04 Oct '10 20:43>
As the new junior salesman for the Achtung!(TM) snooker ball company, you have been tasked with selling a set of snooker balls to some of the most unreasonable customers in the company database. On one such sales outing, the customer asks about the durability of the snooker balls in terms of the highest floor they can be dropped from without breaking. Unfortunately for you tech support is on lunch, and the customer notes that if you can't answer his question within the next 15 minutes, he'll become very unreasonable very quickly and storm off without purchasing the case of snooker balls you've been discussing.
The only thing you have going for you is the two demonstration model 8-balls from your salesman kit, which happen to be identical in every respect, and due to heavy-duty German engineering never change properties after impact unless they've been smashed to bits. In order to close the deal, you decide to demonstrate the durability of the snooker balls by dropping them from various floors of the closest 100-story building.
Question: What's the least number of drops required to conclusively demonstrate the highest floor the balls can be dropped from without breaking?
The only thing you have going for you is the two demonstration model 8-balls from your salesman kit, which happen to be identical in every respect, and due to heavy-duty German engineering never change properties after impact unless they've been smashed to bits. In order to close the deal, you decide to demonstrate the durability of the snooker balls by dropping them from various floors of the closest 100-story building.
Question: What's the least number of drops required to conclusively demonstrate the highest floor the balls can be dropped from without breaking?