This month, we visited a fashionable form of a faster: Hot mud beds.
You lie a plastic sheet of mud. Then you put your body in the blanket. Without any direct contact between the mud and body, you spend more minutes enjoying soft and saunalike heat, which strikes throughout the plastic. Although the spa session is not long, said odd restorations.
One day, three friends came. Unfortunately, only two plastic sheets available. No one wants to never forget; Then again, no one wants to lie down in the sweat of others.
“Wait!” says one. “It’s simple! I’ll use a part of the sheet, and you can use another.”
“Are you laughing?” another answer. “That side covered with mud.”
The first friend smiles. “Not when we plan ahead.”
# 1: How all three friends share the spa with just two sheets?
# 2: The next day, five friends visited the Spa, and only three sheets were available. Can they all share? (Let’s think about the spa now forbids to put a nap about a blanket directly to their expensive mud.)
# 3: Shortly, 10 friends visited the spa. Only five pieces are available. “Someone needs to lose,” one of them expresses. “There’s no way to know that,” as another, “until we are best to find a solution.” Which is right?
# 4: Later, the spa introduces a second type of mud, which should not be mixed before. If three friends want to try two mud, how many sheets do they need to be minimum? (We will consider every person who is poorly willing to lie twice on the same sheet.)
# 5: Stopping here is a whole total question, the one who has not resolved by math researchers: What is the minimum number of blankets that allow friends to experience a person or a kind of mud? (You can start by thinking of m = 1.)
While tried these puzzles, I recommend taking some index cards or sheet paper to maneuver. Or if you feel ambitious, take some plastic sheets, some sweaty friends and a quick muddy mud.
Looking for answers? Go to Sciencenews.org/puzzle-answers. We want to hear your thoughts. Email us at [email protected].
