Imagine that there are nine babies on a hospital ward. Unfortunately, they are all crying their heads off because they are suffering from colic. There is no point in calling the The British Chiropractic Association because, as well now know, they happily promote bogus treatments for which there is not a jot of evidence. However, you are given permission to order two sound proofed screens, each of which is in the shape of a square, and asked to arrange the screens in such a way as to ensure that each baby is isolated from all of the others. The square screens can be any size you like. Can you solve the problem?
As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but feel free to say id you think you have solved it and how long it took. Answer on Monday.
can the screens overlap, ie cross through each other?
Easy 2 secs
Can I not just isolate them from me? Or stop them crying?
First time poster! I’ve only followed the blog a couple of weeks and this is the first time I’ve had the time to sit down and look at the Friday puzzle.
It took about 5 seconds to solve but was a fantastic way to waken my brain up for the day.
I have Aspergers Syndrome and can often ‘see’ solutions to puzzles visually so it being quite a visual puzzle meant I was either going to get a working answer quickly or really struggle with it.
I too ‘see’ the puzzle, so find this visual ones fun.
I saw the answer straight away and my solution does not have the screens overlapping.
However as each baby is sitting in a puddle perhaps the first solution would be to put a dry nappy on each of them to see if that would stop them crying.
No no what each one needs is a quick chiropractic adjustment at the T3 to cure the colic…….heheheeee……weeeeee!
nice narrative framing of the puzzle, but the answer is very obvious…just a couple of seconds.
I’m pretty sure I’ve done it.
10 seconds including a little doodle.
hi, richard!
that’s such an easy one! solved it in like… 4 seconds! no kidding =)
by the way, great time we all had with luis de matos on facebook!
have fun*
Got it in <30sec
If they overlap, 5 seconds, if not then I’ll just start crying now, as that isn’t solvable.
Done, quickly too…
As an aside I see the phrase “The British Chiropractic Association happily promote bogus treatments for which there is not a jot of evidence” cropping up quite a lot in the last few days…will this appear in Google searches?
I didn’t even have to read the last two sentences before I knew the answer. Yay!
Hehe, I like your little stab at the BCA. A well-deserved stab, that is
Got it in a few minutes. It seemed to make it easier to draw it out on paper.
No bogus treatments and no overlapping squares.
10 secs – but I think I sliced a baby’s foot off.
Oops
That’s not going to help with the crying…
Hey Richard,
Another long time reader/first time poster. The blog is fantastic.
This one was very easy for me…may have helped that it was visual.
Keep up the good work!
Yep, got it after about a minute – with no overlaps needed (how could physical screens overlap anyhow)
may have seen a similar puzzle before as it felt familiar with sheep instead of babies (very topical), but couldn’t remember a solution.
I would put both screens around me (for double insulation). Doesn’t solve the puzzle, but it solves the problem…
Got this one within a few seconds! That’s a first for me…
Yup, about half a minute (including time spent reading the problem). No overlaps. A pleasant start to a busy Friday.
Less than a minute. No overlap required, and wouldn’t make sense given the setup. If you can cut the screens apart, there’s no need to keep them as squares.
Same here. A little easy. But love this kind of visual puzzles!
You need to keep them squares but you can resize them? This is a theoretical puzzle, no need of perfect explanation of the setup
Easy one. 5 seconds.
v
hve nly 2 screens!
right?
Didn’t understand the question at first, but got it right away after what kind of “square” screens you’re talking about.
With the solution I think everyone has got can’t you in fact isolate ten babies?
Got it, about 2 mins. No overlaps.
Doh, very slow! I was using a screen in the shape of a four and one in the shape of a nine.
Got my answer but don’t think it is the one that is looked for but yes 2 screens…….but just don’t see how “screens” can be sound proof…..so if in this case they can be then my answer should be just as workable……still think a quick trip to the chiropractor would do just as well! Took me a few min to come up with my answer as I had to create a world in which screens were sound proof able before I could move on to the answer….. :}
Oh Oh I just came up with a way to sound proof….. substitute the sound proof screens with plain old duck tape and poof no more crying colic babies!!!!
thought i had it, but reviewed my answer, and now have the definitive answer. But could there not be a less negligent way of dealing with a ward of crying babies??
Will make a bold statement – think those folk who think it can be done without overlapping the screens are wrong. Max you can isolate that way is five (six, if you include one baby outside of the arrangement of squares you create).
Annoying we can’t discuss about how to do this until Monday!
Well, I don’t want to give the solution away, but I reckon you’re allowed to use the walls of the ward (basically, the existing square in the post). The babies just have to be separated from each other; it doesn’t say they have to be totally enclosed by the square screens.
Suspect using the walls of the ward is cheating (although not expressly forbidden), but we’ll see on Monday.
In fact, how do we even know the ward is square (or any regular shape)?
What about moving the babies around some…..ok…..right?
Hmmm…tricky one…
I hate all these people who say they can do it in 2 seconds when I can’t….
Nope, it’s impossible….all the people who think they have it are deluding themselves…..
[Dawning Realisation]
D’oh!
Super easy – Took me less than 5 secondes
Well I worked it by being pedantic and using 1 screen.
< 10 sec. No overlap needed. (Finally i get to solve one in not-moronic time!).
Easy. less than ten seconds (though I had to read the puzzle twice).
Jolly good. I approve of this.
Nice puzzle. I had to read it three times (@rmb beat me in that) but then, the meaning of what is a square screener sunk in to me (I thought it was a square portable wall).
I trust no one felt this problem to be too much difficult, so let’s up it a little: explain how to do the all thing assuring that at least 8 babies as the same area for themselves. Keep your solution until monday (or write that area per baby in terms of the big baby room… I think no one is going to discern how the problem can be solved through that).
Pretty quick. But something in the back of my mind tells me I’ve seen a variation of this one before somewhere.
As with most people here, I got it in under ten seconds. I’m assuming the ward itself is square and the two screens are different sizes.
On a side note: slight problem with the arrangement – you have to remove the screens when it comes to feeding / changing the sprogs (in which case, a good set of noise cancelling headphones might be a good idea to add to the order!)
Then again, if the babies are isolated from each other sound-wise, then once you’ve got one settled, you don’t need to worry about the others setting it off again!
It took me longer to figure out what on earth a square screen was than to solve the puzzle. Confusing!
Got it in about a minute once I started doodling it out. No overlaps needed for my solution to work.
Took a suggestion from a friend but I must have taken 5 mins
I am obviously of negligible intelligence. Never had so much difficulty with a friday puzzle. D’oh!
ps I have noticed a lot of people on the blog seem to be on the autistic spectrum. I tend to relate well to people with aspergers, and I feel I myself am borderline, particularly with social situations. I work with adults with autism and learning difficulties, which is a different kettle of fish entirely (or a subset of the same fishbucket). Mr Wiseman, is there anything to be learned from the prevalence of atypical neurology on your blog? Some very clever chappies and chappesses here… I read that the incidence of ASD in people who attend Maths degrees at Cambridge tends to be as high as 50%. What do you think?
Trying to divert attention from my failure to complete the puzzle…
Ever did the autism test? E.g. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html
A colleague did an (unscientific) poll in our company with more than 1000 people and found that the techier, the more autistic. Matches with other study results – and people on this blog are likely to be somewhat further along on the geek spectrum…
Thanks ChrisB, will check it out… ps look below, have cracked it now, seems so easy when you know how…
These are getting too easy. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.
‘ensure that each baby is isolated from all of the others.’ is surely tautological. Should read ‘ensure that each baby is isolated.’
“isolate each baby” is even shorter. Sometimes I’m glad for every word. (I’m not a native). I have read the puzzle twice to understand what is meant by “screen in the shape of a square”
Woo-hoo!
Had lunch, sat down, drew diagram, answer came in 15 seconds.
Maybe I was hungry… seems so obvious now. No overlaps. Only squares. The walls are included, if only because otherwise the sound could go around the corner, so to speak.
< 2 seconds
Yep. Got it in around 2 seconds.
arrgghh, if I say anything extra, it will give the game away!
I’d come up with one solution pretty quickly, then decided to draw it and it turned up to be bogus (
). But right after that I’ve happily come up with a correct one.
I think I got it —30 seconds—, but the room walls have to be a certain size (smaller than depicted!)
I took ten seconds – the large part was spent with laughing about the BCA, though
Yep. about 25 seconds, second try, screens do not need to overlap.
Easy peasy.
Yeah! Easy peasy but I had to draw it out though to prove to myself that it would work. I don’t think I’d ever get the screens constructed because I’d have to cuddle the babies first….
Granted took me a bit. Out of the puzzle solving loop these last few years. And I have been up for 13 hours..
NO EXCUSE!
I will solve them faster! I will solve them better!
Ok done with the recriminations. Onward!
Took me about 10 seconds or so, and I’m a bit worried that one of the screens might be a bit of a squeeze, but we all know a baby’s head is still soft so I don’t think I can do *that* much damage…
Got this one – with so many reporting mere seconds to get it, I figured it was a club I could join! A quick sketch and the crying is contained.
First one I’ve nailed this quickly. Took about 5 seconds.
yeah, about 30 seconds. No overlap needed. Very enjoyable, thanks.
I have never solve a puzzle quicker i though this was going to involve overlapping but as i drew it i realised it wasn’t necessary.
thank you for making me clever for the weekend
I kind of think I solved it. but I am not so sure. It took me 59 seconds (8O). =P
I think I’m getting used to these puzzles. They keep getting easier every week!
I fell right into the trap they wanted you to at first. It took about 5 minutes in the end.
I first tried to do in a Poincaré disk, but then remembered that there are no rectangles in hyperbolic geometry. It didn’t take me very long to solve it once I tried drawing it out.
Yup, about two seconds. But only because of previous training in out-of-the box thinking.
Got it — about 30 seconds.
Yay. Got it!
Unfortunately, in the process I ended up with a headache. Can the BCA promote a treatment to cure me?
Cranial osteopathy? Seems to cure pretty much anything… amazing, really, considering the lack of evidence (not a jot) and the claims (bogus?) that they make…
craniosacral therapy should do the trick!
the border of the image is quite misleading =)
But I got it
I dislike this puzzle for it’s lack of a definition of sufficient “isolation”. I’ve got two possible solutions, but I dislike the amount of relative isolation involved.
I got it in 10 seconds, although I don’t see how isolating the babies will stop the problem of their crying.
Got it in less than a minute. I don’t know the time any closer than that because I was interrupted by the ‘phone.
Got the answer just after I read that the screens were square
2 sec is enough
This one stumped me for a bit… but I came back to it and drew some doodles and got a (the?) solution in about a minute or less.
Awesome puzzle! Really enjoyed this one!
Yes! And about 30 seconds.
I thought I had it in about two seconds and then I thought again and realized I didn’t. Now I have a solution with two overlapping rectangles, but I don’t know if that counts.
About 5 seconds
It took me a little while, but I got it. I actually had to walk away from it two times, and then think of similar puzzles.
I quickly found a way to do it that overlapped, but then I read the comments that people solved it without overlapping, so I tried again. I found a way to separate 8 babies, and got stuck for 10+ minutes. That’s when I had to walk away. I thought of other puzzles, and then was able to find a solution, without overlapping, to separate 9 babies in a regular square room with two square screens.
I probably spent a good 20 minutes total thinking about this.
It took me ~5 minutes, I initially thought of a solution that requires the two screens to overlap (cross over each other), but my 2nd solution works without needing to do that =D
2 squares, different sizes, and no overlapping, 5 minutes.
Great way to take a break from studying xP
I have done it without the aid of chiropraction.
Over 5 minutes.
I found the image of the babies as an issue. I was trying to draw my squares to fit around them, and it just wasn’t working.
Just took a look at this. They don’t overlap and took a quick sketch but once I got the first square in the right position the answer was obvious.
About 30 seconds in all. Although it could have been quicker had I not drawn such a lovely diagram.
Thought I had it right away but the requisite doodle showed otherwise.
By square I assume it means the square has to be the same width and height? If they can be overlapping rectangles then the solution is trivial.
Oh, duh, just came up with an easy non-overlapping solution.
took a few minutes, and had to draw it in order to see the solution, but i got it.
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Do I get it right that two square screens in reality means two sets of four equal-sized screens?
no.
Yes
maybe
hehehehehe
Got it on the second scribble. Whoo hoo!
3 minutes or so, had to think about it, no overlaps. Good puzzle.
i THINK i have it, but am probably wrong…(!) if i’m correct then this will be the quickest ever lol
Got it, in around 20 sec.
Piece of proverbial cake.
I thought I had it in 5 seconds, but when I realized that the panels couldn’t overlap, it took me forever (about 10 mins) to see the solution.
sat on it for a few hours, got the answer. pretty simple.
Zach was it comfortable? ……. :}
[...] It’s the Friday Puzzle! Imagine that there are nine babies on a hospital ward. Unfortunately, they are all crying their heads off because [...] [...]
Got it in about 10 seconds.
took a minute since i tried overlapping first but i got it.
I got an idea right away, and I think it’s correct, so I’m sticking with it.
2 secs
I have to own up and say I cannot get this at all. I drew several different shaped rooms (in 3-d) then tried to insert two flat square screens touching the walls of course and not cutting into each other (not overlapping) and could not work it out. Must be a trick question I am guessing, and I’ve missed it.
No trick question. You simply didn’t pick what “sound proofed screens, each of which is in the shape of a square” really means. Is not a “flat square screen”, but more like four joinned walls of the same length, positioned as to form a square.
Hey Joao, once I got the right type of screen I solved it real fast….I took duck tape and put it over each baby’s mouth….then duck taped each baby to the outside panel of the screens…that took care of eight so I put number nine inside one screen and then I got inside the other and had a nice relaxing day……hehehe…couldn’t hear a single one of them….but I could see their little toes and arms flapping around so I knew they were still a live….lol….. :}
Lila, that’s no way to treat a baby. If their crying is the most annoying sound in the world (survival imperative), their laugh must be the most wonderful sound of the world. Do that, and you’ll loose the late. Now, if you have duck tape, why not suspend them from the ceiling?… they love the sensation of flying, and might be distracted by that.
Joao, there are now different colors of duck tape…..oh how I love the multifunctional duck tape….so with all the new colors the babies will make a great mobile to hang from the ceiling just add music and I don’t know about the babies but I know I’d be relaxed just watching them swinging around from the ceiling…..hehe
It is enough to me if it is a win-win situation for both sides.
It took me 5-10 mins thinking it was actually impossible then I had a flash of revelation as my subconscious came up with the answer.
[...] Friday Puzzle getting easier by nolopromittere on April 17, 2010 Wiseman’s Friday puzzle was easier than usual – it was almost disappointing, really – I guess I’ll have [...]
Wow I actually got it this time. Pretty easy, but took a few minutes to realize that you’re supposed to adjust the screens on that picture provided.
I’m skeptical of many of the claims of chiropracters too, but I DO understand that just because the local medical authorities don’t have evidence of their effectiveness doesn’t mean they don’t work or that they’re worse than cures that are proven effective but have significant side effects. After all, accupuncture was only recently recognized as effective for the treatment of several types of pain, but that doesn’t mean it only recently became effective.
I guess it helps that, while I AM skeptical of a lot of what chiropractors do, I’m also skeptical of a lot of what mainstream medical practitioners do as well.
I had to draw it out but then it took about 10 seconds to get the insight. Nice one.
Took me under 10 seconds.
Got it! around 10 minutes
Got this one easily, but then I think I’ve seen something very similar before.
I think I have it, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to do what I did. Took me about twenty seconds, a little less.
It took me 30 frustrated minutes. Wow, my mind was on holidays.
Easy, within seconds without pen & paper
Friday, make me feel smart day! secconds.
I think I got this one. If I did, that’s three in a row, I think.
Yep- I agree with the above. Five second doodle, no overlapping is required.
Got this one faster than the usual Friday puzzle-a good fifteen or twenty seconds. Excellent exercise!
Took me about a minute; I always miss the Friday puzzle, so I’m glad I had the chance to get it before Monday’s answer.
Easy. It took me 10 seconds for this.
But I’m wondering if there is another solution to this.
No problem at all.
Are we allowed to give people hints? LoL
I’m one of those people that have problems keeping secrets; it plays heck on me when I’m doing magic.
Less than 10 seconds