In Why the Magic Paving Stones Puzzle is a Paradox I provided the solution to the Magic Paving Stones puzzle.
What I want to do now is to introduce a slight twist.
Once again, you are standing on one end of a path of paving
stones. At the other end of the path is
the monster.
Once again, you have the choice again about how many magic paving
stones will appear randomly (as previously defined) along the path every round,
prior to the monster taking each step from one paving stone to the next towards
you.
However, before things start, you are offered the option to give one free step that
the monster can take towards you (so before any magic paving stones are
activated) in exchange for the ability to destroy one paving stone of your
choice every round, so long as the sum of additional paving stones per round
is greater than zero.
I know this is complicated, so I will try to clarify using an
illustration.
What choices do you make in this instance? Can you prevent the monster from getting you?
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Note that there’s something unexpected involved here, but it’s
not actually in the solution to the puzzle.
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