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Post Info TOPIC: Puzzler - The Locked Box, and ...
ed11563


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Puzzler - The Locked Box, and ...
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THE ASYMMETRIC COMMUTE

 
RAY: Two young guys are discussing their jobs. One says, "I set my trip odometer the first day I started my job and the round trip is exactly 20 miles."
"Wow, that's great," the other guy says. "I wish my job was only 10 miles from home."
"Oh, no," number one guy says, "it's only 5 miles to get to work, but 15 miles to get home."
"What are you driving, an ice cream truck or something like that?"
"No, no, no, no."
"Oh, I know, you're taking a detour to visit your girlfriend."
"Nope, not at all. I drive directly from home to work, taking the shortest route. And I return from work, also taking the shortest route. No detours, no side trips. I come directly home and it's 15 miles to get home, making it a 20-mile round-trip to work and home from work."
And he goes on to say: "Last week the boss called and asked me to report to another location for a few days to fill in for someone who was on vacation. Ready for this? On those days I drove 15 miles to get to work, but then the ride home was only 5 miles."
The question is - how can this be?
 
Answer the Puzzler »
 
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Remember last week's puzzler?

THE LOCKED BOX

 
RAY: Imagine you have a friend who lives in an authoritarian country where the government spies on everyone and everything. You want to send a valuable object to this friend. So you have a box which is more than large enough to contain the object and you have several locks with keys.
 
Now this box, I suppose you could call it a strongbox, has a lock ring that can accommodate several padlocks. But your friend does not have the key to any lock that you have. You can't send a key in the mail because the government will intercept it and copy it. And you can’t leave the box unlocked, because the object is very valuable. You have to send it through the mail. You can't hand deliver it. You want to lock it so that your friend can open it, but the spies can't.
 
The question is, how would you do it?
Think you know the answer?

 

 

 

The Locked Box

 

The Puzzler


RAY: Put the valuable thing in the box and put as many locks as you want on the clasp, making sure you leave room for at least one more. Put it in the mail. Your friend gets it. He leaves all of your locks on it and adds another lock for which he has the key. He mails it back to you. You remove all of your locks, and now you can't get it open. But you don't have to -- because he can when you mail it back to him. So who's our winner?



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ed11563


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My theory ...

 

He lives and works by a limited access highway.

Spoiler

 

 

 



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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.

Always misinterpret when you can.
cadiver


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He lives on island with a one way road around it, 20 miles long.

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