Can you solve the stolen rubies riddle? - Dennis Shasha

Townspeople are demanding that a corrupt merchant’s collection of 30 rubies be confiscated to reimburse the victims of his schemes. The king announces that the fine will be determined through a game of wits between the merchant and the king’s most clever advisor – you. Can you outfox the merchant and win back the greatest amount of rubies to help his victims? Dennis Shasha shows how.

Lesson by Dennis Shasha, directed by Artrake Studio.

Thank you so much to our patrons for supporting us on Patreon! Without you this video would not be possible! Sydney Evans, Victor E Karhel, Eysteinn Guðnason, Andrea Feliz, Natalia Rico, Josh Engel, Bárbara Nazaré, Zhexi Shan, PnDAA, Sandra Tersluisen, Ellen Spertus, Fabian Amels, sammie goh, Mattia Veltri, Quentin Le Menez, Yuh Saito, Heather Slater, Dr Luca Carpinelli, Christophe Dessalles, Arturo De Leon, Eduardo Briceño, Ricardo Paredes, David Douglass, Grant Albert, Jen, Megan Whiteleather, Mayank Kaul, Ryohky Araya, Tan YH, Ph.D., Brittiny Elman, Kostadin Mandulov, Yanuar Ashari, Mrinalini , Anthony Kudolo, Querida Owens, Hazel Lam, Manav parmar, Siamak H, Dominik Kugelmann, Mary Sawyer, David Rosario, Samuel Doerle, Susan Herder, Prasanth Mathialagan, Yanira Santamaria, Dawn Jordan, Constantin Salagor, Kevin Wong and Umar Farooq.

[mistyhusk]

If I’m the kings most clever adviser, there’s a problem somewhere

[cauilfiower]

"The situation resembles an adversarial game like chess only here you can't see the opponent's position." Sounds a lot like a game of Battleship...

[sev]

"The king's most clever advisor, you"

Weird they have a guy named 'Yu' in the middle

[m.magarwal]

You can acquire “more than half” of his treasure
Me:
Reality: 1 extra gem.

[coin]

"The king's most clever adviser : you"

Lol what? You guys are screwt

[Yippieyiyo]

I never bother to solve these lol. I just find the explanation interesting.

[ratoim]

Guard: *guards king*
Also guard: *completely fails to detect group of people rushing up to king*

[steeledminer]

For the bonus riddle: 10

The merchant will always take the 2 most valuable piles, only leaving you with the lowest value one. That means you can only get it if you split it into 3 equal piles, 10, 10, 10. If I take any out of any pile and put it in another the merchant will take that more valuable pile leaving me with one less than 10.

[lamantinelsarchives]

I don't even know which way should I plug the USB

[eagletgriff]

"The game will be played between the merchant and the king's most clever advisor-- you."




*We're screwed*

[NoobsailerRBH]

"You have to divide 30 rubies into 3 piles. The scoundrel will then choose and keep 2 of those piles."
Me: **Makes piles of 28, 1 and 1, then pees on the 28 rubies.**
Scoundrel: Bugger.

[adrianwoodruff]

Bonus riddle
Put them in groups of 10
He'll take 2 groups and leave you with the last one.
If you put them in any other way, he'll take the two biggest group, leaving you with less then ten.

[quahntasy]

I solved it ! I solved it Someone give me a cookie or something.

And why does king face looks like a seal

[dryzalizer]

Props to the king for designing a game that allows his clever adviser to win more than half the rubies in every scenario!

[andrewgreeb]

"One box must contain exactly 6 more" small details that make or break your guess

[finnvaneekelen]

Step one: confirm the Ruby theif has green eyes.
Step 2: ask them to leave

[isyoursheepwireless]

I love the art style of this episode. It reminds of those early 2000s children's shows. Where a narrator reads a storybook brought to life with cheap flash animation lol.

[bigbakerboi]

Bonus riddle: The maximum amount of rubies you can have is 10, as putting any more in a pile will result in the opponent taking it

[aidanmcwenie]

I really enjoy these TED-Ed riddle videos. I’ve watched a bunch of them and this was the first one I was able to solve on my own.

[hamblance]

The King:
Everyone else in the kingdom:
Everyone in this comment section: hOw aM i ThE cLeVEreSt ThE KiNgDoMs ScReWeD