http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/samwise-and-gandalf Just another bbPress community en-US Sat, 18 May 2013 22:59:14 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/samwise-and-gandalf#post-291341 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:44:51 +0000 The Oracle 291341@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>1972 </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/samwise-and-gandalf#post-285595 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:57:42 +0000 Drokles 285595@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Yes! That is a good solution.<br /> There are more solutions out there, they only get slightly better than yours though. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/samwise-and-gandalf#post-285309 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:40:24 +0000 Popeye 285309@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Is it to dig an X shape from corner to corner / corner to corner to reveal the line location and orientation!?! </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/samwise-and-gandalf#post-285165 Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:25:08 +0000 Drokles 285165@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Here is another of my favourite riddles that I think, in its own small way, is a tribute to logic and math and the way they fascinate those who often find themselves pondering over the nuance of &#39;riddle&#39; that can be seen in everything around us. So I encourage you to play along :).</p> <p>Samwise Gamgee has a square plot of land, each side being 1 unit. One day, Sam finds out that the dark Lord Sauron has a telephone line that he uses to speak with a traitor amongst the hobbits. </p> <p>Gandalf informs him that the telephone line runs in a straight line parallel to the ground and passes beneath the square plot of land, but he does not know its location. Sam decides to dig up around the perimeter of his land to discover the telephone line, but Gandalf says it is not necessary to dig around the entire length of 4 units.</p> <p>Sam brightens up, and says &quot;I know what you mean. I can just dig 3 sides and still discover it. For even if the phone line runs along the fourth side, I will still detect it at the end points ! &quot;</p> <p>Gandalf shakes his head. &quot;No, Sam. You are on the right track, but you can do better than that.&quot;</p> <p>What solution does Gandalf have in mind for the optimum length of the &quot;digging curve&quot; ?</p> <p>As with the other one, there are many different solutions. It&#39;s a problem of optimisation, so any given solution can be tested to see how it compares to the others. I think I know the optimum solution, but of course if someone finds one that is better, then I stand corrected. </p>