October 11, 2011

Problem of the Week

for Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Now imagine this. You have three live rats at your disposal and a collection of vials, one of which contains a poison deadly enough to kill a rat within the night if only a few drops of it are ingested. Once again, you have only one night to experiment. What is the largest number of vials from which you can determine the poison vial? Find the maximum number and explain your experimental procedure.

Winners of the Three Rat challenge