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[Saint Jimmy]

The donkey riddle threw me completely, I still don't get it, even though I know the answer

OK, try it again:
a farmer's got 2,000 apples, a donkey that can carry only 1,000 apples max, and the market is 1,000 km away from where he lives.
The donkey will only walk if he is fed an apple for each kilometer it walks. If it's not fed its apple, it stops walking and won't budge.

The farmer wants to take his apples to the market to sell, but obviously the donkey is going to eat some along the way, so he's not going to be able to sell all of them. So, what's the maximum number of apples he can eventually sell?

(hint: the farmer can leave apples on the roadside, on the way to the market, and they won't rot or be stolen)



Is it any clearer now?

[erolz]

The donkey riddle threw me completely, I still don't get it, even though I know the answer

OK, try it again:
a farmer's got 2,000 apples, a donkey that can carry only 1,000 apples max, and the market is 1,000 km away from where he lives.
The donkey will only walk if he is fed an apple for each kilometer it walks. If it's not fed its apple, it stops walking and won't budge.

The farmer wants to take his apples to the market to sell, but obviously the donkey is going to eat some along the way, so he's not going to be able to sell all of them. So, what's the maximum number of apples he can eventually sell?

(hint: the farmer can leave apples on the roadside, on the way to the market, and they won't rot or be stolen)



Is it any clearer now?

Cant he just dhl them?

[Saint Jimmy]

Obviously not. Who'd buy imported, uncivilised apples that will cut off their daughter's nose if she won't marry her rapist?

You're not thinking...

[Christie]

Cant he just dhl them?

It was Sunday. DHL office was closed

[cannedmoose]

I'll go and pick up the bloody apples in my Renault Clio then... might take a few trips but it'd save the aggro of working out this puzzle again...

[cannedmoose]

And while I'm at it, I'll take the poor donkey to a sanctuary...

[Marinella]

If the farmer has 2000 apples and the donkey can carry 1000 at a time.

The village is 1000 km away and the donkey must eat an apple every 1km.

So the total left to be sold is 1000 apples, and here is how I get this:

farmer goes first and leaves 1000 apples along the road, then packs the other 1000 on the cart and he and donkey set off. The donkey eats the apples the farmer left on the road and the 1000 in his cart make it to the market.

I know that is wrong, but it's all I can think of.

[Saint Jimmy]

OK, so now try this:

The farmer can take to the village 334 apples to sell. In the meantime, ultimately selling these 334 apples will have cost him 1666 apples.

My thinking is based on the hint.
If the farmer throws one apple on the roadside per kilometer while the donkey walks, then the first batch of 1000 apples can take him up to 333 km along the way, before the donkey has to return because the apples will have run out. So, the donkey eats 333 apples on the way to the village, 333 on the way back, and 334 are left on the roadside.
Route 2: the donkey eats the apples on the road, until the 334th km has been covered, and then it starts eating from the batch it's carrying. That means it'll need another 666 apples to go all the way, and the farmer can sell the 334 remaining ones.

[Marinella]

Ah........

Now I get it.

Time for that old farmer to buy a van, that's an awful lot of work for only 334 apples.

Greedy little donkey!

Thanks Jimmy

[magikthrill]

whats going on with the bloody wrong number