Warming Up
In a baseball game, when one pitcher is struggling and needs to be replaced, you’ll always see the relief pitcher given the opportunity to warm up before coming into the game. Some relief pitchers make as much as five million dollars a year. They warm up their golden arms both to prevent injury and to make sure they’re pitching well before they enter the game.
As a million dollar math whiz, you might want to warm yourself up before you get too far into attempting to solve this next puzzle.
Warming up means not worrying about what the eventual answer will be. Warming up involves clarifying the conditions of the problem and what they really mean. When you're warming up, you start considering what the problem is really asking for? What hints is it giving you? What restrictions is it putting on you-- AND WHICH RESTRICTIONS ARE NOT BEING PUT ON!
Let's start warming up by reading the story.
Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in an empire not of Hollywood making but of Roman, there existed a magic coin. Whoever possessed the magic coin wielded tremendous power to rule the empire. Through much war and intrigue, the coin was lost.
2200 years later, the coin has been rediscovered inside a batch of eight old coins going to auction. The problem is that it looks just like any other. The only difference between it and the other seven is that its weight is slightly different-- but not so different that you could tell by holding it. However, fortunately for you, you have a very sensitive-- although old style --scale at your disposal.
Anyone who wants to guess the magic coin may use the ancient scale three times to help determine which coin it is. There's only one catch-- (there's always a catch) --wrong guesses are punishable by death. Care to try your luck?
When you've chosen, just tap the coin of your choice to see if you've gained immeasurable power or just lost your head. If you'd rather keep your head and use it to solve the problem, click the first glove and come this way to join me in warming up.
