GOLD BAR PUZZLE

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You are a king of an empire. You have a servant working in your palace. He works all the seven days and you only pay him in the form of gold bar. You must pay the worker for his work every day at the end of the day.

If you are only able to make two breaks in the gold bar, how will you pay the servant if the servant works for the equal time every day and thus equal amount must be paid at the end of the day?

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    If you are thinking of how to cut in such a way that you are able to make seven equal pieces, you are thinking in the wrong direction. You should give more stress on how to make the transaction with the worker. 

    You have to break the gold bar two times so you have the following sizes of the bar:

    1/7 —- Bar A
    2/7 —- Bar B
    4/7 —- Bar C

    When the day 1 ends:
    Give Bar A (You remain with Bar B and Bar C; Worker possess – Bar A)

    When the day 2 ends:
    Give Bar B and take the Bar A back (You remain with Bar A and Bar C; Worker possess – Bar B)

    When the day 3 ends:
    Give Bar A (You remain with Bar C; Worker possess – Bar A and Bar B)

    When the day 4 ends:
    Give Bar C and take back Bar A and Bar B (You remain with Bar A and Bar B; Worker possess – Bar C)

    When the day 5 ends:
    Give Bar A (You remain with Bar B; Worker possess – Bar A and Bar C)

    When the day 6 ends: 
    Give Bar B and take back Bar A (You remain with Bar A; Worker possess – Bar B and Bar C)

    When the day 7 ends: 
    Give Bar A (You remain with no bar; Worker possess – Bar A, Bar B and Bar C)

    Thus by the end of seven days, you have taken care of everything.

    John123 Expert Answered on 19th July 2015.
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