brain teasers – Lee Duigon

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I almost forgot to give you the answer to Columbo’s puzzle.

To recap: You have three bags filled with gold pieces, but the pieces in one of the bags are counterfeit. The only way you can tell the difference is that the genuine gold pieces weigh a pound apiece, but each counterfeit piece weighs one pound and one ounce. You need to discover which bag contains the counterfeits: but all you have, by way of equipment, is an old-fashioned penny scale, like they used to have in drugstores, and a single penny. How do you do it?

Well, no one here came up with the answer, so here it is.

From Bag #1 take one piece; from Bag #2, take two pieces; and from #3, three.

Weigh all six pieces at once.

If it weighs six pounds, one ounce, the counterfeits are in Bag 1. If it weighs six pounds, two ounces, they’re in Bag 2; if six pounds, three ounces, Bag 3.

Don’t feel bad. Columbo had help from his screenwriters.

See the source image

Here’s a puzzle that was featured in a Columbo episode we watched last night. Columbo cracked it. Can you? Here it is.

You have three bags full of gold pieces. Two of the bags contain genuine gold pieces weighing one pound each. One contains counterfeit pieces weighing one pound and one ounce each. The only way you can tell them apart is by weighing them.

But all you have is a penny scale and a single penny, so you only get one weighing, no more. Utilizing only your penny and this scale, can you figure out which of the bags contains the counterfeit pieces?

Now the answer to this puzzle is quite simple. “Why didn’t I think of it!” you’ll say, once you know the answer.

Some of you may already know this problem. If you do, don’t spill the beans.

I will reveal the answer after allowing some time for my readers to offer their answers.

And no, I didn’t get it, either! But you and I don’t have the screenwriters on our side.