Cutting A Gold Bar 3

[bam720]

If I have 1 gold bar, equally divided into 7 pieces as such:
|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|
I need to pay an employee each day for one week. His wages are 1 piece of the gold bar per day. How can I cut the bar to allow for fair payment using only 2 cuts. You can not fold the bar because it is gold.

 

[mmerlinn]

I would imagine a binary cut would be appropriate here.

End result would be:

|=|
|=|=|
|=|=|=|=|


mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[traingamer]

So how will you use that to pay me on Tuesday after I spent the 1 unit piece you gave me on Monday?



Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[VRoscioli]

He gives you the two gold piece and you give him the one gold piece back.


-V

 

[Skie]

I can see how that's likely the solution, but doesn't that present a problem if he spends the gold piece? Seems much more efficient to pay him weekly. Then I only need to cut the bar one time if he doesnt work a 7 day week.

 

[cjelec]

Going by a normal working week is 5 days, I'll go with:

Two curve lines:
___________
| \ ____ /|
| \ / \ / |
| X X |
| / \ ____ / \ |
| /__________\|

 

[GwydionM]

I assume binary cuts are meant to be the right answer. But as traingamer says, this depends on the employee keeping their wages and having the bars ready to give as change. So why not just cut once and give them five bars at the end of the week?

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK

 

[mmerlinn]

GwydionM

Reasonable assumption, but what happens when there is a holiday some time during the week? Depending on the job, this could be a major obstacle since there tends to be here about 1 week per month that is short or split because of days off, sometimes paid, sometimes not.


mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[AlexCuse]

Maybe back in the good old days, when people were paid with gold bars, they didn't need to worry about such things

[small]----signature below----[/small]
I don't do any programming whatsoever

Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom

 

[jwenting]

indeed, they'd just hire someone to make more cuts as needed...
Or they made sure they ordered gold bars from the gold bar maker that were the right size for paying exactly the amount needed.

 

[ESquared]

Give the employee all seven pieces on the first day.

[COLOR=black #d0d0d0]My alarm clock causes time travel. When I hit snooze, no apparent time passes before the alarm sounds again, but the universe has in fact moved forward through time by ten minutes![/color]

 

[AlexCuse]

But, if you can cut it only twice, would it not be 3 pieces?

[small]----signature below----[/small]
I don't do any programming whatsoever

Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom

 

[jwenting]

4 pieces max. Cut in half, put pieces on top of each other, cut the stack.
But that might be bending the rules a bit

 

[RickBerem]

I was wondering...
I get paid only once a week!
Maybe this guy gets paid only once a week also...
then 0 cuts would be needed!



SG

 

[SamBones]

Just cut two small pieces off the bar. One goes to the employee as severance pay. One goes to some offshore country that you've outsourced his job to. You keep the rest.

At least I think that's how it works.

Or, you tell him he's paid once a week and give him the whole bar at the end of the week (after cutting a third of it off for taxes and health insurance and so forth).

 

[SiriusBlackOp]

My Thought... If it's already divided into 7 pieces, then why cut it at all? Just give him one piece per day. LOL!

Senior Software Developer

http://www.scoutsft.com

 

[BobRodes]

Sorry, I can only figure out how to do it with one.

 

[BobRodes]

Well, come to think of it, that means I can do it with two as well. So:

Ignore the "equal division into 7 cuts" as this suggests that no cuts need to be made to distribute properly. Now, make one cut in the shape of a sine wave, such that there are 3.5 waves in the gold bar. This will break the bar into 8 pieces; the two end pieces will be the same size taken together as any of the inner pieces. Make sure, of course, that the apex of each wave is the exact tangent of the edge of the bar, so that the fact of a single cut will be preserved while still breaking the bar into pieces.

To make a second cut, make a random cut in the bar that doesn't alter the pieces in any way.

Done.

 

[comtechau]

I know I am not allowed 3 cuts but...
1st cut |=|=|=|=|X|=|=|=|
giving you |=|=|=|=| |=|=|=|
Then stack the block of 3 on TOP of the block of 4
2nd cut |=|=|X|=|=| through 2 layers
giving you |=|=| |=|=| |=|=| |=|
Then stack the 3 blocks of 2 on TOP of each other
3rd cut |=|X|=| through 3 layers
giving you |=| |=| |=| |=| |=| |=| |=|
DONE!
(I am stumped as to how it could ever be done in 2cuts!)

http://commtechau.bravehost.com

 

[comtechau]

Doh.. Didn't read the entire post! Nifty answer Bob!

http://commtechau.bravehost.com