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Ancient Egyptian Puzzles By dave
The Egyptian Pharaoh Zeserkheperure-Setepenre is one of the most controversial figures in ancient history. A master of psychology and Egyptian martial arts, he would torture his warriors with puzzles. His most famous 5 are often referred to as the Five Conundrums of Egypt by historians.
Puzzle One A young warrior travels a long, arduous road to the fanciful City of Gizards. Along the way, he reaches a fateful fork in the road, where he must decide which way to proceed. There, stand the Twins of Izirakamen. One is known to be a deceitful liar; the other has a soul of innate honesty. The young warrior is only allowed to ask one question to one of the twins to determine which way leads to the City of Gizards. He knows he cannot ask unfair questions, such as "Which way to the City of Gizards and how many fingers am I holding up?" What should this warrior ask? Puzzle Two Ten completely logical and greedy warriors have been awarded 100 gold ingots by the pharaoh. However, they have been ordered to split the reward up in a specific manner. First, they are to order themselves alphabetically. Then, the first warrior must propose a way to divvy up the gold. Everyone will vote on his proposal (includng the first warrior). If a majority disagrees, then this first warrior gets nothing and leaves. The second warrior now makes a proposal and the remaining 9 votes on it; this process repeats until a proposal passes. (Keep in mind, a proposal passes if at least half agree to it.) What should the first warrior propose to maximize his earnings? Puzzle Three A warrior has 2 tortoise shells; one holds 300 orniks of water and the other holds 500 orniks of water. If the warrior has an infinite amount of water, but only these shells as containers, how does he measure 400 orniks of water? Puzzle Four A warrior has been accused of treason and will be eaten alive by Egyptian bobcats the following day. The pharoah gives this warrior a chance to avoid such painful and dishonorable death. The warrior is given a balance and 12 pills of identical shape and size. Eleven of the pills contain poison; one is a placebo. The poisonous pills all weigh the same. The placebo, however, has a slightly different weight. The warrior is allowed 3 weighings with the balance to locate the placebo. How should the warrior do this? Puzzle Five The sacred cat of Mukatura slayed the sacred rat of Nourbese? —— Please do not email icemelon for answers or to verify answers. Such emails will be forwarded to the United States embassy in Egypt and will likely not be returned. |