That's called IIRC an "unconditional" solution (in that later weighings don't depend on earlier weighings). David MacKay poses that a problem in his Information

That's called IIRC an "unconditional" solution (in that later weighings don't depend on earlier weighings). David MacKay poses that a problem in his Information theory book on p. 85, and gives the solution on the next page. http://www.inference.org.uk/itprnn/book.pdf http://www.inference.org.uk/itprnn/book.pdf