Brain Teasers
Brave Sailors
We are brave sailors always riding the sea
We are less than one hundred but as tough as can be
We sleep in three bunkers on top of each other
Our numbers double from one bunker to another
We dance in joy all through the night
In groups of fives under the moonlight
Last night twelve of us were swallowed by waves
Leaving alive more than two third of the braves
Still we continue the journey refusing to fail
So tell me how many of us are left to sail?
We are less than one hundred but as tough as can be
We sleep in three bunkers on top of each other
Our numbers double from one bunker to another
We dance in joy all through the night
In groups of fives under the moonlight
Last night twelve of us were swallowed by waves
Leaving alive more than two third of the braves
Still we continue the journey refusing to fail
So tell me how many of us are left to sail?
Answer
58 sailors are left.1. From line 2: Total number of sailors is <100.
2. From lines 3 & 4: Let number of sailors sleeping in bunker 1 be X, then number of sailors sleeping in bunker 2 is 2X and in bunker 3 is 4X,
i.e. Total number of sailors = X+2X+4X = 7X and thus it is a multiple of 7.
3. From line 6: dancing in groups of fives means the total number is a product of 5.
4. From lines 7 & 8: 12 of the sailors drowned in the sea, leaving more than two third of the sailors alive, so the total number is > 36 (3 * 12).
Summing up all the above given information, the total number of sailors is <100 and >36, it divides by 7 and 5, which adds up to the total number of 70 sailors.
Since 12 of the 70 sailors died in the sea, there are 58 sailors left to continue the journey.
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Comments
This was a good presentation of the facts.. well thought out. Nice puzzle.
nice 1
I got the answer really quickly, but I guess that was just luck. It seems like their would be way more answers, but there's just one. Cool teaser!
I got the answer really quickly, but I guess that was just luck. It seems like their would be way more answers, but there's just one. Cool teaser!
Fun; easy but made me think; Thanks
Good one....i got 48 , but i just misunderstood the line about the numbers doubling. Looking back, it was a really stupid mistake lol
Still an awesome problem tho
Still an awesome problem tho
Love it! The math is easy enough, but the poetic presentation is well worth the time to solve the puzzle.
At first the question was a bit unclear to me. Was not sure whether the lines about the bunkers and the dancing referred to the original situation or to thesituation at hand (so before or after the 12 were drowned) after all everything was in present tense. Well if it referred to the situation at hand there was not a single unique answer while if it was the original situation there was.
Certainly a great way to format a puzzle ! Nice poem.
Certainly a great way to format a puzzle ! Nice poem.
Going to try this without looking at the answer
x = original # of sailors
b = # of sailors in first bunker
x < 100
b + 2b + 4b = x
7b = x
x mod 7 = 0
x mod 5 = 0
x - 12 > 2/3 x
x > 36
36 < x < 100
and x is evenly divisible by 5 and 7, so x = 70
x - 12 = remaining pirates
70 - 12 = 58
Going to check now
x = original # of sailors
b = # of sailors in first bunker
x < 100
b + 2b + 4b = x
7b = x
x mod 7 = 0
x mod 5 = 0
x - 12 > 2/3 x
x > 36
36 < x < 100
and x is evenly divisible by 5 and 7, so x = 70
x - 12 = remaining pirates
70 - 12 = 58
Going to check now
WOOT! Nice puzzle!
Aug 26, 2011
This teaser is flawed. The ambiguity involves a lacking condition that must be stated if a doubling cumulative ratio between bunkers is to be achieved. Without this modifier moving between bunkers does not necessary guarantee that 2(A+B) = C. The movement between bunkers could also be random in that it is not ordered to move from smallest to largest. 48 is also a correct answer for the problem the way it is worded.
Aug 26, 2011
The correction should read "from one to another and another." This would be a correct version of what the author intended, but then what do I know?
Good puzzle. It was obvious that the numbers were either 35 or 70. I see no ambiguity in the doubling from one bunker to another (but sometimes these teasers are edited after the comments).
Easy.
Easy.
Nice work..I got it...but only after assuming you meant "We dance(d) in joy all through the night
In groups of fives under the moonlight".
If there's only 58 NOW...(full) groups of 5 ain't possible
In groups of fives under the moonlight".
If there's only 58 NOW...(full) groups of 5 ain't possible
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