Problem Definition
Pirates
Situation:
Five pirates are trying to split up 1000 gold pieces. The rules are as follows:
Pirate #1 must divide the gold up in such a way that a majority of the pirates (including himself) agree to. If he does not get a majority vote, he will be killed, and pirate #2 will get to propose a solution to the remaining 3 pirates, and the same rules will follow. This continues until someone comes up with a plan that earns a majority vote.
The pirates are infinitely greedy, infinitely ruthless (the more dead pirates the better), and infinitely intelligent.
Question:
What is the highest amount of gold pieces that pirate #1 can keep and what would his proposal be?
Chicken
Situation:
A man is traveling with a fox and two chickens, if he leaves the fox alone with the chickens the fox will eat the chickens. He arrives at a river and needs to cross it. He finds a small boat that can carry only him and one animal.
Question:
How does he get himself, the fox and the two chickens across the river safely?