Stealing the castle treasure

T

THORTHELABRADOR

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The ingenious manner in which a box of treasure, consisting principally of jewels and precious stones, was stolen from Gloomhurst Castle has been handed down as a tradition in the De Gourney family. The thieves consisted of a man, a youth, and a small boy, whose only mode of escape with the box of treasure was by means of a high window. Outside the window was fixed a pulley, over which ran a rope with a basket at each end. When one basket was on the ground the other was at the window. The rope was so disposed that the persons in the basket could neither help themselves by means of it nor receive help from others. In short, the only way the baskets could be used was by placing a heavier weight in one than in the other.

Now, the man weighed 195 lbs., the youth 105 lbs., the boy 90 lbs., and the box of treasure 75 lbs. The weight in the descending basket could not exceed that in the other by more than 15 lbs. without causing a descent so rapid as to be most dangerous to a human being, though it would not injure the stolen property. Only two persons, or one person and the treasure, could be placed in the same basket at one time. How did they all manage to escape and take the box of treasure with them?

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My teacher takes great pleasure in making my brain hurt haha
 
Hmmm...a bit hard to follow...

> Only two persons, or one person and the treasure, could be placed in the same basket at one time
That means maximum, right? One person alone, or the treasure alone, could be placed, right?

And all 4 (3 persons and treasure) are at top at the beginning...so 1st move HAS TO BE the treasure
by itself, which will bring up the bottom empty basket, right?

The next move HAS TO BE the 90lb boy due to 15 lb difference, right?

Just checking to see if I understand; thanks.
 
Well, only way to "get going" is treasure-down, followed by boy-down:treasure-up.
Realised that only way to "wrap up" is boy-down:treasure-up, followed by treasure-down.
That kinda got me going; did it in 11 moves:
[spoiler:2wnwj7cw]1 : T down
2 : B down , T up
3 : Y down , B up
4 : T down
5 : M down , Y+T up
6 : T down
7 : B down , T up
8 : T down
9 : Y down , B up
10:B down , T up
11:T down[/spoiler:2wnwj7cw]
 
I felt very much like the puzzle with the wolf sheep grain crossing the creek and couldn't leave anyone alone with anything that would be eaten...it certainly made my brain hurt but it was FUN!!
 
I "rewrote" it this way:
.....................................................................................................................................
A roofer just finished a job; still on top, with 4 unused crates of tiles,
of differents weights: 13, 7, 6, 5 units: heavy units, too heavy to carry!

From the roof to the roofer's truck is some elevator-like contraption, with
a container at both ends, presently one at rooftop and one in truck's box.

Like, if a weight is put in the top container and the bottom container contains
no weight or a weight lesser than that at top,then top goes down and bottom
goes up; get the picture?

A container can take a limit of 2 crates.

The 5units crate contains unbreakable tiles: so if put in the top container
(bottom being empty) it is quite safe for the crate to "hit" truck box.

But the others contain breakable tiles; if the top container contains a weight
that's more than 1 unit heavier than what's in bottom, then tiles will break.

As example, if top has 7units crate, bottom has 5units crate, tiles will break
when the 7units hits truck box, but not if top=6 and bottom=5.
So it's obvious that the 1st move has to be sending down the 5unts crate.

The roofer's assistant stands in the truck box, and is available to remove
crate(s) from bottom container, or put crate(s) in...depending on situation.

How many "elevator trips" are required (as minimum) to get all crates in truck?
 
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