Test your skills of deduction with the July 2024 edition of Riddle Me This: Stones, Jars, Life, Death.
You are a prisoner in a strange land. You have been sentenced to death but are being given one chance to live. The king of the land has decided to let you play a simple game to determine your fate.
You are presented with two clay jars. One contains 100 white stones, and the other 100 black stones. You are allowed to redistribute these stones any way that you like, but when you are finished all stones must be in the jars. After you have finished, both jars will be shaken up, you will be blindfolded, and presented one of the two jars at random. You will pick one stone out of the jar given to you. If the stone is white, your life will be spared, and if it is black, you will be executed immediately.
How should you redistribute the stones to give yourself the best chance of survival?
Click to Reveal Answer
1431 Graham Drive, Suite 265
support@noonpi.com
Hope it is a big jar to hold that much.
When I calculate it out, I get 74.87% chance of survival, a tad higher than the given answer.
The other thing in your favor is that whoever is handing you the jar might be motivated to pick up the lighter jar with one marble!
Picture implies the jars only hold 100 stones each. How do you get 199 in one jar?