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B _ L L Clue
A MINIMUM OF 3 WEIGHINGS IS REQUIRED. DIVIDE THE 27 BALLS INTO 3 GROUPS OF 9 BALLS EACH. USE THE SCALE TO WEIGH 2 GROUPS. THIS WILL TELL US WHICH GROUP HAS THE HEAVIER BALL. NOW, DIVIDE THE 9 BALLS INTO 3 GROUPS OF 3 BALLS EACH AND WEIGH 2 GROUPS, AND IDENTIFY THE GROUP WHICH HAS THE HEAVIER BALL. FROM THE HEAVIER GROUP, WEIGH 2 BALLS TO DETERMINE THE HEAVIER BALL THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF WEIGHTS REQUIRED IS FIVE AND THESE SHOULD WEIGHT 1, 3, 9, 27 AND 81 POUNDS. THE MERCHANT HAS TO USE A BALANCE WEIGHING SCALE TO DO THE JOB. TO WEIGH 2 POUNDS, HE'LL HAVE TO PUT THE 3 POUND WEIGHT ON ONE PAN AND 1 POUND WEIGHT ON THE OTHER PAN. TO WEIGH 5 POUNDS, HE'LL HAVE TO PUT THE 9 POUND WEIGHT ON ONE PAN AND 1 AND 3 POUND WEIGHTS ON THE OTHER PAN 8 WEIGHINGS ARE REQUIRED TO FIND OUT THE HEAVY BALL. DIVIDE THE BALLS INTO 3 GROUPS OF 2187 BALLS EACH. PUT 2 GROUPS ON THE SCALE AND DETERMINE WHICH GROUP IS HEAVIER. IF BOTH GROUPS ARE EQUAL IN WEIGHT, THE HEAVIER BALL IS IN THE 3RD GROUP. REPEAT THE PROCESS BY BREAKING THE GROUP WITH THE HEAVIER BALL INTO 3 SMALLER GROUPS OF BALLS AGAIN. FOR THE 2ND ROUND, EACH GROUP WILL HAVE 729 (2187 / 3 ) BALLS EACH. THIS PROCESS HAS TO BE REPEATED 8 TIMES. 1ST WEIGHING - 6561 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 2187 BALLS EACH. 2ND WEIGHING - 2187 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 729 BALLS EACH. 3RD WEIGHING - 729 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 243 BALLS EACH. 4TH WEIGHING - 243 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 81 BALLS EACH. 5TH WEIGHING - 81 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 27 BALLS EACH. 6TH WEIGHING - 29 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 9 BALLS EACH. 7TH WEIGHING - 9 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 3 BALLS EACH. 8TH WEIGHING - 3 BALLS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 GROUPS OF 1 BALL EACH TAKE 6 BALLS AND SPLIT THEM INTO 2 GROUPS OF 3 BALLS EACH. USE THE SCALE TO WEIGH THE 2 GROUPS. IF ONE OF THE GROUPS IS HEAVIER THAN THE OTHER GROUP, PICK 2 BALLS FROM THE HEAVIER GROUP AND USE THE SCALE TO WEIGH THEM. IF THEY ARE EQUAL IN WEIGHT, THE OTHER BALL IN THAT GROUP IS THE HEAVY ONE. IF BOTH THE GROUPS ARE EQUAL IN WEIGHT, THEN PICK THE REMAINING 2 BALLS AND USE THE SCALE TO DETERMINE THE HEAVIER BALL