top button
Flag Notify
    Connect to us
      Site Registration

Site Registration

What was the best way in which the prince could divide the pearls over the vases?

+1 vote
614 views

Long ago, a young Chinese prince wanted to marry a Mandarin's daughter. The Mandarin decided to test the prince. He gave the prince two empty, porcelain vases, 100 white pearls, and 100 black pearls. "You must put all the pearls in the vases", he told the prince. "After this, I will call my daughter from the room next door. She will take a random pearl from one of the two vases. If this pearl is a black one, you are allowed to marry my daughter."What was the best way in which the prince could divide the pearls over the vases?

posted Apr 30, 2014 by Puneet Batra

Share this puzzle
Facebook Share Button Twitter Share Button LinkedIn Share Button

1 Answer

+1 vote

put one black pearl in the first vase and all other pearls in the second vase. Then, the probability of grabbing a black pearl from the first vase is 1, and the probability of grabbing a black pearl from the second vase is 99/199. The total probability of grabbing a black pearl is 0.5 × 1 + 0.5 × 99/199 = 298/398 (approximately 74.9%).

answer May 6, 2014 by Avantika Agrawal
nice strategy



Similar Puzzles
0 votes

You are trapped into a death trap by the famous jigsaw killer. A screen flashes in front of you and explains you the trap game.

There are 100 pearls kept in a bowl in front of you and an empty bowl. Among the 100 pearls, 50 are white and 50 are black. You can divide them as you like into the two bowls. Once you are done, you will pull a lever, which will turn the room pitch black. The bowls will move and shuffle around. In the dark, you have to pick up one pearl from any bowl. Once you do that, the room will flood with lights again. If the peral you have in your hand is white, you will be allowed to live, but if the pearl you picked is black, the room will be filled with poisonous gas and you will die.

How will divide the pearls to increase your chances of survival?

+1 vote

You are trapped into a death trap by the famous jigsaw killer. As usual, a screen flashes in front of you and explains you the trap game.

There are 100 pearls kept in a bowl in front of you and an empty bowl. Among the 100 pearls, 50 are white and 50 are black. You can divide them as you like into the two bowls. Once you are done, you will pull a lever, which will turn the room pitch black. The bowls will move and shuffle around. In the dark, you have to pick up one pearl from any bowl. Once you do that, the room will flood with lights again. If the peral you have in your hand is white, you will be allowed to live, but if the pearl you picked is black, the room will be filled with poisonous gas and you will die.

How will divide the pearls to increase your chances of survival?

0 votes

On a windy rainy night , I was driving in my car. When I reach the bus stand , I see three people waiting for the bus.

  1. An old lady who needs an immediate medical attention.
  2. My Best Friend.
  3. Girl whom I love from childhood.

My car is a two seater and I am very good person so can you tell me , what I have done in this situation ?

+1 vote

Two friends were stuck in a cottage. They had nothing to do and thus they started playing cards. Suddenly the power went off and Friend 1 inverted the position of 15 cards in the normal deck of 52 cards and shuffled it. Now he asked Friend 2 to divide the cards into two piles (need not be equal) with equal number of cards facing up. The room was quite dark and Friend 2 could not see the cards. He thinks for a while and then divides the cards in two piles.

On checking, the count of cards facing up is same in both the piles. How could Friend 2 have done it ?

...