Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Dear Noo,

Congratulations! You have guessed correctly in the Lenny Conundrum game (round 175). You have won 964 NP!

Yours Sincerely,
The Neopets Team!

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Answer was the Giant Omelette

There's an easy one for this week:

A Grundo, a Gnorbu, a Gelert, and a Grarrl need to walk from Sakhmet to Qasala during a really bad heat wave. The heat is so bad, it's not possible to cross the open desert without some sort of shade. Fortunately, they have one umbrella. Unfortunately, however, only a maximum of two pets at a time can fit under the umbrella. The Grundo can cross the desert alone in 20 minutes. The Gnorbu can make the crossing alone in 16 minutes. The Grarrl can make the crossing alone in 8 minutes. And the Gelert can make the crossing in 4 minutes. Note that when two pets are making the crossing, they must do so at the pace of the slower pet!

What is the minimum number of minutes that it will take for all of the pets to safely be together in Qasala?

Just simple math, really. As long as you think through it, you should get it right.

What time did this one come out? I got my answer in at 7:55 pm NST.

Well I see it's been out for over an hour plus people are giving away answers on the boards...great.

Yeah, but this time the predominant answer thrown around the boards is wrong... Or at least that was the case when I checked. I think most of the people who rushed got it wrong, so you might still have a chance.

Yeah, a lot of neoboarders are saying "it's so easy! It's 52!" And it's not.

Ack! I divided all the numbers by 4 to make things easier, and ended up forgetting to multiply it back.

Ah well, that's probably why they made everything divisible by 4 in the first place... :p

How can it not be 52? I mean... I know that's just too easy, but you need to have 2 pets cross at a time, then one has to come back with the umbrella to cross again. I've been thinking forever and I still don't see a shorter way!

Me too I even triple checked it !!!

I got a lower answer than 52 but not sure if it's low enough - I'm checking it with cran_b

I've seen a similar problem before, so I knew it wasn't going to be 52, but I'm not quite sure mine's the absolute fastest way *was too lazy to check it* I think I did everything right at least.

Hint 1: This is a famous mathematical problem, except it usually involves too little light instead of too much light.

Hint 2: There is more than one way to optimize. If you don't see a second way to optimize the time, you're not reading this carefully enough.

[edit] Clarified that this is two hints, added a little to the first to jog memories.

I can't see a smaller answer than 52. can someone give me a more detailed hint plz?

Can you PM me with how you're getting 52?

OK here's a hint - try taking a way round that involves the two slowest people not taking two seperate journeys.

This is also a brain teaser they use during interviews - to test how you think.

Hint: You want the two slowest people to take 1 journey and one journey only. How then, do you order the people?

Hint: The answer is below 52.

The competition has been judged. The answer is 48 minutes:
Send the 4 + 8 min. pets across - 8 min.
Send the 8 min. pet back - 8 min.
Send the 20 + 16 min. pets across - 20 min.
Send the 4 min. pet back - 4 min.
Send the 4 + 8 min. pets back across - 8 min.
Total time = 48 minutes.