Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

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Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby JesterKatz » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:53 am

An interesting Car Talk Puzzler I thought I'd share:

Our Producer, Dougie Berman, was diagnosed recently with a rare disease -- Chronic Laziness. If not treated, it could be fatal.

The doctor prescribed two different kinds of pills, and said, "They have to be taken simultaneously, at bedtime, every night. Take one from one bottle, and one from the other. It's the interaction of the two pills that is the key."

Dougie's got 10 pills in each bottle. But, if he makes the mistake of taking two of the same pill, he's done for.

He decides to convalesce at his remote mountain cabin, and he begins the six-hour drive to get there. But his car breaks down, and he has to walk the last 20 miles clutching these two bottles of pills -- the only thing between him and the Grim Reaper.

He arrives after dark. He's so weak that delirium has begun to set in.

As he makes his way to the kitchen sink, he stumbles and falls and, you guessed it, he spills all the pills. When he wakes up, he finds that one of the containers has two pills in it, the other container is empty, and there are 18 pills scattered all over the floor.

He begins to gather up the pills. As he's looking at them he discovers to his horror that they all look alike. They're the same color, shape and size. There's no way to tell them apart.

He's getting weaker by the minute. But, he remembers that he has his very own, very accurate, "analytic" scale, the kind that a pharmacist would use.

But, by the time he weighs the 11th pill, his worst fear is confirmed. Not only do they all look and feel and smell alike but they all weigh the same.

There's absolutely no way to distinguish one pill from another.

Is there a way for him to take the recommended dosage and save his life, or should we let the Grim Reaper in and start looking for a new producer?


Edit: Week's done, answer's at the 6th post.
Last edited by JesterKatz on Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby Hot Trout » Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:34 pm

It does not say that an overdose will kill him so just take all the pills and then the dosage will still be 50/50.
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby JesterKatz » Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:01 pm

Hot Trout wrote:It does not say that an overdose will kill him so just take all the pills and then the dosage will still be 50/50.


So much for using spoilers. You're wrong anyway though because, granted the doctor didn't say "overdose", he did say...

"Take one from one bottle, and one from the other."


And the third paragraph states:

[I]f he makes the mistake of taking two of the same pill, he's done for.
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby Hot Trout » Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:16 pm

OK and sorry but we don't have a spoiler button
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby Kherr » Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:07 pm

it's the tenth, where's our answer? :freakout:
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby JesterKatz » Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:38 am

Sorry, had a rough weekend. Anyway, Since there's no spoiler-could've sworn I saw the button-I'm going to make the font color match the quote, and you can just highlight the text.

Here’s how you solve it. The only hope he has is to take the pills that he has, all 20 of them, and grind them up into a powder, mix the powder up, and then divide the powder into 10 equal piles.

He can do it either by eye -- or better still -- he can use the scale. Thus, he can take one little pile of powder every night at the right time.
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Re: Car Talk Puzzler: Dougie's Pill Disaster

Postby Hot Trout » Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:31 am

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :good:
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