Quote from: Zenp on September 19, 2023, 08:24:45 PM

The Puzzle / Riddle Thread

Hi Everyone,

As a bitcoin enthusiast, I enjoy math and statistics along with cryptography. So in this thread, I would like to share my passion with all of you. I really enjoy solving puzzles that have some form of math in them. Puzzles like the Monty Hall Problem are my favourite. I'll be sharing some new puzzles / riddles here that I found to be enjoyable, hard to solve and challenging. I encourage anyone interested in these to try and solve them without any external help. Some / most of these will be tricky so try to think outside of the box.

In terms of answers, I'll update the main thread after a few days to post the answer. If one of you solve it with an easy to follow answer, I'll use that as the solution and mention you in the credits!

If anyone has any submissions to add to this list, please reply or send me a DM and I'll consider it. Note: It doesn't have to be bitcoin/ crypto related, any tricky puzzles and riddle's are welcome as long as they require some thinking to solve!

Good Luck!

Puzzle 1:
inspired by the monty hall problem
You are presented with three wallet.dat files. Each file contains 2 private keys. These private keys can hold either 1 Bitcoin or 1 Litecoin. Lets' not worry about address generation for now!

One of the three wallets has 2BTC
One has 1BTC and 1LTC
One has 2LTC

You are not allowed to check the balances for each wallet and you have no way of knowing which wallet is which.

You are asked to choose one wallet as a prize. After you've chosen, your wallet file is imported into a desktop wallet and and one private key from your wallet is revealed. You find out that the key revealed holds 1 bitcoin. The wallet with 2LTC is taken out of the prize pool, and you are given the option to switch your wallet to the other remaining option.

Should you switch your choice??

Puzzle 1 Solution:
Will be posted soon!

Revision Log:

2023-09-19: Revised some text in Puzzle 1 to clear up some ambiguity

Mainly each option will have 1/3 possibilities.
Wallet 1
1/3
Wallet 2
1/3
Wallet 3
1/3

but when you choose an option and the balance of another is revealed, the remaining option becomes 2/3 possibilities.

Wallet 1
2/3
Wallet2 (Your choice )
1/3

Wallet 3 (revealed)
0/3

Therefore it is always better to change.