1. Question or Puzzle: One gold bar & seven working days payment
- Given a gold bar that will be used to make a payment (for seven working days).
- Some worker is working for you for seven days.
- Worker will be paid at the end of each day.
- 1/7th of gold bar shall be paid as work compensation.
- We would like to have minimum number of cuts in a gold bar.
- So that we can pay the worker (at the end of each day).
- How many cuts we shall make in a gold bar?
2. Solution of Puzzle: One gold bar & seven working days payment
- We will cut the gold bar such a way that we can make a payment to a worker (on each day)
- We will have 2 cuts in a gold bar as shown in Fig 2.
- We will have payment for 1 day, 2 days and 4 days i.e P1, P2 and P4 respectively.
- Payment made to worker for 7 working days is as follows.
| Day | You will have | Worker will have |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | P1, P2, P4 | Work not started |
| 1 | P2 ,P4 (Make a payment for 1 day) | P1 |
| 2 | P1, P4 (Make a payment for 2 days, Take back P1) | P2 |
| 3 | P4 (Make a payment for 3 day) | P1, P2 |
| 4 | P1, P2 (Make a payment for 4 days, Take back P1, P2) | P4 |
| 5 | P2 (Make a payment for 5 days) | P1, P4 |
| 6 | P1 Make a payment for 6 days) | P2, P4 |
| 7 | Nothing (Payment done) | P1, P2, P4 |