Hello Neil!

Replying to a message of Neil Heller to All:

 NH>      You are put in charge of 25 horses.

 NH>      You need to determine which 5 horses are the fastest runners.

 NH>      Each horse runs any race at exactly the same speed.

 NH>      The speed of any one horse may be different from the speed
 NH>      of any other horse.

 NH>      You have access to a race track with only 5 lanes.
 NH>      Any race can involve at most 5 horses.

 NH> question #1:

 NH>      What is the fewest number of races that need to be run to
 NH> determine  which are the five fastest horses?

5.  Use a stopwatch, time the first place for each race, see which one has
the shortest time from the winners.

Or, if no stopwatch allowed, 6 - take the five first-place winners from
before, and put them against each other.

 NH> consideration:

 NH>      If the 25 horses are divided into (arbitrary) groups of 5, the 
 NH> fastest horse in one group of 5 may be slower than any of the horses
 NH> in  another group.

 NH> question #2:

 NH>      How would you show your progression in a matrix?

Headings: Horse name, Time

:-)

Darin

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