Hi Neil.

20-May-04 10:24:02, Neil Heller wrote to Jasen Betts


 NH> JB>now... race  a b e h i and take the two fastest, JB>and then
 NH> race f g c d and the third place getter from JB>the last race and
 NH> take the two fastest

 NH> JB>that'll do it

 NH> JB>12 races.

 NH> JB>is there  a better solution?

 NH> Using (excellent observations wrt) relative spacing, more horses
 NH> could be eliminated in the early races.  The (correct) answer
 NH> given was 8 but I think that depended too heavily on there being 1
 NH> or 2 best case scenarios (a relatively even spread of the fastest
 NH> horses among the various groups).

 I find 8 hard to believe other than as a best case.

but here's a best case fastest 5 in 6 races

race 1..5 race different groups of 5 horses.

race 6 - the fastest horse from each group,
 if all 5 horses are the same speed you have the group of 5 fastest :)


 -=> Bye <=-

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