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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!duke!aff
From: aff@duke.UUCP (Amr F. Fahmy)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Weighing problem
Message-ID: <5702@duke.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 7-Apr-85 23:07:40 EST
Article-I.D.: duke.5702
Posted: Sun Apr  7 23:07:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Apr-85 06:17:54 EST
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 16

I am a new subscriber to net.puzzle and I don't know if the following 
puzzle appeared before, if it did please accept my appologies.

Given 12 identical items all weighing the same but only one is "different" in 
weight from all the others.  You are given a balance (no weights), a pen 
(just in case you need to mark items) and nothing else to use. You are asked 
to identify the different item using the balance the least number of times. 

This puzzle has always appealed to me very much, I don't know if there is
a systematic way of solving it, I would be interested in case such a
solution exists.

					Amr F. Fahmy

CSNet : aff@duke
Distribution: net.puzzle