Page 11 - AutomationNotebook-Issue45-digital

Break Room
Brain Teaser Answers
By Chip McDaniel, AutomationDirect
1.) Spastic Gasket
The applicator can start at point A or B to trace the following (approximated) path in either direction.
one drive and two approach shots. The fifth is per- haps the trickiest of all; the golfer overshoots the hole with three drives, and then uses one approach shot to get back to the hole The sixth at 350 uses two drives and one approach. Hole seven is one of each dis- tance. The eighth is three approaches, and the ninth is four drives. Thus resulting in a score of 26 strokes.
4.) ABCs for AGVs
2.) The Circular Conveyor
Place one sensor at any point on the conveyor (call that position zero), then place additional sen- sors at 1, 5, 9, & 12 feet respectively from position zero. The remaining gap from the last sensor back to the first sensor (completing the circle) should be 14 feet.
Extra credit: the conveyor can be increased in length to 31feet,andsensorsplacedatthe0,1,3,8,12,&18footmarks. The general solution: for a sensor count of n sensors, the formula n(n-1) will define the num- ber of integer distances possible (with n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). So, for 6 sensors, all the integer distances from 1 to 30 are possible on a 31 foot conveyor. [Extra credit reference Michael Goldberg’s solution to Problem E1716 in American Mathematical Monthly, September 1965, p. 786.]
3.) Goofy Golf
The two distances of 100 yds and 125 yds will yield a low score of 26 strokes. Let’s call the 125 yard stroke the ‘drive’, and the 100 yard stroke the ‘approach’. The first hole is 300 yards, so the golfer uses three approach shots. The second hole simply needs two ‘drives’. The third hole; two ‘approaches’. The fourth at 325 requires
All puzzles credited to: Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857 – 1930)
Break Room www.automationnotebook.com | Issue 45