4 ms·
> Jan can form a chain that can be broken by either his padlocks or by Maria's padlock The box cannot be opened by Maria, breaking the rear end of chain wouldn
by mkagenius 10y ago
> Jan can form a chain that can be broken by either his padlocks or by Maria's padlock
The box cannot be opened by Maria, breaking the rear end of chain wouldn't help at all.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoThe chain would start: Box - J - Lid Maria adds hers: Box - J - Lid | M Jan can open his padlock, releasing hers, and transform this to: Box - J - M - J - Lid Which Maria can open. An optimization could be: Box - M - J - Lid This is available if Maria could fit her padlock through the port in the box simultaneously with Jan's there, and send that back so Jan could remove his initial box padlock. And the arrangement Box - M - J - Lid | | J M Would let either start a new box, using the J - M - J or M - J - M chaining as needed.
- mkagenius 10y agoNicely done. Understood the chaining solution now. One small assumption in that would be that the chain remains taut enough to not leave any gaps to slide the hands into the box (since the lid's hook is no longer in touch with the box).