Posted by MathBard on November 01, 2002 at 17:13:40:
In Reply to: MathBard's bags posted by Denis Borris on October 30, 2002 at 23:44:58:
and thanks for NOT ridiculing me for the candle problem. i realize i calculated the time left to burn and NOT the length. OR is this some ironic way of making fun of me since i have NO freaking idea of how to do this problem.
I bet Shakespeare could have whipped Euclid and Pythagoras at Wheel of Fortune!
: MathBard takes a flight and checks 4 bags; including his 4 bags,
: there are N bags of checked luggage. MathBard is now standing at
: baggage claim waiting for his luggage to appear on the carousel;
: whoops, a bag falls from up there: it's one of MathBard's!
: The luggage starts carouselling down;
: MathBard, who somehow knows the total number of bags, says to himself:
: "Good; I now EXPECT to count 500 less until my last bag appears" .
: No lost luggage; MathBard's 3 other bags are guaranteed to arrive.
: And yes, MathBard's 3rd bag does get counted.
: What is N ?