[OT] Quiz of the Day [2008-11-04]

[Chris R. Miller]

Christopher Wright wrote:
> Here's a problem that I encountered, and solved to my satisfaction.
> 
> There's an escalator taking people into a fiery pit of death. Your task
> is to save people.
> 
> These people are sorted according to race, creed, color, and nation.
> Each has a different weight. You can check the weight of each
> individual, and you know ahead of time the total weight of the people on
> the escalator.
> 
> You've got a guy on a tether hanging from your dirigible. You can do two
> things:
>  - Tell him to grab onto the person directly under the dirigible. He'll
> hang on to them until you tell him to do otherwise.
>  - Reel in the person he's hanging on to.
> 
> There are a few issues:
>  - Your dirigible has a weight limit.
>  - Each person has a different weight. There's a maximum weight for a
> person, but your dirigible isn't guaranteed to be able to hold that much.
>  - You're an equal opportunity savior, so you want to take people at
> roughly even intervals, if possible.
>  - People's weights are arranged adversarially.
> 
> How do you do it?

Break the escalator. ;-)