Stupid Logic Problem

[bigwinnner8]

A teacher passes out 30 pieces of paper (10 white, 10 red, 10 blue) to 10 students. Each student gets one red, one white, and one blue sheet of paper. If the teacher hands out one sheet of paper, then puts the next sheet of paper on the bottom of her stack of papers, what order do the papers need to be in so that each student gets one piece of paper of each color?

[bpd67]

Who cares, she already passed them out.

[Louie]

I like BPD's answer. I don't think it possible to evenly distribute the papers that way. Why not just pass them out normally? Why in god's name would she pass one sheet out and then put one on the bottom of the stack?

[bpd67]

This statement is all you need to know.

"A teacher passes out 30 pieces of paper (10 white, 10 red, 10 blue) to 10 students." She already passed them out.

[bigwinnner8]

haha, i don't know what the answer is. My 10 year old nephew called and asked me saying I was smart. I spent about 5 minutes thinking about it, thought I'd throw it up here. Figured maybe someone had heard it before, then I can call him back and sound like a genius.

[grandmaster]

ok, I think I know the answer(s).....

The first answer is no solution because once the teacher has just one piece of paper, she cant alternate between passing one out, and sending one to the back of the line. right? maybe Im wrong on that.



But anyway, this seems to work.......


the first 20 papers go red, white, red, blue.(x5) in that order. The next 10 go white, blue.(x5)

Passing them out gets rid of the reds. Each student has a red after the first 20 papers have been gone through.

You now have 20 papers left -alternating between white and blue.


you can pass out all of the blues-while skipping the whites and sending them to the back of the line. Now each student has a red and a blue.

Now all you have left is 10 whites. Pass them out.

1 Red
2 White
3 Red
4 Blue
5 Red
6 White
7 Red
8 Blue
9 Red
10 White
11 Red
12 Blue
13 Red
14 White
15 Red
16 Blue
17 Red
18 White
19 Red
20 Blue
21 White
22 Blue
23 White
24 Blue
25 White
26 Blue
27 White
28 Blue
29 White
30 Blue



I tried a few guess and checks and it seems to work, but I cant get my brain to think that hard for much longer.


Call your nephew.

[bpd67]

I think your thinking too much. Let us know the answer but it reminds of this question.

"Railroad crossing watch for the cars, can you spell that without any R's?"

My dad used to ask me that one when I was a kid, it took me forever to figure it out. Finally one day I got, but I'll bet it took me a few weeks.

[squirreljf]

Railroad crossing watch for the cars, can you spell THAT without any R's?"

T-H-A-T