the 1/3 banana will have been infiinitely chewed by the camel and probably won't be saleable. Also, this does not take into account the turning circle of the camel.


CRITICISM OF THIS SCENARIO IN GENERAL-

1. A camel would tire and physically suffer from a diet of pure banana for 1000 miles. Eating that much banana could cause a dangerous potassium imbalance.
2. This scenario does not include the person riding/driving the camel - what do they eat? If they are walking alongside the camel, can they carry a load themselves?
3. A camel can jog at 7mph for up to 18 hrs. Assuming they need to rest for 6 hours between these bouts, they could travel 126 miles per day. The minimum journey, being 2467 km, would take a minimum of 19.58 days. Would bananas survive that long? Would coverage and cooling be needed?
4. Would the camel tire of repetitive circular journeys?
5. No account of changes in terrain
6. No account of changes in weather
7. Camels can carry a four-hundred-pound load a hundred miles across the desert and go eight days without food or water. In one case, the animal lost 227 pounds but was healthy and alert. (SOURCE: Moody Magazine 9/81). As such, this scenario is inherently flawed.


SO:

- Mathematical answer - 533 1/3 bananas

- Real world answer - Camel probably needs a source of water and an alternate food source along the way, reducing loss to a minimum. However, zero loss would increase journey length to 5000km. It may potentially be assumed that the bananas would be transported in a tropical climate and at the destination they should arrive fresh. A 2647km journey in tropical heat on a lumpy camel ride would probably result in the bananas arriving in an unsatisfactory state, and a toss-up between total loss of stock (a 5000km would take 40 days and result in 100% loss of stock) or 5/6 loss of stock due to camel consumption is unacceptable. And when the bananas are sold, how the hell do you get back with nothing to feed the camel?

Recommendation - Carry bananas in refridgerated van OR find a closer place to sell them.

[Zephik]

Answer: Bob sells 2,999 bananas to a local vendor. Bob takes money from sale and 1 banana. Bob eat's the one banana to get to the airport 1 mile away. Bob purchases a ticket to Point B from Point A. Bob has now arrived at Point B.

So Zero is the answer. Zero Banana's. Because Bob is a lazy good for nothing camel and placed ease and comfort ahead of priority to deliver as many bananas as possible. He now live's on the streets, thanks to having no income as he took no banana's with him to sell at Point B. So Bob lives the rest of his life out begging for change and prostituting in front of smoke shops. The end.

I was never good in any kind of mathematics class, but I always proved to be somewhat of an interesting person during my english and creative writing lessons. lol

[OvRiDe]

I think I like Zephiks answer the best. :D

[Luthien]

Do camels even eat bananas? Seriously, I've never really been around them so I have no idea what they eat. And if they do eat bananas, what if Bob's allergic to them anyway? He'd have to run away from them or die from anaphylaxis. If he even had time to run away...3,000 bananas is a lot to be allergic to. Poor Bob...

[artoodeeto]

I think Bob's a smart camel. He knows that banana skins are all smooth and slippery on one side. Bob also has a cousin in southern CA who surfs all day.

An idea occurs to Bob. Since it's already ludicrous that he could carry 1,000 bananas, he decides to eat 4 bananas, tie the skins to his hooves, load up 1,000 bananas, and surf his way to Point B, which happens to be downhill from Point A.

Happily, he finds that he's in an M.C. Escher drawing, and though Point B is downhill from Point A, Point A is also downhill from Point B. So he surfs back to Point A, and repeats the process. The last time, he has to eat 4 more bananas and replace the skins on his hooves. So he loads up 992 bananas and surfs down to Point B. He renames it Point Banana, having succesfully delivered 2,992 bananas. He then decides to never set eyes on nor eat a banana ever again...they no longer "a-peel" to him. :D

PS -- unhappily, he finds that there's no way out of the drawing, and is stuck going from A to B and back again...poor Bob. Good thing he's only imaginary.

[simon275]

3000

Bob carries all of them there in his stomach.

=D

[dr.walrus]

I'm still waiting for you to tell me if I got the right answer or not!